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

[Assistant]
My Fair Superhero – part 2
The future:
Simon is climbing Mt Kilamanjaro, thinking about how there used to be ice and snow but that has long gone and been forgotten by everyone alive. He wonders if the same applies to him, is Wonder Man still Wonder Man if no one remembers him as such? He muses about the thawing of ice and how it could be either positive or negative and then thinks back to ‘Huan’ and how he looked for a thaw in her.
Modern day:
Wonder Man is introducing Ladykiller to her new room in a SHIELD safehouse. He calls her by her real name Huan and she demands to know how he knows it. When he glibly dismisses the question she attacks him and is electrocuted by her shock collar. He informs her that ‘the definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results’ and that her collar will shock her whenever she tries to hurt someone as part of rehabilitation. Simon leaves telling her that Hank McCoy will happily play checkers against her if she wants.
Ladykiller once alone growls and then kicks her way through the metal shutter which covers the window. She laughs with success and jumps down from the bedroom. A trampoline appears from the ground and bounces her through an open door into a sitting room where Hank McCoy is reading a book in front of a checkers board. He asks if she would like to move first.
Later…
Simon and Huan are in the kitchen and he is dropping water onto a rock with a pipette. He explains that given enough time the rock will wear away. Huan is the rock and his is… Huan interrupts and suggests he is ‘the drip’. Simon is surprised with her making a joke. He informs her that he is immortal and he is willing to watch her grow old and die if she continues to be stubborn. He asks to know about her life.
Flashback…
Huan remembers a dead man. She explains how her parents sold her into slavery on her 12th birthday to pay a debt. She ended up in a brothel where a large man came to her room and told her she was beautiful. She began to undo his necktie as instructed and then throttled him to death with it - she had strong arms from her childhood on the farm.
A bodyguard/security burst into the room and threatened to shoot her. The woman who ran the brothel entered and told him to stop, she knew someone who would appreciate her artistry. Young Huan asked if she was an artist and was told she is clearly a prodigy, a thing of beauty. This was the second time she has been called beautiful in 5 minutes, but this time she believed it.
Now…
Huan leaves with Simon looking dejected. Carol Danvers enters and asks him how everything is going (referring to him as Professor Higgins). Simon tells her what Huan just told him, Carol doesn’t think it’s a very good sign. She admits she is helping as a favour, she admires his belief in the endless capacity and potential of the human spirit but she fears Huan is just manipulating him and trying to escape. Simon agrees it is a possibility.
At that moment Huan is in the attic kicking through another shutter. She climbs to the roof and begins to run, a trapdoor opens beneath her and she drops down a shoot into the living room with Hank. He tells her again that it is her move.
Later…
Simon and Huan are playing pool. She asks why all they do is play games. He asks if she thought they would torture her, they’re Americans they don’t do that. She tells him he is insane to believe that and throws a pool ball against his head. He asks her not to do that because it might damage the ball and then asks her to tell more of her story.
Flashback…
Huan was brought to Zhang Tong, the leader of a criminal empire. He interviewed her and explained that she was there because she killed a man who he had marked for death and she did it efficiently and ruthlessly. He usually had little use for women but he was willing to give her a test. She was handed a gun with a single bullet and told to use it wisely. If she killed herself she would escape a  life of misery, if she killed him she would be allowed free, if she tried and failed to kill him, she would die painfully. He gave her 10 seconds to make a decision but she shot at him instantly. He applauded her resolve but criticised her marksmanship as she shot well over his head. Just then the burning lamp above him fell onto his robes.
Young Huan started to run and was hauled into the air by green energy, suspended upside down. She spat and cursed at him. He told her that she would be named Huan which means ‘Jade ring’ to remind her who is her master and asked if she wanted to be trained to kill. She replied that she did.
Now…
Simon realises that her master was the Mandarin. Huan is now free as his organisation is over, Huan agrees but now she works for another and Simon would have to torture her to find out who.
He asks if she ever saw her parents again? She responds that she did once in passing. Huan remembers seeing them burning as she watched.
Later…
Simon is on the phone to Neal about the documentary who is being very positive about the footage they’re getting. Beast bursts in and says that Huan has escaped through the basement, she must have squeezed through a tiny window which they thought too small to escape from.
They spot her on CCTV as she cautiously looks around for boobytraps, of which there are none (Beast not thinking she could escape that way). Carol says she will go after her and takes to the air to find her.
Beast rushes off and as he’s running through the living room finds Huan sitting there with her arms folded. She thought it was a bluff to see her tricked again and she refuses to give them the satisfaction. She kicks moves one of the checker pieces and then kicks over the table.
Beast remarks that ‘It’s a start’.


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

[Assistant]
Hard Questions
SHIELD HQ New York, office of the director, Anthony Stark aka Iron Man:
A short time ago:
His guest is Professor Charles Xavier, who reports that Havok and Polaris have stayed with the Starjammers. They regularly send reports about the political situation of the Shi’ar.
“Hmm, the Shi’ar system,” Stark muses. That would be a possibility. He asks Charles to ask Havok to keep his eyes open whether he’ll hear something about the Hulk.
Xavier is surprised and Stark recalls Charles couldn’t yet know. After the Hulk ran amok again, Reed, Tony and the others in their secret group decided to send him away. Only Namor was against it. They lured the Hulk into a spaceship and sent him to an uninhabited planet. But he never arrived there. So far, they haven’t been able to find him and at the moment everybody here is very busy.
Just out of curiosity, Tony asks, how would he have voted? Unsure himself, Charles wonders.
The Xavier Institute for Higher Learning. Sometime later. Charles Xavier is using Cerebra… to find nothing. Frustrated, he remembers how new mutants showed up almost daily. But ever since M-day, their number hasn’t changed. If anything, it became smaller, considering all the deaths since then. Has the Scarlet Witch done more than just rob them of their powers? he wonders. Has she altered the human genome? Have mutants become an endangered species? He refuses to accept that. He has to try harder. Ignore everything else.
On the first floor in the hall, the young X-Men-in-training (Dust, Hellion, Mercury, Rockslide, Surge and X-23) are going through a training session under the eyes of the Beast. Mercury especially is into it, determined not to screw up on front of Dr. McCoy. She’d rather die than go through that again what the facility…
Beast commends her and gives Rockslide five demerits for smashing the lamp when he tried to hit X-23. Why don’t they practice in the Danger Room? he moans. Because the X-Men’s fights rarely take place in armored rooms, comes the reply, but usually in public. They have to learn to take care of civilians. In response, Rockslide accidentally kills the wardrobe.
The next moment, the ground rumbles. They look outside to see the Sentinels take off. She thought the Sentinels were meant to watch them! Cessily wonders. Yes, unless there’s a national emergency, Hank agrees. Is the TV is still intact? Maybe they’ll find out.
On the TV, they see the Hulk announcing that they have 24 hours to evacuate New York. When he comes back, he wants to see Mr. Fantastic, Iron Man and Dr Strange. And if they aren’t here, he’ll do this to their whole stinking world.  “This” referring to the badly hurt Black Bolt.
Hellion announces they have to stop the Hulk. Surge asks him if he’s forgotten their training? How many innocents would die? Mercury agrees, but suggests they help with evacuation. Beast orders them to stay. He’ll alert the other teams. They’ll handle…
There is another booming noise, this one much closer, Hank jumps to the window to look out. Oh no!he moans a second later. Outside stands the Hulk in battle armor.
“Xavier,” he demands. “Come out!”
Elixir and Prodigy join Beast, asking if that is… Yes, the Hulk, Hank McCoy agrees. He already made an emergency call. He orders Prodigy to lead all students into the basement. Evacuate them via the Morlock tunnels. The students’ safety has priority. He also asks him to tell the Professor. They’ll try to buy time.
Cool! He’s going to fight the Hulk! Rockslide announces. Everyone who wants to move to the prime league had to fight the Hulk once. Hank tells him to listen. This is not a game. He’s fought the Hulk before, but he was never like that. This isn’t the childish Hulk or the thug they know. This Hulk is so angry that he could destroy everything in his path.
He now addresses all the young X-Men-in-training. A quarter of Earth’s mutants are at Xavier’s. This is not about proving who’s stronger or capturing him. This is about surviving.
Mercury is frightened, thinking about those of all her friends who died… Brian, Laurie, Jay… How many more must die? Hank explains that he’s going to talk with the Hulk first, but that never worked with him. He wouldn’t put then in such danger if the situation wasn’t desperate. If anyone wants out…
Cessily announces they’ll stand with him. They are going to be fantastic X-Men, he replies. Now this is the plan…
Elsewhere in the building, Xavier oversees the students’ evacuation.
Playing innocent, Hank opens the door, greeting the Hulk and asking what he wants. The Hulk demands Xavier. Not possible, comes the reply. The Hulk orders him to move aside. He’ll look for Xavier himself. Not possible either, comes the reply. The Hulk beats him aside. That moment Rockslide, Hellion, Dust, Mercury, Surge and X-23 attack.
Rockslide beats on him, Mercury and X-23 try to cut him. Hellion attempts to hold him tight with telekinetic ties. The Hulk orders McCoy to call the brats back or what happens to them is on him!
Elixir helps Hank, then Hank takes him piggy-back. What if it kills him? the boy asks hesitatingly. Not the Hulk, Hank replies. It’s an overdose of Elixir’s healing power. He hopes to overload the Hulk’s healing factor. He doesn’t see another chance. He runs toward the Hulk. And if he is wrong and the Hulk dies? Elixir insists. Well, then he’s going to get a medal, comes the reply.
The Hulk breaks Hellion’s telekinetic ties, causing a mental backlash. Beast runs past the Hulk and Elixir touches the Hulk using his power. Beast asks him to be reasonable. They have… made him angry, the Hulk states snarling.
Formation Sigma, Beast orders the young X-Men in training. The Hulk calls them idiots. He doesn’t need his healing factor to beat them. He grabs a wall and puts it down on Hank. Then he attacks Hellion with a thunderclap to burst his eardrums.
Dust tries to grind him apart. The Hulk remarks he is not surprised Xavier is hiding behind his students. But he wonders why they are hiding him. Beast jumps at him, reminding him they are kids. Hulk smashes him back and orders him not to try that track.
Rockslide now faces him. He can’t believe he wanted to be the Hulk when they played Avengers. He’s the guy who can remote control his limbs, right? the Hulk asks. Great. He tears off Santo’s arms and throws them in the air. If that’s true, then wave at him from Connecticut.
X-23 unsheathes her claws. Is she Wolverine’s partner? he asks as he grabs her by her arms. Not enough claws! Count them! Laura suggest as she extends her footclaw and slices him across the eyes with them. She lands again.
Beast orders them to press the advantage. He is blind! They all strike with what they have.  And still he manages to old them back. He grabs Laura with both hands, ready to tear her apart. What their golden boy did is already fading, he announces, then he throws Laura through the wall. He turns his back on them. He only cared about Xavier, but nobody takes away his powers!
Mercury attacks him from behind. With one smooth gesture, he slams her down. He strides towards Beast who asks Elixir if he can pull this again. He can’t. Beast orders him to run for his life.
The Hulk gets ready to strike, then suddenly screams in pain. Great job of fighting children! Wolverine who has just slashed him in the back remarks, but now the adults are here (in this case Cyclops’ team of himself, Wolverine, Emma Frost, Colossus, Shadowcat (and Lockheed).
Finally a real fight, the Hulk snorts. No! another voice announces. Xavier steps in front of him. Didn’t he want him? Since his students are now safe, he’s here.
The Hulk is briefly surprised to see Xavier without a wheelchair. Well, not for long.… Yes, he is the strongest, Xavier agrees, physically. But in matters of the mind…
However, Xavier finds that while the Hulk’s mind was always hard to control, his rage is now primal, unstoppable.
 Flashback:
Xavier sees the Hulk on that planet. It was hell for him, weakened and suffering. But he found happiness, friends, a kingdom, a wife! A child was on the way, but why…? Oh. He sees the horror, how the ship blew up, killing everyone.
present:
Xavier stumbles. The other X-Men shared the vision. Those were Xavier’s buddies! the Hulk snarls. Xavier replies that they exiled him into space but they never would have thrown a bomb onto his city. He wasn’t there when the plan was created…
He knows, the Hulk replies but according to Black Bolt he was supposed to be there. Because they figured Xavier was smart enough to play God. To judge the Hulk as if he was an animal! He has only one question. If Xavier had been there when they ruined his life, how would he have decided?


