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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Shoot Out Over Center Stage
TWA Flight 101 arrives at Kennedy International Airport at 7.30pm, right on schedule on a warm New York evening. Returning home after a grueling flight halfway around the world, Nightcrawler’s girlfriend Amanda Sefton strolls through the terminal with an aching body, ready for a bath and expecting a ride home. As she wonders where her boyfriend Kurt Wagner is, he suddenly swoops to meet her, hanging upside down, held there by his prehensile tail and planting a kiss firmly on Amanda’s lips. He is clearly in a jovial mood and asks if she missed him but Amanda replies in mock anger, “You, you elf!! Where do you get off scaring me like that?” She says he’s impossible but Kurt replies, “I know, it’s my best feature.” She tries in vain to stay mad at him but because he’s “so darn cute”, she submits to his charm and kisses him, telling him she’s missed him a lot.
As they stroll towards his ride, Amanda asks him why he’s in costume as it’s a bit conspicuous and he replies that he didn’t have time to change as Cyclops put the X-Men through an extra-long workout in the Danger Room. He did however allow Kurt to drive to the airport in the Rolls-Royce which Kurt loves. Asking Amanda how her flight was, she replies that it was the same as usual and she now has a few days off before her next trip. Kurt adds that he too has been given a few days off by ‘Cyke’ and he wants to make beautiful music with her. As he speaks however, he notices a strange plane and points it out to Amanda. She says, “It’s a privately-owned 747 - so what?” but Kurt tells her to take another look at the logo on its tail. The stylized ‘A’ is the personal symbol of Arcade, the insane assassin. Amanda knows Arcade and nervously says that if that crazy hired killer is here, she wants to be somewhere else, fast. Nightcrawler feels obliged to investigate though and asks Amanda to stay by the Rolls while he checks things out. Amanda shouts, “Kurt, No!” but the X-Man is already on his way.
As he sprints across the space between the Rolls and the 747, he is already thinking about his plan of action. He notes that there isn’t much light around giving him plenty of shadows to hide in. As he ascends the staircase to the plane’s doorway, he recognizes the danger he is placing himself in but thinks ‘what is life without a little danger.’ As he enters the plane, he is amazed by the pinball machines inside and thinks Arcade is a man after his own heart - if only he wasn’t as mad as a March hare, and an assassin to boot. Automatically, Kurt’s thoughts flash back several months as he recalls the Lincoln Center ambush.
(flashback)
Arcade captures and toys with Nightcrawler, Amanda and the X-Men, before placing them in Murderworld but after a harrowing time in there, Arcade and Miss Locke inexplicably letting them go.
(present)
Suddenly, Kurt hears a vehicle approaching and immediately recognizes the Texan twang coming from inside it. It turns his heart to ice. Inside the car, Arcade, his assistant Miss Locke and Amos Jardine are discussing recent events. Arcade and Jardine have been arguing and Arcade now tells him he has nothing more to say. Jardine asks him to be reasonable but Arcade tells him to stick his reason in his ear. He says he was hired to kill Spider-Man, they had an agreement, and Jardine broke it. They were now through. Kurt realizes they are about to enter the plane and teleports back to the Rolls Royce which Amanda is crouching behind. She thanks heaven he is all right but he asks her to hush as they aren’t out of the woods yet.
Arcade is clearly upset about the deal Jardine has reneged on. He was hired to kill Spider-Man but Jardine replaced him with another hired killer; “some cut-rate costumed punk” as he calls him. He even asked Arcade for his deposit back. Suddenly, he sniffs the air inside the plane and notices the smell of brimstone which he knows must have come from Nightcrawler’s teleportation (it’s a particularly memorable stench). The night was starting to look up for Arcade.
At the car, the stocky Amos Jardine complains about Arcade to Miss Locke who advises him to fear her boss, as he should fear her. Jardine turns and tries to grab her, saying he’s broken men three times her size but Miss Locke is far too skilled for the likes of him and throws him easily onto the car’s hood. She tells him he’s made her angry, and he shouldn’t make her more angry or he might find himself trapped in Murderworld, facing the fate he had intended for Spider-Man. Kurt and Amanda are by now crouched behind their car and he asks her to follow his lead. He figures that despite his reservations about getting her involved, he feels it is safer than leaving her behind where Arcade might find her. The pair climb into the trunk and huddle together.
The vehicle travels from the airport, west to Manhattan without stopping with Kurt and Amanda listening to Jardine’s vitriolic tirade, not directed at, but listened to by his chauffeur. He is scared, humiliated by Miss Locke and angry that his deposit has not been forthcoming. He says he was going to see the wall-crawler dead tonight just like he’d planned; then he was going to recover his money and, “break that pipsqueak Arcade and his dragon lady friend!” Kurt meanwhile still finds the ability to joke and tells Amanda, “you have no idea how long I’ve waited ages to get you in a position like this. She replies, “I’ll bet, watch the hands and tail, bub!” and then asks, “Kurt - why do you sound so bitter every time you mention Jardine’s name?” He then recounts how many years ago, in Germany and before he joined the X-Men, he was a trapeze flier in a little provincial circus. He was good and felt happy there. Then, Amos Jardine had bought the circus and took him off the high wire and trapeze and instead, placed him in a freak show. That night he ran away from the circus and the only home he’d ever known. Two days later he joined the X-Men.