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

[Assistant]
Hard Questions
He knows Xavier wasn’t with the Illuminati when they decided to exile him in space, the Hulk states. But if he had been, how would he have judged?
Xavier says nothing. A little hint, Emma Frost telepathically suggests. “No.” He knows what he is doing, Xavier sends back. Two seconds, the Hulk warns him.
Addressing the Hulk as Bruce, Xavier replies he doesn’t intent to dodge the question. But, at the moment, all the past’s mistakes seem to come back to him. He made decisions he believed to be for the good of all. He knows now that was wrong because he made them alone, believing arrogantly to know best. He wants to be honest. He would have agreed to exile… for a limited time. For as long as it would have taken them to cure him. He is right. Xavier played god and there is no excuse for that. But he is ready to pay for that.
Very smart, the Hulk commends him. Stark and the others will soon join him. He reaches for Xavier, only for Colossus to swat his arm away. The professor may have surrendered, they have not. All the members of Cyclops’ handpicked team are standing in front of Xavier who asks Emma to stop blocking his powers.
Is that what they really want? the Hulk asks. All of them? Cyclops looks at Xavier for a moment. All of them, he announces. Good, the Hulk replies and the fight begins over Xavier’s protest.
Cyclops warns the others back as he turns on his optic blast at full strength. He doesn’t deserve anything else, Xavier protests. Maybe, Scott replies but that’s not the point.
The Hulk moves towards Cyclops against the blast and finally grabs him. Shadowcat immediately reacts and phases Scott out of the Hulk’s grip.
Next, Wolverine attacks with his claws and the Hulk tosses him into the trees.
While Colossus and the Beast try to distract the Hulk, Emma shoves Xavier aside, informing him she’s going to join the fight, but the Stepford Cuckoos are going to keep an eye on him and mentally lock him, if necessary. He should stop playing martyr and do something useful like help Elixir with the wounded. Reluctantly, Xavier agrees as he drags aside the injured Cyclops, but adds this is madness.
Emma turns to her diamond form and joins the attack, as unsuccessfully as the rest. Even Lockheed now breathes fire at the Hulk. Shadowcat then drags the Hulk partially into the ground and then lets got, meaning he materializes within the ground. Actually, she is rather disgusted at what she just did, crippling a man, but she adds, he is still dangerous.
Colossus suggest to imprison him somewhere. There’s a prison in the Negative Zone, Emma recalls and suggests calling Stark. Or Richards? Hank asks.
Suddenly, they hear a ripping noise and look around to find the Hulk has just freed himself. Or you can all go to hell, he suggests. He claps his hands together, the thunderclap leveling them all.
Pixie watches the battle from the air and then flies back to the grounds outside to inform the other kids, telling them Miss Pryde is unconscious. They ought to help, Anole insists while Prodigy reminds them they should do what Dr. McCoy told them to. More’s at stake and they wouldn’t be much use anyway. Not in a fight, the three Stepford Cuckoos agree, but in another way. They telepathically call all X-teams available, the members of X-Factor in Mutant Town, another team of X-Men (namely Nightcrawler, Warpath, Hepzibah and Darwin) who are in an X-jet somewhere over Connecticut and even new Excalibur in London, who wonder how they can help as they are too far away.
The Juggernaut runs upstairs to his room. What is he doing? Captain Britain asks. Dazzler holds him back, telling him it must be hard for Cain. She reminds him that despite their troubles, Xavier is still Cain’s brother.
Within his room Cain looks at the jewel of Cyttorak, addressing it. He knows Cyttorak can hear him through the gem. He weakened Cain because he isn’t following his orders anymore. No more destruction and death. He takes up the gem. He has a suggestion. Send Cain where the Hulk is and Cyttorak’ll get his will. A dimensional gate opens and a red pathway forms in front of Cain…
Back at Xavier’s, the Hulk is still battling Emma, Colossus and the Beast, telling them it’s their own fault. He would have been content with Xavier. But now it’s all their turns.
Xavier asks Elixir how he is while the boy heals Beast. Elixir admits he’s almost exhausted his powers. Xavier suggests he should only stabilize the wounded; Xavier will then help them in the Infirmary. He fears things are going to get worse.
They think they are very smart, right? the Hulk rants. Take a good look. He rams Emma into the ground, figuring that once she changes back, she will be vulnerable. Let’s see what happens then.
Colossus hits him and promises to help Emma, once he’s beaten the Hulk. Wrestling him, the Hulk admits Colossus has courage. In the past he may have been a serious foe, but that time is over.
He manages to wrestle him to the ground and breaks the Russian’s arms. Now he is merely a victim. The Hulk tells him to leave before he’ll kill him. Colossus refuses to give up.
Wolverine jumps at the Hulk, ordering him to leave the others alone. At the end, it would be down to the two of them anyway.
The Hulk warns him, this isn’t one of their usual fights. This time it’s different. Yeah your skin is tougher, Logan replies unimpressed as he tries to slice across his chest. But there are softer parts. He slices across the Hulk’s eyes as X-23 did before. Which suits what the Hulk was expecting. He grabs Wolverine, telling him his eyes will heal. He doesn’t have the time to kill him but he can take him out.
He keeps on hitting Wolverine’s head, trying to damage his brain again and again. Exhausted and bleeding, Wolverine sinks down. Only for the Hulk to face the Juggernaut (in civvies) the next moment.
The Hulk holds his own, noting the Juggernaut seems weaker. In fact, he quickly manages to strike Cain down. Was that all? he asks. “No,” comes the reply, they are a big family. Nightcrawler’s team and X-Factor have arrived.


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

[Assistant]
Hard Questions
Reinforcements (namely the members of X-Factor) attack the Hulk while several dupes of Madrox help up Emma Frost and Wolverine.
Hepzibah asks who the monster is and whether Nightcrawler has a plan. Otherwise, they are dead! Nightcrawler asks Emma to telepathically coordinate their plan and Darwin to adapt to the Hulk. Darwin tries to draw out the Hulk’s gamma energy but finds it is too much.
He tries to address the Hulk, telling him he feels for him. How touching, the Hulk mocks and uses a thunderclap to get rid of Darwin before slamming him. Darwin adapts as usually, this time by teleporting away.
Again, Siryn, Wolfsbane, M and Strong Guy attack. The Hulk grabs Wolfsbane and throws her into the flying Siryn to shut her up.  Does he need to know them losers? he mocks. Monet informs him she is practically invulnerable and orders him to give up.
Warpath attacks from behind, nailing the Hulk down with his vibranium knives. He still has his feet, comes the reply as he stomps the ground, causing his foes to fall. He kicks M far away, suggesting she be practically invulnerable in Jersey.
Easily, he pops out the knives and tosses them at Warpath. Again the Indian attacks and gets headbutted for his effort.
And what’s his specialty? the Hulk asks derisively as he hits Strong Guy. Guido grows under his blows as he absorbs the kinetic energy and then discharges it with an equally strong blow. Not bad, the Hulk observes, but notices this hurts Guido worse than him.
Emma telepathically warns Guido that he is damaging his heart this way and is in danger of killing himself!
So much about coordination! she curses and asks Nightcrawler whether Hepzibah plans to do anything. Nightcrawler asks her to keep the Hulk busy for a moment, so Emma turns to her diamond form and proceeds to divert the Hulk.
Nightcrawler teleports on top of him and teleports both of them a few yards away. Emma soon sees the point of the maneuver as the Blackbird flies toward the Hulk. A moment before it hits the Hulk, Kurt teleports the pilot Hepzibah out of the jet.
However, a few moments later, there is movement in the flames and the Hulk throws one of the jet’s turbines at them. Guido quickly steps in front of the others to protect them.
Elsewhere, Cain Marko wonders aloud why he isn’t at full strength. In his hand, the gem of cyttorak answers, telling him not Cyttorak is holding back his strength. He himself is as long as he denies that he is Cyttorak’s avatar. But he wants to destroy! Cain replies. No, Cyttorak corrects him; he wants to help Xavier, his stepbrother who always looked down on him. That’s the thinking of a weakling. Is there really no other reason why Cain is here? There is, Cain admits, the Hulk. To show the world, to show himself that he still… He begins to understand, Cyttorak agrees, but he must give himself to the rage completely. Here in the face of defeat, he must decide what he wants to be. Cain takes the gem…
Within the ruins of the Xavier Institute, Elixir and Xavier are helping Colossus while several Madrox dupes are helping the other injured. One more, Madrox stands guard and announces something. A moment later, the Hulk stands before them again. Wolverine is about to attack, only to be slammed outside.
Colossus gets up and orders the Hulk to stand back. The Hulk sarcastically congratulates Xavier. Now even the injured have to fight for him. Xavier reiterates that he surrenders. And they are against that, Mercury states.
Suddenly, another voice announces the Hulk has another problem. Has he already forgotten? He is the Juggernaut! And there stands Cain, now in full Juggernaut get-up. With cries of primal rage the two attack each other, hit and wrestle. He has beaten him before, the Juggernaut warns. The Hulk retorts that the past is dead. As dead as him!
Downstairs, Madrox, who is taking care of the injured, wonders what is going on upstairs.
Xavier has reached the two combatants and asks Cain to stop. They are shaking the base of the building. It will cave in!
The Hulk finally pushes the Juggernaut with such a strength that he is thrown through the wall and into adjacent Breakstone Lake.
He turns to Xavier. Till Juggernaut returns they will be finished. He is ready, Xavier replies calmly.
Mercury tries to trap the Hulk with her stretchable limbs, warning him not to touch Xavier. Angrily, the Hulk tears her off. Don’t they get it? Nobody can stop him! Not before Xavier has suffered as he has! He tosses her through the glass panes. Xavier runs after her and the Hulk follows.
The Hulk enters what is a graveyard where he finds Xavier cradling Cessily. As if only he has suffered! Mercury announces angrily and tells him to look around. She touches one headstone belonging to Laurie Collins. She only wanted to be liked by others. She was killed when she was 16. Brian Cruz loved his powers and liked her. He and 41 more children died on M-day. Because a damn racist blew them apart.
They also know what it means to suffer and to fight for what’s left. Hulk’s enemies destroyed his happiness and now he wants to do the same to them. For something the Professor isn’t guilty of. It may be in vain but don’t expect them to give up!
The Hulk looks at Xavier, realizing he blames himself for all those deaths. Good. His life is already hell. With that, the Hulk leaves. And Cessily and Xavier hug.
The clean-up begins while the Hulk returns to the spaceship of the Warbond, telling them he wants to be alone.
Xavier tries to thank the Juggernaut, who brushes him off. He didn’t do it for Charles. He tells him to warn the others to stay away from him.
Meanwhile, Elixir and Beast theorize on how to fix Colossus’ bent arms. Xavier makes a suggestion. Cyclops tells him it’s okay. They’ll do it together. Which they do.
Elsewhere the Hulk muses that soon the ultimatum will be over and then things will really start.