The car stops in an underground parking lot and the occupants leave. Kurt and Amanda clamber from the trunk and decide to follow Jardine. Amanda asks him if they can call the police or something but he asks, “What would we tell them?” and adds that tonight and assassin will try and murder Spider-Man tonight and like it or not, it was up to them to stop him. As the couple open a door, Kurt is too entranced to speak as he witnesses a circus in full swing, a sign above them reading ‘The Greatest Show on Earth.’ The vast floor of Madison Square Garden has been transformed into a wonderland of indescribable beauty and excitement. Kurt feels a familiar ache in his stomach as he watches the magic unfold. Amanda was surprised, exclaiming, “A….circus.” Kurt wonders how such a corrupt man like Jardine can bring such joy to so many people. Kurt knows somewhere in the audience is Spider-Man and Jardine’s hired killer. Thinking logically, Kurt knows that both he and Spidey have similar powers and costumes, and a burst of agility mixed with a red and blue figure moving quickly might flush the killer out and tip his hand by taking a shot at him instead. Amanda kisses him and asks what if Spider-Man isn’t even here. He could be killed. Kurt replies that he knows but he has to try.
Grabbing a rope, Kurt hoists himself upwards and swings across the vast venue and as he has planned, a young woman in the crowd shouts, “Look! Up there! It’s Spider-Man.” In the crowd, Jardine gloats to himself how Spider-Man couldn’t resist his challenge in the papers to prove his web-swinging was more exciting than his high wire acts. Elsewhere in the crowd, Peter Parker, armed with his trusty camera was taken aback, knowing it couldn’t be Spidey up there as he is Spider-Man. Nightcrawler meanwhile moves briskly across the arena and almost becomes lost as the roar of the crowd acts as a kind of drug, reminding him of past glories. He knows that if he keeps mobile, he will be a difficult target. The assassin’s name is Cutthroat and pinpointing Nightcrawler in his sights, he takes his shot which he hopes will establish a reputation for himself. He doesn’t intend to make any mistakes.
As the weapon is fired, Spider-Man himself swings into action. Peter Parker realizes he has changed just in time as his spider-sense is tingling like crazy. He recognizes Nightcrawler and notices some kind of rocket heading towards him. Instinctively, Spider-Man grabs the X-Man and the rocket explodes behind them as it hits the floor. The explosion however helps knock Nightcrawler from Spider-Man’s grasp and as Kurt greets Spidey, before hurtling to the ground below. As Spidey manages to attach some webbing to a scaffold, Nightcrawler uses his tail to wrap around a trapeze swing, breaking his fall but not without a little pain. Amanda is watching events from the wings next to a clown and notices that the crowd loves the action, believing this is all part of the act. She knows that as long as the sniper remains hidden, Nightcrawler and Spider-Man are sitting ducks.
Cutthroat aims his weapon once again, this time at Spider-Man, thinking to himself that Spidey’s pal faked him out once, but it won’t happen again. Parker’s spider-sense tingles and he leaps intuitively out of danger. However, this time the rocket releases some kind of sonic screamer which causes Spider-Man more pain than he can handle. Kurt notices him fall, with little intention of saving himself and manages a double teleport, catching Spidey before he splats on the ground. A third shot is fired and Spider-Man has recovered enough to fire his webbing at Kurt, knocking him backwards and out of trouble. As shrapnel sprays the arena, the crowd cotton on to the fact that this isn’t supposed to be in the script and begin to panic, heading for the doorways. Jardine is furious as Cutthroat promised him a quick, clean kill in center ring. The publicity would have been worth millions but instead the whole thing is turning into a fiasco.
As Nightcrawler and Spider-Man wonder where their enemy is located, Amanda rushes out to them and points out their foe’s position, up on the roof. She had seen an ignition flash an instant before the last rocket had hit. Spider-Man swings in that direction and Nightcrawler keeps up by teleporting just outside a window which Cutthroat is behind. He smashes through it and confronts the assassin who is dressed in a green cape and holding the weapon in his left hand. Kurt knows the leaps put a strain on him but feels it will be worth it if he can catch his foe off guard. This he does, and he manages to grab Cutthroat and says, “Pardon my dropping in on you like this, but I really do take exception to people trying to kill me, even by mistake! By the way, I’m Nightcrawler, who are you?” Cutthroat is surprised at Kurt’s appearance and exclaims, “you - you’re a monster!” Kurt replies, “Nope - an X-Man!” and punches Cutthroat in the chest with force. Unfortunately for him, the assassin is wearing some body armor and Kurt’s hand feels like it has been pulverized. In response, Cutthroat delivers a left hook which knocks Kurt hard onto the floor.
Spider-Man then appears through the broken window and, sensing no danger, enters as Nightcrawler lets him know he isn’t dead. The pair of heroes then take up the chase and Spider-Man realizes that Nightcrawler is probably more hurt than he is letting on. As they move through the crowd of people fleeing the arena, one of the men in the crowd asks, “Hey, what’s that guy doing in the Menagerie?” Nightcrawler and Spidey see Cutthroat releasing the animals from there and know that if he manages to stampede them, there will be serious repercussions. Cutthroat indeed fires a few shots into the air to rile the animals enough to confuse and terrify them into running amok. Spider-Man tells Nightcrawler that he’ll take care of the animals while he goes after their foe. He thinks it reminds him of the time he fought Kraven as he got caught in a stampede then too; and got trampled. This time though, the close quarters of the tunnel they are in work to his advantage as he webs up the elephant with a web-wall and before taking similar care of an approaching tiger.
Kurt meanwhile is confronting Cutthroat and only just manages to avoid a blast. He knows the assassin is fast while he is tired and hurt and that gives his opponent an advantage. He bluffs however and doesn’t let on, instead talking to Cutthroat, saying he’ll never escape and he may as well give up now and save everyone a lot of unnecessary grief. Cutthroat though isn’t going to pass up this chance to be somebody and fires another round at Kurt who believes the dart is heading past him, only to find it explode right next to him in a flash of bright light. Now unable to see, Kurt is easily grabbed by the hair as Cutthroat aims his gun at Kurt’s head and tells him that despite spoiling things for him as far as killing Spider-Man goes, he will still have the satisfaction of blowing him away. As the trigger squeezes back, a ‘thwip’ is heard as webbing blocks the end of the gun’s barrel and the dart backfires, igniting the other darts in the gun which explodes, knocking the assassin backwards to the floor. He is unconscious before he lands.
Meanwhile, in the car park, Amanda Sefton is wondering where the police are as she called them a while back, when Amos Jardine grabs her and tells her that as long as she cooperates, she’ll be fine. Trying not to panic, Amanda tries to pretend it is a skyjacking and remembers her training. Just as they arrive at the car, Jardine opens the door and Cutthroat falls out, wrapped head to foot in webbing. Spider-Man and Nightcrawler approach him and Jardine is more than surprised to meet Kurt again after all these months. He quickly grabs Amanda and tries forcing her towards the car and Kurt knew that his next move must be a masterpiece of speed and timing. He teleports behind Jardine and reaches for his gun which goes off, but the bullet heads skywards as Kurt bends Jardine’s hand in the confusion. Reacting to Kurt’s enterprise, Spider-Man throws a ball of webbing at Jardine which startles him, allowing Spidey to deliver a knockout blow to the chin. When Spidey looks at the unconscious figure of Amos Jardine, he notices a small dart with the letter 'A' stamped on it. Kurt knows it is A for Arcade and Spider-Man says it looks like they have their own guardian angel looking after them. He asks Kurt if he wants to check it out but he replies that he’s had enough excitement for one night and all he wants now is some T-L-C. Amanda agrees and tells Spider-Man it has been nice meeting him as the pair leave. Spidey says likewise before realizing that once again, he has been left with the mopping up.


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Karma! (1st story)
 Cry - Vengeance! (2nd story)
First story :
Spider-man is swinging home over the roofs of Manhattan when suddenly he becomes the victim of a mental attack. He resists and starts falling, shouting for the person who’s doing this to get out of his mind. Nearby, a slender figure stands on a roof, the person who is responsible for this. She hesitates – she never intended to harm him but decides that too much is at stake to release him.
Finally, she succeeds in completely taking control of Spider-man’s body and manages to momentarily break his fall by holding tight to a building cornice but it crumbles under his weight.  With his fingers dug into the wall, Spidey continues falling, leaving palpable traces within the wall.. The attacker wills herself to be calm. She has done this kind of thing before, after all. Finally she succeeds and notices that Spider-Man has stopped falling – his fingers are sticking to the wall and manage to support the full weight of his body. Somersaulting Spidey back on the roof, the attacker is pleasantly surprised about her victim’s strength and agility. She feels, she has made the right choice.
She remembers that the newspapers mentioned other abilities, such as some sort of “webbing” Spider-man can produce. Revolted, she wonders whether he generates it within his own body but then realizes the function of the web-shooters at Spidey’s wrists. Trying the webbing out on a chimney, she tests its strength by pulling the chimney down. How strong is he, she wonders and tries it out by pulverizing the chimney with a blow. Ordering her marionette to jump away, she cautions herself to be careful. Spidey’s will is as strong as his body. Though she is in control, on some level, he is still trying to resist. She notices how she already takes on his surface mannerisms. The longer she will stay within his body, the more like him she will become and she wonders whether at some point the process may be irreversible. Despite the danger to her immortal soul, she cannot give up. Tonight, she grimly swears, she’ll win or die.
Freedom Tower is a skyscraper in the heart of Manhattan’s financial district. Formerly home to several prestigious brokerage houses and law firms, it has by now been converted to a luxury apartment co-op – a home for the very rich. Among them is Nguyen Ngoc Coy, a former general of the South Vietnamese army, turned businessman and self-made millionaire, who is currently hosting a swanky charity party. Coy greets the most illustrious guests, Reed and Susan Richards, AKA Mr Fantastic and the Invisible Girl, members of the Fantastic Four. They thank him for purchasing so many sculptures of their friend Alicia Masters. It was for charity, Coy explains, his way of thanking America. He introduces his family: His nephew Tran, a young man in his late teens, and his younger siblings Leong and Nga, two frightened children who have only recently escaped from Vietnam. Sue feels her heart go out to the children as she tries to mother them a bit. Coy interjects that they do not speak English and, besides, it is past their bedtime. He orders two of his employees to take the children away.
At the buffet stands another member of the Fantastic Four, the Thing, along with his girlfriend, Alicia Masters, the blind sculptress who is the guest of honor of the evening. Alicia confides that she doesn’t like their host, ungracious as that might seem. Ben agrees, especially as every employee of Coy is armed. Something about the general strikes him as fishy.
Further upstairs, Leong demands to see his sister and one of Coy’s employees roughly shoves the boy, telling him to shut up. They are not aware that they are watched by the possessed Spider-man, who rejoices as he sees the kids. Spidey quickly attacks and takes out the goons. Then, he crouches before the frightened children and tells them in Vietnamese that their sister sent him. Suddenly, the possessor feels a strange buzzing in Spidey’s skull she cannot identify – Spider-Man’sSpider-sense. Suddenly, Spider-man finds himself grabbed by Mr. Fantastic’s elastic arms, while he’s sticking to his place with his feet. The Fantastic Four demand to know what he’s doing; kidnapping has never been his style after all. “Spidey” panics. Suddenly, letting go with his feet, he kicks Mr Fantastic in the face and is then trading punches with the Thing, who asks him if he got tired of being one of the good guys.
The possessor is horrified: she believed Spider-Man was a criminal when she possessed him! Reed notices that something is wrong with Spidey. He is acting inexperienced and as though he doesn’t know them. Not that inexperienced, it turns out, as “Spider-Man” throws the Thing right into the stretched Mr Fantastic, managing to entangle both of them in the process. They are joined by more guards, the general, Tran and the Invisible Girl. Sue asks the bodyguard to let her handle the matter. In the meantime, Tran whispers to the general that he can finish this quicker but his uncle tells him that his unique talent should be conserved for equally unique situations.