[Assistant]
X of Swords: chapter 1
“All I see I own.And I am unsatisfied with the state of things.”- Saturnyne
Del’dilorr, the last watchtower. The kingdom of Dryador,
Otherworld:Outside an army has gathered, led by four persons, the original Horsemen of Apocalypse.
Death with his Egyptian-style Anubis head announces that Del di’lorr is the light in the distance. The last hope of a lost land. And how many times did she refuse their call? That tower… offends him. It has always offended him.
Famine, wearing a stylized pharaoh helmet asks how long it has been since they have eaten well on the bones and blood of a free people, of a free land. Too long, he says. For they offend him. They have always offended him.
Pestilence, dressed in swathes of cloth and carrying a bow, asks if they know that in their language “di lorr “ means “the light forever.” That’s some bold claim. War, with a burning head, scoffs it is a fool’s claim. Everything raised is only for a season. If they are proof of one thing, it’s that. She says, let the wolves run - let the tower fall! Say the word and she will give them war.
Death. Death for all of them! Death announces. They will litter the path to Krakoa with all who would stand against them. For there is an apocalypse coming!
And below them their nightmarish hosts wait.
Inside the watchtower keep, a guard informs the lords that the army has broken though the outer ring and are pouring into the city. The tower will fall. They have to leave!
Is he not called the cursed king? his lord replies. He has outlived three queens, with not a child between them. He has no life to protect, so if his kingdom falls he will fall with it. The guard points out that they are all that stands between here and the Starlight Citadel. They are her vassals. Of course, the king agreed and calls a squire. He hands him a sceptre that will mark him as his herald. He is to tell Saturnyne what has happened here. Let her know what is coming. Mounting a pterodactyl, the young man promises not to fail. The King tells him all of Otherworld depends on it.
The Horsemen see the squire in the sky and Pestilence shoots him with one of her arrows. To add their message…
Later at the Starlight Citadel, the guards order Opal Luna Saturnyne back, warning her that the dying squire’s body on the ground is diseased. They recognize the scepter of Dryador. Dying of whatever Pestilence infected him with, the young man mumbles Arakko… the Tower! The Tower has fallen! Arakko has fallen! he finally states. Shaken, Saturnyne announces she needs the cards.
And so, soon in some forgotten place, some forsaken time, four of Saturnyne’s more exotic looking servants step out of a gateway. A being with a fishlike face, Ryll, points towards the slave sun. Saturnyne needs what is hidden in there. She orders Quaddeus Quo to summon it.
The bull-like being speaks an incantation and the heart of the star reveals a giant wormlike being. When the worm seems to protest, the fishlike woman replies it shouldn’t think of this not as its end but as the fulfilment of what it is meant to be. It is not going to be much use to them like this though, is it? Quaddeus Quo speaks another incantation and the being shrinks and falls into their hands. When Quaddeus Quo expresses doubt, the fish woman replies that they serve at the pleasure of Saturnyne. A star is a small price to pay for such favor. They return to the Starlight Citadel and put the creature into a box.
Opal Luna Saturnyne, omniversal Majestrix, puts on some protective gloves and takes out what the thing has turned to - a very special Tarot set. She spreads the cards.
Judgment is the first one. (The card shows Apocalypse and the Summoner). The death of death and the new way forward. The witchbreed bring back their dead now. Have they considered what else rises from the earth to attack those who call themselves immortal?
It is followed by the Four of Wands (the card shows the four Horsemen attacking a monstrous army). A family that has been fighting for aeons has one final confrontation before the rest over the ashes of the defeated. They face the last battle and the spoils of victory. They have built a hard home, and one must dwell within.
The card is followed by the Hanged Man:(it shows a group of Krakoan mutants led by Apocalypse) Saturnyne muses that here no men hang but something has been suspended indeed. Time, Earth’s laws and natural attachments. They bring themselves here to the game at the gallows. What do they wager to lose?
The Eight of Cups follows (a split image: one half a beautiful dark-skinned woman, the other half wearing a golden tentacle mask). Someone’s heart has been left empty. She has been wanting for something more. Will she turn away? A woman like her keeps her cup close.
The last card is the Ten of Swords (it depicts ten Krakoans holding swords: Apocalypse, Cable, Wolverine, Captain Britain and Magik can be easily identified. The rest are obscured by shadows). Saturnyne’s light in darkness. Something she has long desired flickers just out of reach. But for the ones who hold the blades a great match lights the darkness indeed.
Krakoa:The Arakko Point: the recently created External Gate, where Prestige, Rockslide and Magma are standing. They hear a strange sound coming from it, as the gate opens. Rachel scans and states the people coming are friendly. But there’s also— she’s interrupted by a huge tentacle monster, atop of which sits Summoner who is holding onto an unconscious Banshee and asking for help. The Summoner shouts that Banshee is dying.
Soon they have brought Banshee to the Healing Garden and into the care of the Morlock Healer, who states Banshee is between life and death. Apocalypse asks what happened. The Summoner explains they were attacked in Otherworld on the way to Arakko. There is an army on the march… there is war underway. Apocalypse orders his grandson to come with him, and soon they stand before the Quiet Council, Krakoa’s ruling body.
Apocalypse introduces his grandson as a High Summoner from Arakko and son of his daughter War. He summarizes they recently constructed an External gate on the small part of Arakko joined to Krakoa.
A displeased Magneto points out that Apocalypse did this on his own, without asking the Council and may very well have cost mutants their lives. Apocalypse retorts that mutants create gates all the time without asking the Council. Why ask permission when none is needed? If he did not have Krakoa’s blessing, then Krakoa would have stopped him. He suggests they ask the island.
Professor X asks Cypher to interpret the island’s stance. Cypher speaks to the island in a language only the two of them understand. He seems surprised by what the island tells him and somewhat annoyed. Cypher tells the others that Krakoa acknowledges and accepts the gift of the External Gate.
Apocalypse thanks the island, then turns to the others and narrates that once there was only one land – Okkara. Then the Twilight Sword of the enemy tore the land asunder and what was once one became two: Arakko and Krakoa. Months ago, this blessed child and part of Arakko returned to him… the Summoner sought him out and sang a refugee’s song: save us! So Apocalypse began building gates, experimenting in the hope that he could save them along with Krakoa’s lost half. He recently sent the Summoner back through to prepare his coming. He asks his grandson to narrate what happened.
The Summoner’s tale:Summoner narrates how he, Banshee and Unus left through the External Gate and entered Otherworld. Above them they saw the Starlight Citadel floating. They were fascinated and noticed too late the dark army that broke Arrako. Servants of the Twilight Sword, they serve Annihilation. They attacked the three mutants. Unus was captured and Banshee was wounded. The Summoner fled with him and returned here. Downcast, he warns that the end of this world is coming.End of narration
Wonderful, Emma Frost sighs, studying her nails. Professor X asks Apocalypse for a proper assessment of the threat.
The ancient mutant explains that, thousands of years ago, he gave up half the world to stop these monsters. All that cost was his wife, his children and scores of godlike mutants whose names they have never heard. He gave everything to stop this. So… a proper assessment? The threat is real!
Shaw points out that Apocalypse opened the door to this danger with the External Gate. So shut it! Storm comments this would mean abandoning Unus, plus the citadel and all it represents. They cannot just ignore this. Marvel Girl offers to get Cyclops. He can lead a rescue team to get Unus and—
Apocalypse cuts her off. He will go. Mr. Sinister likes the idea. Then they can shut the External Gate behind him.
Exodus asks if he is alone in seeing an ashen tint in overcast heaven? Something comes… something beyond their ability to see, but he can feel it. Nightcrawler agrees. They shocked the world, and now the world has recovered. They gather enemies old and new at a faster pace: Homines verendi, the Flower Cartel, Xeno… Mystique grimly suggests they not forget Orchis.
Kate Pryde muses that she is the only person here who hasn’t walked through one of the gates, so maybe she is missing the point here: If the larger gate makes them vulnerable and they close it, do they still have a path to Otherworld?
Apocalypse replies that there is a gateway to Avalon which is controlled by Jamie Braddock, the omega mutant Monarch. It is a vassal state of the Starlight Citadel and offers them access to most of Otherworld. Then why the second, larger gate? Xavier demands. Apocalypse replies that it is different. Unlike other gates, the External Gate isn’t under full control by Krakoa. And he is beginning to suspect that access is not limited to mutants…
Emma and Magneto immediately demand it should be destroyed. Shaw languidly suggests democracy and a vote. Emma, Shaw, Xavier, Magneto, Sinister, Exodus and Mystique all raise their hands in favor of destroying the External Gate, carrying the majority. Xavier begins to speak to Apocalypse, but is interrupted by Cypher, who speaks for Krakoa. He tells them that Krakoa wants the gate to remain open.
The island itself begins to speak and Cypher translates that they are guests here. Their coexistence is collaborative and wonderful. It’s a union of shared interests but “I am the land. And the land is mine.”
Xavier apologizes to Krakoa and assures the island of their respect. He understands the dream of the reunification of Krakoa and Arakko, but it seems that Arakko has fallen to a dark enemy. He asks Krakoa to consider their union and safety. Krakoa speaks and Doug translates that unless there is a greater known threat. The gate remains open.
Magneto realizes that Apocalypse expected this. The ancient mutant admits it. After all, he and the island want the same thing. Angrily, Magneto tells him that, whatever he is about to do, he does it without the authority or blessing of the council. Of course, Apocalypse replies stone-faced. He will ask for volunteers.
And so, volunteers soon gather at the External Gate. Next to Apocalypse and the Summoner, there is Banshee’s daughter Siryn, original X-Men Beast and Archangel, Rictor who has been working closely with Apocalypse, Rockslide who has befriended the Summoner, Monet St Croix and Havok, who is surprised to find his ex, Polaris, there as well. Havok greets her and she muses how often they are going to blindly step though some gate and upend their lives. Cost of doing business, right? he jokes and asks if her father Magneto asked her to come. “The strength of the House of M must never be questioned” she quotes. And him? Alex explains, as this is extra-council Cyclops couldn’t come, so he asked him.
Beast and Archangel sit a bit apart, watching the others. Warren muses that there is something going on between Rictor and Apocalypse. Same with Summoner and Rockslide. Is Hank here because he is curious? Creature of habit, Beast replies. Warren however… He knows, but all this talk from Apocalypse of hidden lands and secret histories. He still doesn‘t trust him. So he has to be here. They wonder what the last member Penance is thinking.
Apocalypse addresses her, asking if she has ever been to Otherworld, ventured into the unseen lands, felt the invisible hand of the Starlight Citadel as she moves the infinite… She hasn’t, Monet replies haughtily, but it feels like a job she might want down the road. So, are they doing this?
In the Healing Gardens, Cable joins his sister Rachel, who is looking pensively at the sleeping Banshee. He knows that look. Looks like trouble. Rachel brings him up to speed. Banshee is resting and the Healers say he will recover, but his mind is… Nate agrees, he can feel it. This Banshee’s screaming. She’s gonna take a look, isn’t she? Rachel asks if he will help and Nate agrees.
At the External Gate:The group is making their way through. Archangel asks what Apocalypse is smiling at. Him, is the reply. It’s good to see him in this form and not the other. It’s good to see him as he really is. What Apocalypse made him - an Angel of Death. Archangel replies it has always blown his mind that Apocalypse thinks he can be just him and there’s no end to it. “Our sins will find us out,” he warns as they step through the gate. Apocalypse rather considers it righteous work. That’s exactly what he’s talking about! Warren refers to his attitude. The lie that if Apocalypse thinks it matters, then it’s okay if someone else pays!
They step out in Otherworld. Armies fill the fields and the Starlight Citadel in the skies is besieged. Is there nothing he has done that he regrets? Archangel challenges Apocalypse.
Beast spies Unus as a prisoner of the demon-like armies. Even Apocalypse utters “my god” when he sees the four leaders of the hosts, the Horsemen. He turns to Archangel and repeats his question. As a tear runs down his face, he states this. This he regrets. Warren asks who they are. His light, his life, is the reply. Something lost he dared not believe he’d find. His sons, his daughters. They are his children. He walks towards them.
Krakoa, Banshee’s mindscape:Prestige and Cable access Banshee’s memories. He, Summoner and Unus have just left the External Gate. They sense something wrong. They see the Summoner stepping towards the leader of the demon horde.
Otherworld:Apocalypse walks toward the Horsemen, the Summoner following him. He has no words, Apocalypse admits as he sinks to his knees. He can’t believe that this is real… that they live… it is more than he hoped for. This has always been his dream. He reaches for them. They order him to stand. They want to see him as they remember him. As a titan. As a god. He stands up. He has so many questions. Tell him of Arakko. If it fell… by what miracle have they returned to him.
Pestilence replies she wouldn’t call the hell they endured a miracle. Far from it. Apocalypse carefully asks about their mother. Gone. Destroyed, Famine replies. She fell under the Twilight Blade. Death adds if it eases his pain, there was no avoiding it. It was always going to end this way. He has no idea what thousands of years of war in that place is like. It could break the strongest of them. He is sorry, Apocalypse admits hesitatingly. War scoffs that regret is for the weak, and they were born strong.
In that place, only the fit survive… and here they are. Would he like to know the one thing that kept them alive all these years? She touches his cheek. It wasn’t love. She stabs him in the chest with a fiery hand while the Summoner stabs him in the back with a shadowy sword. Siryn screams, causing them to topple.
Banshee’s mindscape: Cable and Prestige see the Summoner talking to War and Death and grinning evilly. They realize he betrayed them. Prestige probes deeper. She sees Saturnyne and two of her priestesses. Saturnyne looks up impossibly sensing the mindprobe. She tells Rachel she is looking for the wrong thing. There is a great game afoot and if they want to play… if they want to win, this is what they need. Find it! She plants an image in their minds.
Reality:The probe is broken off. Rachel asks Cable if he could see what she showed them. She tells him to find Mom and Dad and show them. She is going to stay with Banshee and see if she can find anything else.
Otherworld:Ryll, the fish-woman, wakes Saturnyne from her meditation. Is it time? Saturnyne asks. Ryll believes so and wonders how with the rumble of war below it can have escaped her attention. She was in another realm is her reply, at some other time, in a poor fool’s head, moving things as she sees fit, delicate work that does not tolerate distraction. She calls an army a distraction? They head outside to see the battlefield below. She sees an army, Saturnyne see pawns.
Ryl sees the Krakoans have come. Will Saturnyne help them? Saturnyne does not reply.
Below, the Krakoans who have freed Unus fight. Rockslide shouts that they need to get Apocalypse back through the gate. Calling him “friend,” the Summoner points out he cannot be saved. Rockslide seethes at the Summoner’s words. How could he do this? Why? Calling a black sword to his hand, the other man replies he is a Summoner of many things, most of all lies. They played a game once, friend, now it ends. With his sword, he slices right through Rockslide’s body, cleaving him in two halves.
Rictor and Beast carry Apocalypse away. Beast tries to lighten the mood by joking how could things get any worse. That moment, Rictor gets hit by one of Pestilence’s poison arrows. Archangel grabs Apocalypse, while Siryn grabs Rictor. Beast shouts at Havok for a strategical retreat. Havok orders the others to go. He, Penance and Polaris will cover their retreat and make sure no one follows.
The Summer House on the moon:Cable shouts for his parents, who are in the kitchen. Agitated, he shouts what happened, then asks Jean to take a look. She telepathically bonds the three and replays the situation. They also share a look at the image Saturnyne planted. Jean has no idea what it is, but Cyclops does and he knows where to find it.
Otherworld:The three X-Men battle the Arakki. In her Penance form, Monet looks at the Starlight Citadel in the sky and wonders why they don’t come down to help. Polaris suggests she invite them to help. Monet telepathically contacts Saturnyne, shouting, is she really going to sit there, watch her kingdom get ravaged and do nothing?
Saturnyne replies she does as she pleases. And she can promise it has nothing to do with the whims of Monet or any other of her kind. She orders her to run along like a child, and shatters Monet’s astral form.
Returned to the ground, Monet mutters that that is not a nice woman. Havok suggests she may need some encouragement to do the right thing. The citadel is a mighty big piece of floating metal. They sent them an invitation, let’s make it a request, he suggests to Polaris, who begins to magnetically drag the citadel down.
Earth:Cyclops, Marvel Girl and Cable infiltrate a certain building, which allows them to teleport to their destination. Looking at a metal globe in front of them, Cable asks what it is.
OtherworldRyll shouts that the mutant is pulling them to earth. Saturnyne is not anxious, claiming she has foreseen everything and now it is time to show all who rules this land. Forever and without question.
She snaps her fingers and the combatants fly apart and are held in stasis. She and Ryll wander the battlefield as she wonders aloud what she is going to do with them. Monet orders her to unfreeze her. Satrnyne refuses.
Elsewhere:Jean ventures that the round thing looks like some sort of energy core. Close, Scott agrees. Everything here is powered by a remote singularity drive. That energy flow is achieved by a stable trans space bridge which apparently is offline, since everything here looks like it’s running on back-up. If he remembers correctly, this is the lever that opens the bridge, enabling everything to power up. The problem is you need a pretty significant independent power source to get all this started, and he honestly doesn’t know where they’d find… Cable interrupts and shows him his Galadorian energy sword. Clever boy, Scott smiles.
Otherworld:Saturnyne turns to the equally frozen Arakki and asks what made them think they could march an army into her lands and hope for an outcome that did not end in tears? She thinks they answer to her, witch? Death spits. Here all answer to her, Saturnyne replies and simply shrinks him to child size. Now by what right are they here? By right of the Twilight Sword and their liege who wields it! But if she thinks her magic or even their destruction is enough to deter them, she is wrong, Death warns. They will have the other half of the land. They will have Krakoa, and the way there is though here. If they have to break a million bodies against her citadel they will. She has his word.
Saturnyne’s servant Ryll interjects that he seems to be saying they are willing to pay a blood price for what they want. Dryador has fallen. These creatures were its conquerors. There is precedent. Saturnyne agrees. She kneels down to be one height with the shrunken Death. Are they exercising their rights as a vassal state of the Starlight Citadel? Are they willing to fight for it in a manner she sees fit? They will meet her in any arena she chooses, is the reply.
Ryll witnesses the words. Saturnyne announces that in three days he will summon the champions of Arakko to face the champions of Otherworld. She returns him to his normal size and he agrees.
Ryll nervously asks who shall fight for Otherworld. Shall they call out for Avalon? For Blightspoke or Hothive? Who would fight and die to stop the Arakko horde from crossing Otherworld to Krakoa. With a smile, Saturnyne gives Monet permission to speak. *&%$ you, is Monet’s concise response. Saturnyne asks Polaris and Havok what they have to say. The reply is, they don’t have much choice, do they? Saturnyne remarks all of this was foreordained. Then, yeah, they’ll fight, Havok announces. Ryll witnesses the acceptance of the challenge.
Saturnyne calls the card that’s drawn and tells them to see what the future holds. See it now! She casts a spell that hits Pestilence and Polaris. Pestilence begins to rattle down the names of ten swords: the Twilight Blade, Mercy, Vermilion, the Red Sword of War, Colony, the Black Bone of Amduat, Seducer, Pogg ur-Pogg, Purity, Alluvium, Muramasa!
And Polaris does the same: Muramasa, the Sword of Might, the Starlight Sword, Grasscutter, Godkiller, Warlock, the Soulsword, the Scarab, the Light of Galador, Skybreaker!
The Ten of Swords, Saturnyne announces.
In space, Cable uses the sword as energy source and activates the bridge.
Otherworld:Saturnyne tells them that in three days they will gather their champions her. Then they will see what they are made of. Lives will be lost, alliances will be shattered and fortunes will be gained. Know this. Monet interrupts: here’s what she wants to know. What game is she playing? The oldest one there is, is the reply. So they find the blades, pick the champions and then what?
It’s exactly what she thinks, is the condescending explanation. You step into the arena, face your enemy and then you raise your sword…
In space, the PEAK, formerly HQ of SWORD, has gone online.