Sue doesn’t want to fight Spider-Man. He recently saved her son, Franklin’s, life. Currently, though, she sees no alternative and, therefore, she makes him stumble over several small, bubble-shaped force-fields. Spidey strikes out at her, only to experience his Spider-sense tingling again. Reed has disentangled himself and is furious. How dare Spider-Man hit his wife?
Spidey evades both Mr. Fantastic and the Thing and then blinds them by spraying web-fluid into their faces. The FF’s reputation seems to be a bit overblown, Tran whispers sarcastically. They have failed, his uncle agrees. Now, he should deal with the problem. Tran concentrates and tries to mentally grasp control of the wall-crawler. Outside the penthouse, the mysterious young woman stands, recognizing his mental signature. They are battling for dominance but he is healthy and in peak condition – she is anything but. The young woman gives up and withdraws, realizing that even if he knew he had been fighting her, it would have changed nothing. Her twin brother is her enemy. In despair, she realizes that she has failed.
In the meantime, the Thing has finally managed to get the webbing off of his face and notices Spider-man, woozy and on the ground, finally recovering his sense. Not taking any chances Ben knocks him out.
Thankfully, Coy is reluctant to call the police. The FF decide to take the unconscious Spider-man with them to the Baxter Building, to find out whether their friend has gone bad or needs help. Spidey regains his senses on their couch, with no idea of what’s been going on all evening. The last thing he remembers is swinging down the West Side on his way home. Richards scans his brain in his lab and finds that Spidey’s memory traces are completely flat for one hour, as though his brain had been turned off - dead in a way. Reed’s scanner also picks up a residually familiar energy pattern.
To confirm his suspicions, he dials the phone number of Professor Charles Xavier. Although Xavier is currently busy guiding several X-Men through a Danger Room session, he is happy to help. He confirms Reed’ suspicion: His mutant-detecting Cerebro registered an unusual amount of mutant activity earlier in the evening, centering on lower Manhattan. The data indicated two distinct entities with similar ability. He interrupts his train of thought to commend Storm and tell her to use her weather powers to deflect the missiles as well as just evade them. Back to Reed: he explains that he’d intended to investigate those contacts himself. Would Reed like any assistance? He interrupts the conversation again and chides Colossus that brute strength is not always an answer. Back to Reed, he warns him that those mutants have a power he has never encountered before and they seem to be quite powerful. He should keep Xavier posted. Irritated, Xavier shouts at Wolverine he’d better not even think about using his claws on the expensive equipment.
Later, Reed has modified one of the FF’s basic sensor modules into a rough facsimile of Cerebro and has used it to detect the person who ambushed Spider-man. The FF and Spidey are nearing their contact, somewhere on the lower East Side in their Fantasti-Car. As Mr Fantastic states that their quarry is in the church below them, Spider-man angrily jumps out of the Fantasti-Car, meaning to make the “creep” pay. Worried, Reed sends the Torch after him – they have no idea what to expect, after all. The Torch asks Spidey to stop acting like a jerk. Unfortunately, his friend couldn’t care less. Someone’s made him into a puppet and that person is going to pay, he announces as he swings into the church, breaking a window in the process.
Inside, they do not find any super-villains but a middle-aged priest and a slender young Asian woman, in a green tunic, displaying the white-yang half of the yin-yang symbol. Spidey grabs the priest by the throat, believing him to be their quarry. Wrong choice, as the young woman, in turn, possesses the Torch and forces him to attack Spidey. The girl speaks through the possessed Torch, assuring him that she never meant any harm and that, in her desperation, she made the wrong choice. Why can’t they leave her alone now? The two are separated by two invisible forcefields, courtesy of the Invisible Girl, as the rest of the team arrives and demands some answers. The priest finally loses his patience and shouts at them to show some respect in the house of the Lord. The young woman breaks down, asking the priest for forgive her. She has betrayed all she believed in and now everything has gone completely wrong. The heroes are taken aback when they hear the pain in her voice and suggest they talk in the rectory.
The priest introduces himself as Michael Bowen. Before he joined the priesthood, he was an infantryman during the Vietnam War. It was there that he met Shan and her family.
The girl introduces herself as Xi’an Coy Manh and tells them of her life:
(flashback)
She grew up in Vietnam during the war as one of the two eldest children of a South Vietnamese colonel. Since he was honest, he was given the most dangerous assignments and his wife and four children - two pairs of twins – followed. They witnessed a lot of horrible things and perhaps the horrible weapons used during the war made her and her brother different, Shan muses. When the Viet Cong attacked their village, one of the soldiers intended to kill Shan’s twin brother, Tran. Shan suddenly found she had the ability to reach out with her mind and control him. Tran tried as well and found he had the same power but, where his sister had acted to stop the soldier, Tran forced him to kill himself and enjoyed it. The horrified Shan told nobody what had happened.
(present)
Some time later, Shan explains, she saw her brother demonstrate his powers to their uncle Nguyen, a man their father despised. Tran also told Nguyen that Shan had the same ability, though she was reluctant to use them. Nguyen assured Tran that he wouldn’t forget them. When South Vietnam fell, he arranged for the family’s evacuation but, strangely, in the confusion only Tran was rescued. The others were left to fend for themselves under the new communist regime. Shan increasingly used her powers to protect her family from prison or worse. Eventually, they managed to pay for the fare to get away. The boat was overcrowded, the people weakened and hungry and, when they were attacked by Thai pirates, they didn’t have a prayer. The men – including Shan’s father – were murdered, the women raped... Shan’s mother was broken by this new ordeal and died the day they were rescued, leaving her daughter to fend for the two youngest children.
Having made her way to the USA, Shan contacted her uncle and her brother. She found that Nguyen had prospered since leaving Vietnam and Tran had become even colder. Shan refused Nguyen’s offer to use her powers in his service as her brother did. Instead, she broke off contact, contacted Father Bowen’s self-help relief agency for boat people and, with his help, found an apartment and a job. However, as she returned one evening, she found the apartment ransacked and the children gone. She received a phone call from her uncle, telling her that if she wanted to see the children again, she only had to work for him. He left her until midnight. She had seen Spider-Man’s picture in the Daily Bugle and assumed that he was a villain. Therefore, she decided to use a criminal to defeat another and attempted to use him to save the kids.