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

[Assistant]
X of Swords: Stasis
“I pull their strings and they dance.The question is: When I cut their strings, will they still?” Saturnyne
Luna Opal Saturnyne sends her green priestesses as emissaries, inviting the leaders of Otherworld’s realms to a contest of worlds. Among the invitees are Mad Jim Jaspers of the Crooked Market, the Vampires of Sevalith, the Fury from Infuri the Everforge, Lady Roma Regina in her floating kingdom and her father Merlyn, who is currently busy in his torture chamber in the Holy Republic of Fae.
Soon the heads of states are in a chamber in the Crystal Citadel to vote on the contest between Arakko and Krakoa. It is little surprise to Saturnyne that Roma and Merlyn vote against each other. Versperidae from the colony Hothive votes with a ‘nay.’ King Jamie Braddock of Avalon with a yea. They’ve nothing to hide and they love visitors, he stresses. As long as they are polite.
Saturnyne turns to the mysterious unnamed representative from the recently renamed Mercator, a completely black, flat-headed being. She doesn’t suppose they intend to cast a vote this time, she asks sarcastically, or tell them who they are and where they are from? She suggests, if they don’t have anything to say, next parliament stay home. And tell Mr. Mercator he would do well to hurry up and get the province ready for company. The longer he takes to invite her, the more friends she brings with her when she visits…
Sheriff Gia Whitechapel from Blightspoke interrupts: they ain’t interested in an invite. Places like this Mercator can’t lock them out forever and still claim a seat at the meeting.
Is she proposing an invasion in one the territories? Merlyn demands angrily. He informs her she is new here, but the vote sets a precedent. One that allows each province to defend their borders staunchly, despite what the brazen assumption of Dryador eat would have them believe.
Representatives of what is left of Dryador are the First Horsemen, Pestilence and Famine. Stupid little man, Pestilence hisses. His faerie blood will boil with fever the same as any other. The Holy Republic of Fae demands justice for the fall of Dryador! Merlyn shouts while her own people have to hold back Sheriff Whitechapel.
Pounding her gavel, Saturnyne calls for order. She turns to the First Horsemen. She has allowed them to haunt that bloody seat in the name of a peaceable council but, now that they disturb these halls, she demands answers. Do they present themselves as the conquering leaders of Dryador? No, is Famine’s reply. They have killed Dryador’s childless leader and poisoned every ocean with Draydori blood. They have not killed Dryador’s leaders. They have killed Dryador. This seat belongs to Arakko, which in turn belongs to Amenth. And they claim it thusly.
Saturnyne tells her secretary to make a note. They will settle the contest between them and Avalon for the right to cross her land. Then, if they are still standing, they can see to their behavior.
Their ten hungriest warriors wield their ten thirstiest blades, Famine replies. What about Avalon? Saturnyne asks King Jamie Braddock. With a smirk, he replies they will soon arrive. Saturnyne orders her court to watch the ritual, for dawn soon rises and the champions will arrive.
Krakoa:The Corvus Glade:The nine champions have gathered: Apocalypse, Captain Britain, Captain Avalon, Storm, Wolverine, Cable, Magik, Cypher and Gorgon. Nine only because Gorgon bears two of the prophesied swords. Apocalypse asks Gorgon if he is prepared for their ritual. He has seen so many rituals in his day, is the reply. Most of them bore him now. So many of them call for blood or souls. Trifling things. If this were another of those, he would hardly be intrigued enough to answer the call. To call on both his blades by name? That intrigues him.
Apocalypse addresses the other champions and asks if they are ready. Have they said their goodbyes? Their goodbyes? Teenage Cable mutters surprised and asks if they could get a pep talk instead. Couldn’t hurt.
Apocalypse addresses the others that most of them are mutants. They have tasted the sweetness of immortality, an evolution of their people. Now they step into Otherworld, where all realities are one, and their defeat will mean the death of Krakoa, the death of this Earth and the death of them, as they are now, never to return. So, when they fight they must not do so as humans, who stand to lose a few years of toil but like a mutant who stands to lose forever in paradise! For if they do not, they will not be the first immortals he has watched die.
Elsewhere, the swordbearers of Arakko have gathered as well.
Flashback:Three days ago:Del Dylor, last watchtower of the fallen kingdom of Dryador:Pestilence speaks the prophecies to her siblings and her nephew the Summoner, surrounded by the corpses of the dead lying in a pattern around them. The Summoner takes a black sword sticking out of one of the corpses. His aunt has collected no small amount of corpses for this exercise in divination, he remarks. Some might find it excessive. Still, they are all family here, so why lie about art done well.
Famine names the blades they already know: Aluvium, Seducer, the Black Bone… but there are others he has never heard of. Death fears some of them will belong to foes. War especially fumes at the idea of having Solem join them.
Some distance away stands their leader, Annihilation, who tells them she has waited thousands of years for this and will not allow pride to stand in their way. Bring her the blades! Bring her the bearers! Nothing else matters!
And so soon on Arakko the Summoner speaks to Redroot the Forest, who has the same role on Arakko as Cypher has on Krakoa, communicating with the island. Arakko speaks and Redroot informs the Summoner the world is not happy with him. And why should she be? He came here, begged for a piece of her, which she gave in hope of reunification -- and he returns here with what - the promise of more violence? Do they ever get tired of the blood they cover themselves with?
The Summoner shrugs. He is what he is. What this world and the other has made him. Would she rather he lie, or would she prefer the truth? Either skin suits him, she shoots back, so why not both? He replies that, if she comes with him, he gives his word that no harm will come to her and that her sword will not leave its sheath. That’s a lie, Redroot replies. The let this be a truth, he announces forcefully: this does not end without the two halves of the world rejoined. No peace. No quarter given!
Redroot turns to Arakko, which is crying. It’s okay, she knows, she tells the island. She will fight.
Amenth:Pestilence and War put a sack full of treasure outside a cave. What does he mean where did they get it? they ask defensively. It’s true wealth, enough to buy a sword which he is always selling. A voice from inside the cave replies, Pogg ur-Pogg is for sale when Pogg ur-Pogg says it is so. And those rocks smell hot. Yes, they are stolen, War agrees. Is he for sale or not? He considers and replies that the price is more. Pestilence lures him with the promise of an entire new world to plunder. Finally, Pogg ur-Pogg, a giant walking armored crocodile with a huge sword, comes out enticed by the promise of a whole world to plunder.
Arakko:Bei the Bloodmoon, a tall masked female hunter has just slain a tentacled monster. The Summoner respectfully addresses her by her titles. Yes, she interrupts him in her own strange kind of speaking. What? He replies confused. There is a battle of some kind? She smirks. Yes, he agrees. Them let’s go, she replies. She has men to kill.
Amenth:The Ivory Spire of the White Sword:Siting on his throne, the White Sword, dressed in white armor expresses his pleasure that Death and Famine come under the flag of peace. He has always known how weak they are, hiding behind their armies. It pleases him to turn them away, to defeat them, time after time. And now they come with these stories of a common enemy, of a great cause that unites them? He cares for none of that. He just wants to hear them beg.
Death stonily tells him he should know better. They don’t beg. The White Sword laughs and reminds him he was there when his mother weaned him. He was a beggar that day. And he remembers when she beat Death for being weak. He begged her to stop but she did not, so he cried and ran and hid. Don’t tell him they don’t beg. He is too old for the bold talk of children. When his Hundred left the Split Land and threw themselves into the Amenthian hell, he knew this is where his army would die for old Okkara. They did that for them, and what did they ever do but bow their heads to Amenth? How dare they ask him for anything?
Yet here he is asking, Death replies. What will it take to make this right? What can they offer for the White Sword to join them? Of what worth is a traitor’s word? the White Sword spits. Nothing, he supposes, Famine agrees. Yet they are asking. Ask what he wants and if they win, it is his. Do they have any idea how long he has waited to hear those words? is the reply.
Arakko:In a tavern, their two sisters recruit their aunt, Isca the Unbeaten, which goes a lot faster and easier.
Amenth, a temple:Outside lie slain members of the Horde. Famine muses that, when they made peace with Amenth, they promised the Horde to respect their sacred sites, most of all this temple, but not this day, as Death takes their most sacred relic, the sword called the Black Bone of Amduat. Death points out they worshipped death, and death he has given them. And so, the ten champions of Arakko and their blades are gathered.
Otherworld, the Starlight Citadel: the champions of Krakoa arrive. Impressed, Cable asks Betsy if she lives here. The current Captain Britain snorts that she is barely welcome here. Storm reminds them that might go for them all. Tread as carefully as they would on any new planet. Brian Braddock, now Captain Avalon, agrees and warns them Lady Saturnyne is powerful enough to be as fickle as she pleases. And she oft pleases. He warns that this is part of her plan. How unsettled they are, how unsure. It’s how she operates. Everything is in flux now and the rules don’t have to make any sense to anyone but her.
Somewhat panicked, Cypher bursts out: what rules? They got teleported here after some sort of ritual. He thought they were going to have to use their - you know – swords! Illyana agrees (less panicked). Apocalypse explains that the swords were a key. Think of them as a pass. To prove you are worthy for the next steps. Wolverine snarls he doesn’t need rules and step to figure out how to use a sword. Gorgon agrees. If the white witch chooses to play a game, he says, let’s cut the board in half. He is too old for games.
Apocalypse coaches patience. They are primarily mutants. Saturnyne is tricky, yes, but she has not in her the thing that joins them all. Wolverine announces what joins them all. Anything does, if you can figure out how to kill it.
Indeed, it does, comes a voice from elsewhere as Saturnyne makes her entrance, standing on a balcony above them. She reminds them this is her house and in it she will do as she pleases. Calling Wolverine an “awful, little man,” she asks him to remind her, what happens if he dies here in this realm. She could do it with a snap of her finger. No more Wolverine. Anywhere. Ever.
Captain Britain intervenes, announcing this is Saturnyne’s game and they are her pawns. Is that she wants to hear? She has brought them here on her terms. At least give them the rules, so they can play fairly. Saturnyne coolly orders her not to rush her. She doesn’t like it. Or her (referring to Betsy). She tells them they can freshen up in their chambers she had prepared for them. In the evening, they are invited to the feast where they will meet the other side’s combatants.
In their chambers, each of them finds an envelope on the bed with a tarot card inside.
A surprised Captain Britain finds the Nine of Swords, a card depicting a woman dressed in purple, stabbed by nine swords.
Cypher is puzzled by his card, the Nine of Cups. It depicts two people in profile turned toward each other each holding a cup, the smaller person seems to be him, the larger is in shadow.
Gorgon throws his card away without looking (if even he could), deeming it ridiculous.
Captain Avalon finds the Knight of Pentacles. The card depicts him on a flying hippogriff, sword raised. He wonders what Saturnyne is up to.
Magik lies on her bed and grins as she looks at her card depicting her in a teleportation circle.
Oh, come one, Cable whines, really? He looks at himself as the Fool, one step away from walking blindly into the abyss.
Wolverine angrily slices up his bedding. His card, Strength, shows the Summoner having him in a death grip.
Storm is shocked as she looks at Death – herself on a horse leading an army of monsters.
Apocalypse looks at his card and shreds it before announcing the game no longer suits him.
Saturnyne stands on her balcony casting a spell for her wishes to come true. She is interrupted by Ryll, who informs her that her next meeting is waiting for her. She is very impatient. Saturnyne and Ryll walk downwards and Saturnyne muses what a lovely evening it is to take in the air at the top.
Apocalypse snarls at her to enjoy it while she can and calls her witch. He dares? Saturnyne snaps, while Ryll assumes a defensive stance. Apocalypse demands what the meaning of this taunt, this nonsense is, referring to the crumpled card. Saturnyne is very displeased at its destruction. Uncaring, Apocalypse demands she explain herself before he becomes angry.
She points out those cards are very old and the only set quite like that. She’d appreciate it if he treated them more kindly. She points out he is a guest here. He tells her not to speak to him of hospitality. It is one of the world’s oldest arts and he is one of the world’s oldest.
Changing her tack, she smiles slyly and tells him it is just a card. He oughtn’t let it get him so upset. She enters an elevator. He follows. Saturnyne muses he is very curious. He defeated Morgan le Fay in battle, which she considered a lucky favor. But instead of coming to her as an ally he has spied, invaded and downright bullied his way into her citadel. But in the end? She invited him in. Does that sting? That he needed an invitation?
Calling her witch, he asks if she is provoking him. He says “witch” like a man who hasn’t been doing naughty rituals all across existence, is the amused reply. Everything he has done, every gate he opened has been a step towards a goal he has crawled toward for millennia! he insists. Saturnyne points out he is taking this barely realized form of magic he claims to have been studying for centuries to its grand conclusion so quickly… it isn’t like him. She uses magic to restore her card. Not that she knows him well, but she does know he is very old. He is a lot of things and has a lot of flaws, but he is too old to be impatient.
They arrive downstairs. Her next meeting, Saturnyne informs him. Considering the card, she thought he might be interested.
Seeing the person standing there, Apocalypse recognizes the helmet. He has seen it every night, for thousands of years. In dreams of rescue and revenge. He holds the restored card “the Lovers” showing him and his wife in an embrace, the shadow of death looming over them. And nightmares of what he had lost and what he would do to reclaim it, he continues. The violent horrors he would bring to his ancient enemy in the name of his eternal love. And now it seems, they are one and the same. Tell him how!
Annihilation takes off the helmet to reveal his wife Genesis. He knows the answer, husband of hers, Genesis replies. Survival of the fittest.