Touched by her tale, the heroes promise to help the girl, especially Spider-man who has shifted his rage onto Shan’s uncle.
(Midnight)
At pier 32 B, on the Brooklyn side of the East River, Coy orders one of his lackeys – Rentano – to treat the children well and to have them tested for any sort of paranormal ability. If they lack such talents, his organization will find some other profitable use for them. The kids excitedly ask Tran where their sister is. He promised, she’d come. All in good time, their brother calms them. For now they have to board the ship. Whatever happens, they’ll be in no danger. Suddenly Spider-man grabs the kids with two web-lines and jeers that Pinoccio’s nose turned longer when he lied. After the garbage Tran just fed the kids, he’s surprised his nose isn’t the size of a Redwood. Spidey tackles Coy’s lackeys and is joined by the FF and Shan in the Fantasti-Car, who were led here with the help of Reed’s Cerebro scanner. With the goons beaten, only Coy and Tran are left surrounded by the heroes.
So, are they going to surrender, Spider-man asks. Coy urges Tran in Vietnamese to now prove his value to him. Shan suspects something, but before she can act, Tran, who under his jacket reveals a tunic identical to Shan’s but with the dark yin half of the symbol, psychically knocks out his sister and then takes possession of the FF. He could have possessed Spidey too, he lets him know, but his initial interference brought about this near debacle. Now, he wants some vengeance, Tran states, as he sics the FF on him. The fight that follows is brutal, as Spider-man has only his reflexes and speed to save him from the people who once beat Galactus. General Coy senses something amiss. He excuses himself and states that he will return to his residence. His nephew agrees and tells him that they will talk soon about his role in the future.
Torch fires at Spidey hitting the ship, where the children are still on deck. Spidey cries out,but Tran mocks that they will come to no harm, as he uses the Invisible Girl’s forcefield to protect his siblings. Brave talk, Spidey shoots back, considering the fate his uncle intended for them if they weren’t mutants. Those were his uncle’s plans, not his, Tran replies. Long before the children had been in any danger, Tran would have seized control of his uncle’s organization.
While he still focuses on the battle, Shan stirs and begs him to stop that madness. The battle grows more and more desperate for the wall-crawler until the Thing is about to deliver the deathblow. That is too much for Shan who now decides to give her all to stop her brother as she attacks him with her psychic powers. As she does so, Tran’s control over the FF grows weaker.
The boy is surrounded by a nimbus of black energy, emerging from his sister. Incredulously, he realizes that he is weakening even though he should be the stronger one. He begs for mercy and receives none. His clothes fall to the ground, empty, and Tran is no more. What’s left is his life energy, which Shan draws to herself, thus adding her brother’s soul to her own. As she does so, the half symbol on her tunic becomes a complete yin-yang symbol. He was the darkness, she the light, she explains to the recovering heroes. While he fought for selfish reasons, she fought to save her loved ones. His body was stronger but her strength flowed from her soul – he could not withstand that. As the children are happily reunited with their sister, Shan assures the heroes that she owes them more than she can repay. If ever they need her help, they need but ask for Karma.
As the family walks away, Reed muses that “Karma” is the sum total of the positive and negative acts of a person’s life in one incarnation, through which the quality of life during the next incarnation is achieved. With her powers, Karma has an awesome potential for good or evil. For what it’s worth, Spidey chimes in, as far as Shan is concerned, his money is on the good.
Second story :
Ororo Munroe takes an evening stroll through the streets (presumably of Salem Center), unaware that a sniper on the roof is watching her every move. Finally, as she turns down a deserted alley, he shoots, glancing her brow. Believing his job done he runs, intending to return to Johannesburg as soon as possible. Suddenly, the sky turns dark and he faces Storm, now in her costume, who demands he put down his weapon. When the man answers with a racial slur, Ororo blows him towards the chimney with a gust of wind and creates a thunderstorm around the South African, until the frightened man answers that he was hired by Andreas deRuyter, a name Ororo remembers from her past.
(flashback to Kenya, when Storm was 12 years old)
Teenage Ororo had left Cairo one year ago, wandering through Africa and following her visions. As she’s nearing Lake Rudolph in Kenya, she suddenly hears a gunshot and the sounds of fighting over the nearest hill. Curious, she runs there only to see a black teenager, a little older than herself, being attacked by a gang of white uniformed men. Calling on her recently discovered mutant powers, she summons a wind and for the first time flies. She flies towards the men, flattening everyone but the boy.
They are joined by another man who exits from one of the cars. He introduces himself as “de Ruyter the Bull” and boasts that it will take more than a mere wind to stop him. His masters wish to see prince T’challa as a permanent “guest” of the Republic of South Africa, as his country, Wakanda, is a mineralogical trove. T’challa will become the perfect puppet ruler and he intends to see that this happens, he states as he strikes the boy, who unexpectedly hits back. De Ruyter’s impressed but his dart gun will ensure that he comes along peacefully. The South African assumes that creating wind is Ororo’s only ability – a big mistake, as she destroys the gun in his handgun with a lightning bolt and then flies away, carrying T’challa with her. They travel together afterwards for a short time but part eventually, as T’challa’s duty takes him back to Wakanda and Ororo’s dream takes her to the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro.