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

[Assistant]
X of Swords: Destruction
I will carry these burdens forever, and if not forever, then until the day I die.- Apocalypse
Otherworld: the Starlight CitadelAt the close, all the cards have been drawn but one. Saturnyne studies her cards. With a slight smile, she draws the Wheel of Fortune… and the Captain Britain Corps is reborn. The Captains - – all variants of Elizabeth Braddock - appear through a gateway in the sky.
Below in the battle, Captain Avalon looks up. Elated, he shouts that the Captain Britain Corps has returned. The Captains join the fight.
Annihilation decapitates one of them with her blade. She orders War to summon their own army. War complies and sends a fiery signal into the sky, alerting the Summoners who form a circle and summon forth the monstrous creatures of Amenth. Even demon queen Magik has to admit that is not good.
Saturnyne still watches from her balcony as her priestesses carry the injured Cable to her. Weakly, he asks how bad it is. Are they losing? Yes, is the calm reply. He asks why she isn’t doing anything. He says that as if it rests on her… which it does not. He forgets… what was set in motion cannot be stopped.
On the ground, an Amenthi traps Apocalypse with vines bursting from the ground.
They fight for love and hate, Saturnyne continues, salvation and death, damnation and eternity. And none of these will be denied.
Cyclops telepathically contacts Cable, promising they are on their way. Marvel Girl and the Stepford Cuckoos next link Cyclops with Magik. So, he takes it the things are dire and the weather is looking grim, he jokes. She replies she was worried they wouldn’t make it. He asks her to kick the door open for them. It would be her pleasure. She slams her Soulsword into the ground and opens as big a stepping disc as she can in the sky. And through it comes the PEAK, appearing above the Starlight Citadel.
Shortly before that, Cyclops and Marvel Girl had recruited most of the fighters on Krakoa, and now all of them join the battle.
Apocalypse is still fighting his wife Genesis, who buries her sword in his stomach. She tells him she cannot give in because she would be yielding to it. The fight is all she has left. Annihilation cannot be beaten. He grabs her and holds her close. Surrendering is not the same thing as losing! He shouts. He can heal the breach. He can make them all whole! He can make them whole! She stammers that she is so tired of this fight. Suddenly she begins to glow in an unholy light. In a different voice, she announces she is Annihilation. She orders the Summoners to summon all of darker Amenth, every beast, every weapon… and the Summoners teleport in indescribable horrors.
Cable looks down from the balcony of the Starlight Citadel. He figures it’s over and asks Saturnyne to put him down there with his family. Calmly, she asks what card he was dealt. The fool, he replies. A fool with a sword, she agrees. And only a fool would believe that is what he is actually holding. He is an idiot! he realizes then telepathically reaches out to Cyclops, Marvel Girl and Magik to come get him.
Magik teleports them inside the PEAK station. Cable uses his sword the Light of Galador to power up the station’s core and, a moment later… a gate opens, freeing the alien Vescora, whom Magik teleports onto the battlefield against the Summoners.
Annihilation stands against them. That leaves Apocalypse free to surprise her. He smashes her to the ground and tears off the Annihilation helmet. Everyone stares.
Go on, finish it, Saturnyne urges him as he puts it on doing battle with the being within.
The fishwoman Ryl warns Saturnyne that the aliens from the other place are not just destroying the mages of Arakko and Amenth – they are tearing at the fabric of Otherworld itself. She has to stop them. Not yet, Saturnyne replies.
Whoever defeats the helm, claims the helm, Genesis states. Whoever wears that crown, controls the land. And the helm… controls them.
The Annihilation helm orders Apocalypse to raise its horde. Lead them to victory over all who stand against them. Apocalypse struggles and shouts ‘no.’ Yes, it replies. He cannot deny what he has won. Claim it!
He claims it, Apocalypse replies, but not Annihilation! The helm scoffs, asking if he thinks he can fight it. She couldn’t and she is stronger than he, fitter, more! Apocalypse replies that she fought to win. He doesn’t care about winning anymore. He only wants to save his people, their people. He reaches for the helm.
And across the battlefield, Pestilence and Famine shudder as they see that Isca the Unbeaten changes sides. They cannot win!
The shape of the helmet on Apocalypse wavers as he turns towards Saturnyne and kneels down before her in surrender. And Annihilation screams.
Saturnyne flies down to the battle field in his dragonform, disposing of the creatures she doesn’t need and to settle accounts with the players she does. The battle has stopped as she lands.
Apocalypse is still kneeling, Genesis is standing beside him. Saturnyne asks if he is sure he wants to surrender. After all, there is still an entire multiverse to conquer. Yes, they are done here, Apocalypse replies. No, never! the mask screams.
Saturnyne sighs and asks for permission to tame the helmet which apocalypse grants. She magically changes it and announces that nothing changes in regard to what is required. Whoever wields the helm controls the world… and that world most certainly needs controlling. This will make it more manageable. Still corrupting of course, but it will not directly control the bearer. Any requests? Would they like it in the shape of a sword? Annihilation refuses.
Ignoring Annhilation’s threats Saturnyne changes it into an intricate mix of an arrow and a sceptre and hands it to Genesis. She announces the contest is settled. Otherworld stands triumphant. Krakoa survives. Arakko – vassal of Amenth – yields. But she is troubled by their precocious nature. Wolverine announces, if she wants something else, there isn’t much in the tank. Storm agrees. Saturnyne decides she requires one mutant from each side to leave their home and live with the enemy… a show of good faith. She asks Genesis whom she chooses. Genesis takes Apocalypse’s hands and asks if she can choose him. He agrees but warns her, he is not the same mutant she left long ago. With a smile, she tells him she sees who he truly is.
Who speaks for Krakoa? Saturnyne asks. Cyclops gets ready to speak but Apocalypse interrupts and chooses the mutant island of Arakko. Saturnyne points out that Aarakko has mutant prisoners in the millions. Is he sure that’s what he wants? Yes. With a smile, she admits that wasn’t in the cards. Well done. The war over, Saturnyne orders them to leave.
Cyclops tells Apocalypse he didn’t have to do that. Of course, he did is the reply. Cyclops asks if there is anything he should tell the professor and Magneto. Just one thing. That he will see them again. Someday. Apocalypse leaves with his wife and children.
Inside the Starlight Citadel, Saturnyne addresses her assistant Ryll, stating she sees that look. She has a question for her. Ryll asks about the assuredness and confidence with which she navigated all this chaos. Did she know everything ahead of time? Did she see it all? Not all, is her mistress’ reply. This is after all the multiverse and one must accept a certain amount of randomness when ruling Otherworld. But there were some signs impossible not to read:
Husband and wife would be pitted against each other and reunited at no small cost. As would mother and child.
Jubilee hugs Shogo, still in dragon form.
The tenth sword would descend from heaven only to return at the beginning of a new age.
The ninth sword would be returned to its rightful home – deep in the rumbling Earth – while the goddess turns her eyes towards the stars.
She saw that the mutant council would break - the first two cracks in that firmament. Of course, that concerns her little… if at all. What matters most are matters of this court. Avalon soon controlling the only ingress and egress to Earth. A necessary distraction for its mutant king – the coming and going of actors both fair and foul… And of her own fair and foul kingdoms she has seen fit to make Blightspoke useful to her. Summoners, to control the things that refuse to die there. Vescora to mine the untold riches hidden in the strata of dead universes. The bartering of which will dominate the wild plans and bent mind of he who runs her Crooked Market.
And the relentless appetites of the undying lands of Sevalith will be sated by Death himself (who has apparently been recruited among the undead there).
As for the other kingdoms, she has other means of controlling them. They walk past the new Captain Britain Corps standing to attention.
Ryll decides that this was the purpose of Saturnyne’s machinations: the return of her Captain Britain Corps. Saturnyne smiles enigmatically. Ryll congratulates her. She deserves all she desires.
Saturnyne walks into her throne room greeted by the crowds and representatives of her kingdoms. Among them King Jamie and his brother Brian. She has won everything she ever needed, but not everything she wanted – the love of Brian Braddock.
She sits down on her throne.


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

[Assistant]
Innocence Lost – Part One
(Opening Narration – A message from Dr. Sarah Kinney to X-23)
“Please forgive me. Even as I write the words, they ring so hollow. My mistakes… no, my choices… they cannot be undone, much less forgiven. How all this came to pass… and the truth about Weapon X.”
(Flashback – Weapon X Program)
The sounds of fighting, gunshots and screams of anguish can be heard as Dr. Dale Rice frantically packs disks of information into his briefcase. The doctor is growing panicked as the sounds draw nearer.
 A familiar hand with three gleaming adamantium claws slashes through the face of a soldier.
Doctor Rice adds two vials containing biological samples to his briefcase before locking it. He prays that he won’t die as he exits his lab. He runs down a hallway as alarms sound all around him. He slams a metal door behind him and the claws come bursting through ripping through his shoulder.
 He continues moving as two soldiers step in to delay the attacking Weapon X. Dr. Rice makes it to the snowy grounds outside of the Weapon X facility.
 He takes a brief moment to pause and look behind him. The trio of adamantium claws burst through his chest, slicing his dog tags as they emerge. He looks down and promptly collapses to the ground. A snarling, naked Weapon X glares down at his lifeless body before disappearing into the snowy distance.
( Narration Continued)
Dr. Kinney wonders if things had ended then if she would be less of a monster or more. She tells X-23 that there’s no need to tell her about monsters since her entire life has been defined by them.
(Flashback – Weapon X Program)
A military helicopter arrives at the scene of Weapon X’s escape. Dr. Martin Sutter emerges flanked by two soldiers. He finds Dr. Rice’s body and takes his briefcase and his dog tags. He takes the dog tags to Dr. Rice’s young son Zander who looks at Dr. Sutter with tears in his eyes. He takes the dog tags and Dr. Sutter gives the devastated boy a hug.
( Flashback – Years Later)
Dr. Zander Rice is working frantically to save a patient. Around his neck, he wears his father’s dog tags, the slice from Weapon X’s adamantium claw still apparent. The patient enters asystole and Zander uses electrical paddles to try to revive him. The patient, a large mutant with pointed ears, has flat lined. A voice over an intercom tells Zander that it’s been nearly forty minutes and to let it go. Zander curses as he walks away from the body.
Zander enters Dr. Martin Sutter’s office and demands more specimens, preferably ones that can survive the bonding process. Dr. Sutter’s attractive young administrative assistant starts to tell him Dr. Sutter is not available as Zander bursts into his office.
 Dr. Sutter introduces Zander to Dr. Sarah Kinney, a leading authority on mutant genetics. Scattered on Sutter’s desk are various magazines (TIME, Scientific American, etc.) that feature cover stories on Dr. Kinney’s work. Sutter explains that Dr. Kinney has had great success in mapping the mutant genome. Zander is confused and Dr. Sutter has to spell it out for him: he has hired Dr. Kinney to take the lead in their current project. Zander is clearly upset and asks to talk to Dr. Sutter in private. Dr. Sutter explains that Dr. Kinney can provide him with a new specimen, perhaps even the original specimen. Sarah explains that she plans to build a viable clone embryo from the genetic sample from the original Weapon X.
 Dr. Sutter orders Zander to bring Dr. Kinney up to speed on the project and provide her with the info and resources she needs to begin her work. Zander reluctantly welcomes Sarah aboard.
Dr. Sutter is orienting Sarah to the project and explains that the deal they have struck provides her with unlimited funding and resources and no political or legal restraints on her work. He goes on to explain that those employed by the project must remain isolated from the rest of the world with minimal outside contact.
She wonders how they managed to free themselves of government regulations while Dr. Sutter asks if she can handle the moral implications of the work they are doing. She expresses only a dedication to the science involved and says that Sutter should be more concerned about Dr. Rice’s reaction to her arrival. Sutter explains to Sarah that the project was founded on the cellular samples that Zander’s father gave his life to protect and that Zander will need time to adjust to sharing control. He also notes that he has been raising Zander since his father’s death.
 Dr. Kinney interrupts and tells Dr. Sutter that she isn’t interested in being part of their family drama but is only there for the work. She assures Sutter that she can handle Zander and that she’s handled worse. She then recalls an image of her father’s silhouette outside her bedroom door as she cowers under the covers.
 At the same moment in Sutter’s office, Zander is reading Dr. Kinney’s file. The file contains a police report detailing an anonymous tip that an eight-year-old Sarah Kinney was being physically/sexually abused by her father. The complaint was dropped after the family members denied these allegations. Zander concludes coldly that Dr. Kinney is a “daddy’s girl”.
The narrative message to X-23 explains the difficulties they experienced in replicating the mutant genome.
 Dr. Kinney is shown working on the problem of repairing the damage done to the original cellular sample from Weapon X. The Y chromosome in particularly was heavily damaged. The team of scientists is largely bewildered by the scope and ambition of the plan to rebuild the entire chromosome. This is made more challenging by the added factor of Weapon X’ mutation.
 Sarah tells them that mainstream science will be struggling to clone cats in ten year’s time, but that the opportunity they have before them is akin to godhood.
 For every success they had in rebuilding the Y chromosome, there were another million sequences waiting to be restored. Sarah continues to struggle with the inherent problems but explains that despite the daunting task of it all she felt alive and exhilarated. She knows now that she was a fool to feel this way. As she works feverishly, Zander watches with a devious smirk on his face.
Later that night, Dr. Kinney is talking on the phone with someone named Kevin about the details of the project. He suggests re-sequencing and she tells him that she has to find another way.
 Elsewhere, Zander is having a decidedly sexual encounter with Dr. Sutter’s administrative assistant.
The next day in Dr. Sutter’s office, Sarah pitches her latest plan to speed up the progress of the project. Rather than spend years trying to rebuild the damaged Y chromosome, she suggests duplicating the intact X chromosome and creating a female specimen. She explains that while this would not produce a clone per se, the resulting specimen would be a genetic twin for all intents and purposes.
Zander can’t believe what he’s hearing and reminds Sarah that they are trying to create a weapon not a Barbie doll. Dr. Sutter agrees reminding Sarah that she knew what she had to work with when she signed on.  She argues that she has come up with a solution to the inherent problems they face. Zander is incredulous.
At that moment, Sutter’s administrative assistant enters to deliver a file. She calls him “Martin” and he calls her “darling”, indicating that they are more than just colleagues. She gives Zander a sly smile before leaving. Dr. Sutter firmly tells Dr. Kinney that there will be no deviation from the original plan and that she will fulfill her original commitment to the program.
Dr. Kinney’s narrative message continues to explain that she was defiant and determined to succeed. She gave it thought and decided to proceed with a female specimen despite her orders from Sutter.
 She continues to work on the rebuilding the entire sample while trying to create a viable female specimen.
 She explains that for weeks she led a double life while working on both projects, since keeping secrets was something she had experience with. She goes on to explain how she never gave it a second thought, thinking only of creating a weapon and never letting herself believe that she was creating something real. She never thought in terms of creating a life or a child. But she was wrong to think that way.
 Sarah is working long hours, dealing with a frustrated team of scientists by day and trying to create a viable female sample at night. Finally, the 23rd sample proves viable.
The next day in Sutter’s office, Sarah tells him and Zander that she has created a viable female embryo. She assures him that the fertilized egg is perfect and that the specimen will be x-factor positive. Dr. Sutter is not happy with the position she has put him in. Sarah tells him flatly that she’s done her job and created a viable specimen. He has the choice of using what she’s created and moving forward with the project now or waiting another six to ten years while she struggles to rebuild the sample to provide a male specimen. To Zander’s surprise, Sutter tells Sarah to proceed. He orders Zander to find a surrogate immediately. Zander tries to protest, but Sutter tells him his decision is not open for debate.
That night, Zander walks into Sarah’s room while she is sleeping. His silhouette fills the doorway just as Sarah’s father’s once did. She wakes up and demands to know what he’s doing there. He explains that her breakthrough has put them both in a bind. She doesn’t see how they are both affected. He asks her where she thinks they will find a surrogate with the necessary physiology to carry the female specimen to term. She asks what he is talking about and he gives her a knowing and devious smile. She can’t believe what he is implying and he assures her with a satisfied smile that if she doesn’t agree to play “mommy” her project will be dead in the water. Sarah is clearly not pleased with the rock and hard place Zander has now placed her in.
In her narrative to X-23, Sarah explains that growing up she always believed that she deserved everything that happened to her. That everyone gets what they deserve and that maybe she was right.
Sarah is now a part of the experiment, being poked, prodded and observed daily. She is shown hooked to machines and being constantly monitored as the pregnancy progresses. She explains that her life was dictated by physicians, psychologists and military strategists. Zander and Sutter watch as a clearly pregnant Sarah reads “The Art of War”.
 Sarah explains that they weren’t always watching though. When they aren’t looking, she reads Pinocchio aloud to her “child”. Pinocchio longs to be a real person and not just a marionette whose strings are pulled by others. The Blue Fairy tells him he will be real when he deserves to be and he asks what he must do.
Zander snaps on a pair of surgical gloves as Sarah lies in stirrups during the delivery of X-23.  The baby emerges and is promptly taken away Zander and the medical team. Sarah protests weakly. Zander examines the child and smiles grimly as he notes the two tiny bone extrusions poking through the skin on the back of the infant’s hand.
Sarah’s narrative message to X-23 concludes by reminding her that she initially asked for forgiveness. She tells her now not to forgive her or any of them for what they did to her. Ever.