(present)
After Professor Xavier used his telepathic powers to erase the memories of Ororo’s assailant, she pays a visit to the Wakandan embassy where she asks the Butler Hudson to tell the son of T’chaka that the wind-rider, whom he christened his white lioness, urgently needs to see him. His life may be in danger. A not uncommon occurrence, as far as the Black Panther is concerned, T’challa, who’s silently joined them, jokes. The two of them see each other for the first time since their adventure as teenagers and marvel at how the other has grown up. Ororo wishes this was a social call but she has to tell him of the evening’s events and how she almost was assassinated by a sniper in de Ruyter’s service. The man was part of a team, hired specifically to kill the two of them. De Ruyter still bears a grudge, it seems. But why did it take so long, Ororo wonders, as she joins T’challa in a high-tech com-room. The Black Panther quickly finds out, with the help of his computers, that after their fight with de Ruyter he was a changed man. His career started falling apart until he was forced to retire a few years ago. Afterwards, he dropped out of sight.
After gathering some more information from the Avengers and several law enforcement agencies, they finally find his current place of residence – a secluded mansion on Long Island. Storm quickly flies the two of them there to the seemingly peaceful mansion. They slip in through a window and the Panther quickly and silently dispatches of the few guards. Storm wonders at the lack of resistance they have encountered. She would have expected a veritable army. The Panther agrees; there’s more to this place than meets the eye, possibly a trap. Having found nothing, they finally encounter a locked door. Ororo examines the door with her lock pick skills and quickly realizes that a trigger plate is attached to the lock. Had the Panther simply kicked in the door, it would have blown up in his face. The moment Ororo opens the door, a robot expects and attacks them – a robot that greets them with de Ruyter’s voice. Storm tries to scramble the circuitry with a bolt of lightning but, having learned from their previous encounter, de Ruyter had the robot insulated, as Ororo painfully learns when it hits her head.
The Panther lunges at him while de Ruyter gloats that every action of his was designed to lure the two of them here and to their deaths. While the Panther keeps on evading the robot’s blows, Ororo, thanks to her Danger Room training, is less knocked-out than one might expect. She rode out the robot’s punch. Since her lightning cannot hurt the robot, she reasons her best alternative is to strike the floor beneath it and open a hole. The robot falls.
Black Panther helps Storm up and they decide to find de Ruyter before the robot strikes again. Storm wonders why she cannot hear anything. Its voice stopped after the robot hit the bottom T’challa notices the other door leading out of the room and hears the sound of sophisticated electronics on the other side. Panther kicks in the door challenging de Ruyter. What they find is a dead man sitting in a chair. T’challa deduces what happened: he had a psychic link with the robot making it an extension of himself. Unfortunately, this was a two-way-street and the shock of the robot’s fall coupled with his fear of failing again killed the man.
He prided himself on his physical strength, Storm muses but, looking at him now, what’s left was a wasted shadow of the man he was consumed by disease. And hatred, the Panther adds. He hated him as a young man; him and all he stood for. He longed for the day when they would meet again so that he could beat him - Now he wonders why he bothered. He’s not worth hate or even pity, Storm adds. She’d rather pity his victims.
Later, after the Panther summoned the authorities, he silently thinks to himself how de Ruyter wasted his life with the idea of vengeance. He tells Storm that he used his Avengers priority with the police so she doesn’t become involved. They stare at each other for a moment and admit that they both thought of what was and what might have been between them. But they both know, as they part, that the special unique moment in their lives cannot be recaptured. They are friends and they will never be any more.


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[Assistant]
Spider-Man and the Beast: The Ties That Bind
Smoky Mountains, West Virginia:
On a stretch of privately-owned land, a medieval castle appears – one that was not there whatsoever just 24 hours ago. Inside, a troop of Roman-garbed soldiers stands guard in front of an adamantium-enforced door.
Behind the door, Professor Anthony Power conducts a chilling experiment, in which his assistants transfer his mind into the body of his comatose son Matthew. As the transfer continues, Anthony recalls his son’s bitter end. He remembers how Professor Charles Xavier refused to rebuild Matthew’s psychotic mind, and also how Matthew went irrevocably insane and ultimately comatose as a result of the psychic crossfire between Xavier and Mentallo.
Anthony ordered his team of scientists to rebuild Matthew’s body using cybernetic enhancements, and make him into a veritable god. The project also required a new mind for Matthew, so Anthony joined with him.
An explosion occurs as the project finishes, leading the scientists to believe that both Powers were killed. However, emerging from the smoke is the new Professor Power, with the enhanced body of Matthew and the mind of Anthony. Power cries out that he is man no longer, but pure power – and the first to feel that power will be Charles Xavier. Power declares war on all mutantkind, and picks up a large machine and hurls it across the room, destroying the lab.
JFK Airport, NYC:
As the usual crowds walk in and out of the airport, the blue-furred Beast somersaults his way through, excited to see his parents for the first time in years. With him is Vera Cantor, his girlfriend. Vera begs Hank to slow down, as he is embarrassing. Hank explains that he hasn’t seen his parents since shortly after he joined the X-Men. As the McCoys walk through the airport gate, Beast becomes excited again, and cartwheels up to them. He rushes over to give them a hug, and his father welcomes him with open arms. Mrs. McCoy, however, tries to avert her gaze from Hank. Norton McCoy, the father, expresses great pride in Henry since he joined the Avengers, but jokes that he should consider electrolysis. Beast introduces his family to Vera, and they make arrangements for dinner. As Beast goes to get the luggage, Norton chastises Edna for refusing to give Henry a warm welcome, but Edna ignores it.
Queens, NYC:
Peter Parker and his friends help Aunt May and her friends from the retirement home move their belongings into the house. As the house gets cleaned up, the old folks look through May’s old photo albums and ask what Peter’s parents were like. Peter reminisces that May and Ben were as good as any parents could have been, but he still feels empty inside for not knowing them. The entire crowd at May’s house offers to go to dinner at an Indian restaurant.
Flavours of Bombay Restaurant, Manhattan:
Vera and the McCoy family sits down to dinner. Edna complains that they should have gone for something more American, but Norton insists that the food is really tasty. Beast is confused by his mother’s bad attitude, and asks what his wrong, but Edna screams “Don’t touch me, you disgusting freak!”