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

[Assistant]
Innocence Lost – Part Two
It has been seven years since X-23’s birth. X-23 is asleep in her “room”. It is devoid of any furniture or decoration of any sort. She sleeps in a hunched position on the ground. Dr. Zander Rice and X-23’s sensei awaken her.The narration by Dr. Sarah Kinney to X-23 continues, explaining the process of dehumanization used by the program to condition her. Dr. Kinney explains to X-23 that the program saw her merely as a weapon and treated her as such.Their goal was to not allow her any sense of self beyond her duty as a weapon. X-23 does not speak when she wakes. She is helped up by her sensei who calls her “child”. They meditate together in a training dojo before beginning their daily lessons. She begins with a flying kick which her sensei blocks, sending her slamming into a wall. He smiles at her and speaks to her in Japanese.In her letter to X-23, Dr. Kinney notes that she is thankful for those associated with the program who treated X-23 as a real child.From a control room, Zander Rice, Martin Sutter and Sarah Kinney watch and evaluate X-23’s progress. They note that she is testing as extremely intelligent and in peak human condition. Her mutations have yet to emerge but they are altering environmental factors such as room temperature to encourage an earlier onset of puberty.Zander suggests lacing her claws with adamantium now rather than waiting. Sarah objects that there is no justification for such a move and Zander accuses her once again of being emotionally involved with her “child.” Sarah reminds him that the team of psychologists has recommended her continued contact with X-23.Dr. Sutter excuses Dr. Kinney and he and Zander continue discussing the project. Sutter orders weapons training to begin and explains to Zander that they continue to tolerate Sarah’s presence because it gives them another means of controlling X-23. He assures Zander that if Dr. Kinney becomes a problem, she can be dealt with. He then asks Zander for a report on the “trigger scent”, which Zander assures him is coming along nicely.X-23’s martial arts training with the sensei continues. He pushes her relentlessly but there is a clear underlying affection between the two. When she does well, he encourages her with praise and a parental touch.As they fight, Sarah watches from a control booth. She is interrupted by a phone call from her sister, Debbie. The exchange between the two is tense and it’s clear they did not part on good terms. Debbie did not believe Sarah when she accused their father of sexually abusing her. Debbie admits that she was wrong and apologizes. She has a daughter Megan who wants to send something to her Aunt Sarah, whom she has never met. Sarah reluctantly agrees but asks Debbie not to call her again.In his office, Zander is obsessing once more over his father’s damaged dog tags and dreaming about the original Weapon X. His thoughts are interrupted by Martin’s lover/personal assistant who comes to tell Zander that she’s pregnant and it is his child. She asks what they should do and he coldly tells her to tell Martin that the child is his before leaving the office.In the cold, stark whiteness of X-23’s room, Sarah is reading “The Art of War” to X-23. As she reads, X-23 rests her head in Sarah’s lap. Sarah notices Zander watching and tells X-23 to sit up. She then takes a page from her pocket and hides it in the book. She continues reading only now she is once again reading X-23 the story of Pinocchio.X-23 begins training with weapons with her sensei, Tanaka. He attacks her with a katana, which she catches between her hands. He stops the exercise and praises her, placing a hand on her shoulder and telling her that he is proud of her.They are interrupted by Dr. Rice and two guards who bark orders at X-23 to come. The guards take X-23 away and Zander reprimands Tanaka for treating X-23 like a child once more. He clarifies that he is not to touch X-23 unless it is to strike her. He also lets Tanaka know that speaking to her in Japanese is also useless since Zander clearly understands and speaks Japanese himself.X-23 is taken to a medical facility where she is subjected to high doses of radiation in order to prematurely awaken her mutant powers. Zander has grown impatient and is determined to move up the timeline of X-23’s development. As she is about to undergo the treatment, he thinks once more of Wolverine and calls her an animal before spitting on her.Sarah arrives too late to protest. The radiation nearly kills X-23, but instead it manages to force the manifestation of her powers. This includes a pair of claws on her hand and a single claw on each foot. Sarah realizes that this development makes it even harder for her to stand in Zander’s way on his quest to turn X-23 irrevocably into a killing machine.Sarah goes to Dr. Sutter and begs him not to let Zander complete the surgery himself. She argues that he has lost it and become too emotionally involved. Dr. Sutter refuses to believe her and instead tells her that it is she who is too attached.Zander proceeds with the surgery on X-23, going so far as to refuse to use anesthesia. When another doctor protests that this is inhuman, he orders them all to clear the room. He calls X-23 “Weapon X” and says that this is for his father before forcibly extracting each of her claws. He then sharpens each one, coats them with adamantium and then surgically puts them back into her.The next day, X-23 has fully recovered and is “playing” with her new claws, popping them in and out. Sarah watches and is amazed at her physical recovery. She cannot help but wonder what psychological damage this may have done to X-23. She notes that X-23’s healing factor surpasses Wolverine’s, though that may change once the rest of her skeleton is laced with adamantium. Sarah looks at a picture that her niece Megan colored for her, a stark contrast with the life she has created for X-23.Dr. Sutter praises Zander on the results of the surgery and notes that X-23 is now combat-ready. He asks how the trigger scent is coming along and Zander tells him he has a test planned for next week. Zander takes the trigger scent and pours a sample of it onto Tanaka’s katana.The next training session for X-23 is her graduation day. When Tanaka unsheathes his sword, X-23’s eyes turn crimson and she flies into a berserker rage. She lunges at Tanaka with her claws and in a matter of minutes, he is dead.X-23 looks down at her blood-covered hands and is shocked. She tries to wake her sensei who lies in a pool of blood. Sarah arrives in the observation booth and is shocked by what she sees.Dr. Sutter simply smiles to Zander and declares the test an overwhelming success.


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

[Assistant]
Innocence Lost – Part Three
(Ten years since X-23’s birth)
The department chooses the first field assignment to test their new assassin. They choose at random, the only important factor being that the target is high profile and perceived as untouchable. The selected target is Greg Johnson, a candidate for US President. X-23 is given a dossier and sent to the Los Angeles Convention Center where a rally is being held for the candidate. She is disguised as a handicapped child complete with braided pigtails, thick glasses, leg braces and crutches. After assessing the crowd, X-23 approaches security and asks in a small, child-like voice if she could meet Mr. Johnson. When the guard refuses, X-23 throws a temper tantrum, crying loudly and causing a scene. The guard confers with the campaign manager. The candidate’s wife overhears the call and sees a perfect photo opportunity.
Mr. And Mrs. Greg Johnson pose with their two sons and the poor little handicapped girl for the photographer. As the camera flashes, X-23 pops her claws and maneuvers deftly to attack Mr. Johnson. In a swift movement, she drives her foot claw into his chest. In a matter of minutes, she kills everyone in the room. Security, press agents, campaign staff and the candidate’s family are all dead by the time the security forces outside can react.
Sarah Kinney notes that she asked her superiors why this display was necessary. Dr. Sutter’s reply was that you can’t sell anything without advertising.
Following this display, the department is able to sell X-23’s services for fifty-five million a hit. Martin sits in front of a monitor reviewing potential clients and targets that include such criminal luminaries as Wilson Fisk, Hydra, Doctor Doom and Magneto. Sarah Kinney waits outside while he and Zander plot out X-23’s future.
While waiting, Dr. Kinney makes small talk with Rachel, Dr. Sutter’s assistant and lover. She asks how old their son Henry is now. Sarah is about to leave when Zander comes out of Dr. Sutter’s office and asks Rachel to start a client file for Wilson Fisk AKA The Kingpin. He sneers at Sarah and comments that her “pet” is starting to earn her keep. Sarah makes it clear that she plans to try and put a stop to that. Zander replies that Sarah no longer has a say in anything and is unimportant. As Sarah leaves, Rachel tries to talk with Zander about Henry, who is actually his biological son. Zander blows her off and she gets a bit teary from his refusal to deal with her.
Sarah goes to X-23’s room and asks if she would like her to read to her. X-23 seems distant and only perks up when her next assignment is passed under the door.
Sarah notes in her narrative that she feels she doesn’t matter to anyone anymore and all she can do is watch as X-23 is sent out time and time again to kill.X-23 is assigned to kill a variety of targets around the world: dictators, royalty, godfathers, and drug lords. On these missions, she uses her claws, firearms and disguises to complete the assigned kill.
Rachel confronts Zander and insists on telling Martin the truth about Henry’s parentage. Zander grabs Rachel by the throat and slams her against the wall. He makes it perfectly clear that Rachel is to tell Martin nothing of their affair and that if Rachel does as she’s told everything will be just fine.
Sarah is in her office looking at a photo of her niece Megan. She is interrupted by her colleague Kevin who informs her that Rice is in the prep room and planning on going with X-23 on her next mission. Sarah goes to the prep room where Rice is loading his weapons for the mission. He makes it clear this is none of Sarah’s concern and that if she has a problem, she should bring it up with Dr. Sutter.Sarah notes that X-23 continues to succeed on every mission without fail for three long years. She never missed a target and always completed the mission within the assigned time limit. She reached every single rendezvous point without fail until the mission that Rice chose to accompany her on.
The mission goes smoothly and X-23 has achieved her objective and has five minutes remaining before the arranged rendezvous. Rice tells the crew that they’re leaving and when they begin to protest, he shoots them. He places his gun to the pilot’s head and tells him that they had to abort the mission when X-23 failed to make the rendezvous.
X-23 is being pursued by a team of Hydra agents and sees the transport leaving as she arrives with over a minute to spare. Rice sneers down at her and bids her farewell. He tosses his father’s dogtags down to her. She looks at them, bewildered for a brief moment. The AIM team catches up to her and she finds herself surrounded. She pops her claws and they open fire.