 Henry, Norton, and Vera are all appalled by the reaction. Edna calls Henry a disgrace and a horror, and storms out of the restaurant. Norton asks Henry to let her cool down. Norton explains that he knew that his exposure to radiation would cause their child to have deformities, but was relieved at Henry’s relatively normal appearance at birth. Both Norton and Edna knew that Henry was different, but he suggests that Edna may have been keeping quiet about her concerns, hoping for Henry to have a normal life. Of course, after he became Beast of the X-Men, all of Edna’s hopes were dashed. Beast understands her pain, and rushes off to find his mother.
Outside, he realizes that though he is an outcast as a mutant, being the mother of a mutant makes her as much of an outcast in society. As he searches, someone calls his name, and suddenly Hank is hit by something ferocious.
Professor Power stands there, having almost knocked Beast out cold with his blow. Professor Power tells him that it is fitting how the first X-Man to leave the team would also be the first to die at the hands of Power. Beast punches Power, but Power retaliates with a sharp blow. Beast feels that the punch is worth of the Thing, and rolls out of the way. Power snaps a street light off the road, and hurls it at Beast as a harpoon. Beast continues to dodge Power’s assault, but is unsuccessful as he is slammed across the road, right in front of a car carrying May and Peter Parker and their friends.
Peter rushes out of the car, claiming that this is a great opportunity to get some pictures for the Bugle. In a nearby alleyway, he changes into his Spider-Man costume and checks that he has a full supply of web cartridges.
Power has Beast cornered and almost unconscious. Power claims that his alpha-converter is now recharged, and he can destroy Beast with a gesture. However, a web-line grabs Power’s arm at the last moment, causing the laser beam to miss its target. “Whatever happened to the good old days when all you bad guys just wanted to rob banks and run for political office?” quips Spider-Man. Beast thinks that the tables have now turned, but Power says that Spider-Man has interfered with his plans twice before, but not again. Spider-Man notices that this isn’t Anthony Power anymore, but Matthew. “Haven’t you caused Matthew enough pain?” asks Spider-Man. Power claims that Spider-Man knows nothing about pain, but it is time he had a taste. Power grabs Spider-Man’s wrists, and hurls him to the ground. He tries to web a building, but it turns out that Power crushed his web cartridges. As Spider-Man is about to hit the ground, Beast rushes over to catch him. As Beast attempts to strike Power again and buy Spider-Man time to replace his webbing, Power slams into the sidewalk and goes directly underground from the force of the blow, barely missing Hank. Spider-Man and Beast try to escape, as the fight has drawn a sizeable crowd and they don’t wan innocents to get hurt.
Meanwhile, in a hotel room fifteen floors above the fight, Edna McCoy looks over her old photo albums, wondering where her wonderful child went. She looks out the window and sees Beast getting beaten badly as Spider-Man rescues the innocents, but does not react. As Power looks to lay the final blow on Beast, Edna finally reacts with horror, as it appears Beast is dying. Spider-Man says that he cannot show mercy after what just happened to Beast, but Power calls Spider-Man naïve and incompetent, and knocks him out with a hard punch. Edna sees Beast laying on the pavement, and slowly realizes that she cannot let her son be killed. She rushes downstairs.
Power picks up a tractor, with which he intends to crush Beast. Before he can do it, Edna gets in the way, begging him to stop. Edna says that she cannot let her own flesh and blood be killed, and asks Power if he knows what it is like to have a child and to be bound to him by blood forever. Power hesitates at Edna’s words, just as Spider-Man wakes up. Spider-Man webs Power quickly, causing him to drop the tractor on himself. Edna and Henry finally begin talking again. Power flies out of the ground to everyone’s surprise, but declares that he will show mercy and leave Beast alone. However, he swears that he will return for Spider-Man and Xavier. Spider-Man realizes that he will never be able to catch him at the speed he’s moving, but why spoil a happy ending?
The McCoys celebrate their first family gathering in years.


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[Assistant]
The Hunters and the Hunted!
Spider-Man swings to an old warehouse near the river. Local activities have been disrupted lately. Known drug runners have been attacked and left unconscious and numb with cold. There have also been a number of reports about dead teenage runaways.
He ran into this kind of situation before when he first met Cloak and Dagger, a pair of runaways who were captured by mobsters trying to develop an synthetic addictive drug. The drug killed most of the other kids who were used as guinea pigs but Cloak & Dagger were changed, gaining strange symbiotic powers and now they are using those powers to wipe out anyone intent on addicting teenagers on drugs.
Spidey peers through a warehouse’s roof window, reminding himself that Cloak and Dagger are still only a couple of kids. This auto-shop seems to keep odd hours, he thinks to himself, and even odder practices. It’s a chopshop; a garage where stolen cars are broken down and sold for parts. Suddenly, Cloak and Dagger teleport in and order the men to cease their illegal activities.
The gangsters attack and Dagger fights with martial arts moves and light daggers, whereas Cloak swallows them in his cloak of darkness. Only kids, Spidey ironically thinks. Ha! He wonders why they are bothering with those criminals, only to see Dagger surrounded by a group with Cloak otherwise occupied. Spidey swings down and takes them out. The three of them quickly make short work of the gangsters.
With that accomplished, Spidey asks why they’ve gone out of the drug-busting business and into corralling car-thieves. According to their information, the car-theft ring is merely a front and they will find hidden narcotics behind that door, they reply. They teleport into the next room. Spidey follows to find a group of tied-up dead teenagers. Victims of men like those who created Cloak and Dagger. The drug-runners responded to their persistent attacks by trying to re-synthesize the drug that created them in the first place. They want to create a new Cloak and Dagger that will obey them and destroy the originals That drug killed everyone else it was tested on, Spidey protests, but the two are already gone.
Among the lights of Broadway, the four New Mutants, Cannonball, Psyche, Sunspot and Wolfsbane, have just finished watching a performance of Cats and compare their impressions of the show. Sam reminds the others that they’d better catch the bus back to Westchester. Roberto protests. He wants to enjoy a free evening. He promised he’d bring the others back right after the show, Sam insists. Well, he didn’t, Roberto shoots back and enters a video arcade. The girls don’t mind and so the others follow.
Roberto quickly scores high at the game of his choice and crowd gathers around the mutants. One guy asks Rahne where they come from, as he’s never seen them there before. From Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngster, Rahne replies shyly. Does she want to show him some of her gifts, he leers. Roberto tells him to buzz off and the guy draws a knife in response.
Roberto realized the danger. It’s dark and his powers are far from peak. Nevertheless, he shifts to his solar-powered form and hits the other guy. Sam and Dani tells him it’s time they hightailed out of here before they run into more trouble. Trouble has found them, as several friends of the guy intend to attack. Cannonball flies though them and tells the team to head for the bus station.
A few minutes later, the mutants find that they have lost their way. They’re too far away. Why are they running anyway, Bobby complains. Because, Sam replies, the creeps they fought have called out friends!
The mutants find themselves trapped on a bridge, surrounded on both side. Sunspot hits them, while Cannonball topples them over. Dani scares them with fear images of Cloak and Dagger. But then Bobby is knifed from behind. Wolfsbane runs to his side, unaware of the danger, as one guy shoots at her and the bullet glances her forehead. Both of them tumble down onto the railroad tracks, where two shadowy figures believe they have finally found the right guinea pigs. Rahne and Roberto are carried off into the darkness and their companions realize too late that they are gone. Sam angrily blasts away at their foes and he and Dani run, wondering what to do. Call the police? As the police arrive the teenagers start running.
At Times Square, Spidey hunching on a rooftop is looking for signs of Cloak and Dagger. As this is their turf, he figured his spider-sense would pick them up, if he swung around long enough. No such luck. Seeing a lot of police cars he wonders where they are heading and whether he should help, when his spider-sense kicks in. He follows it to Holy Ghost church on 42nd street.
Inside, he sees a priest kneeling in prayer, when suddenly Cloak and Dagger appear, asking if he will grant them sanctuary. Father Francis Xavier Delgado has harbored them for some time and tells them to rest. They can never rest, Cloak announces grimly, while they know that someone somewhere is experimenting on other runaways, trying to do to them what was done to the two of them. Is what they are so awful then, the priest asks. Yes, Dagger cries and starts weeping as she turns to Cloak.
While Spidey wonders whether to reveal himself, he sees Cannonball and Psyche heading for the church door. He recognizes their costume, as those once worn by Xavier’s original X-Men. Inside, Dani asks Sam why he led them here. They need to contact Xavier. Sam begins to explain that they are too conspicuous in their costumes, when they notice Cloak and Dagger standing next to the priest. Dani recognizes them from the fear images the creeps in the Arcade had. Seeing the visitors, Cloak teleports towards them.
Dani draws back in terror at his sudden appearance and instinctively defends herself by turning his greatest fear against him – his darkness growing out of control and consuming all light. Dagger shouts at them to stop it. He wasn’t attacking. Sam grabs Dani, telling her to stop. She is still shocked though by the darkness and hunger she sensed. Dani apologizes but she was just defending herself, Sam adds.
That moment, Spider-Man joins them all, suggesting they shelve the mutual animosity. The mutants are awestruck at meeting a genuine superhero. They’d never really believed Spider-Man existed. He’s surprised Professor Xavier never told them, Spidey retorts wryly. They are X-Men, aren’t they? They are New Mutants, Sam corrects him.
Cloak interjects that they have to discuss more serious matters and Sam explains about their missing friends. Spidey wonders if they were abducted by the same guys that Cloak and Dagger have been after. They could be experimenting on them even now, Cloak fears.
Sam demands some answers and Spidey explains what happened to Cloak and Dagger and how those crooks are trying to repeat the process. Everybody else died but Cloak and Dagger survived because of something unique in their body chemistry. Teenage mutants have unique body chemistries as well, Spider-Mans muses. Cloak and Dagger agree that they mustn’t be experimented on and vanish. They do that a lot, Spidey comments wryly, and tells the mutants to follow him. Maybe he can find out where they went. Left alone, the priest watches, wonders and prays.
An hour later, in a meat packing plant on West 14th street, Wolfsbane and Sunspot awake to find themselves tied to a butcher-block. A scientist asks Rahne he trusts they are not too cold or uncomfortable, and Rahne asks why they have been tied to this meat butcher’s block. The scientist marvels at the acuteness of her senses, but then that’s why she was chosen. As the criminals behind him cone up, he relates to them the tale of Cloak and Dagger and how they are trying to recreate the effect of that drug to create an army of junkie mutants in their service. As the two of them already possess powers, the drug should make them more than a match for Cloak and Dagger.
Sunspot struggles to ignite his powers, but he has been kept in the dark too long and one of the mobsters brutally hits him. The doctor prepares a syringe and Rahne turns to a wolf and bites the criminal who has hit Sunspot. Furiously, the gangster orders the doctor to inject them and the scientist complies.
Moments later, but still too late, Cannonball bursts trough the wall followed by Psyche, Cloak & Dagger and Spider-Man, who all proceed to attack the gangsters. Cannonball demands to know what they have done to their friends. Suddenly, one of the gangsters shouts to look at the kids. Wolfsbane has gotten free Snarling and glowing, all of her humanity has been submerged beneath the savagery of a chemical-created werewolf. Sunspot too rises up, wildly snarling, his powers enhanced far beyond his adolescent control.
Cloak observes that the drug obviously affects every individual differently, as it has enhanced the mutant powers of these two beyond their ability to control them. Without mercy, Wolfsbane smashes the mobster unconscious, while Sunspot runs on the doctor. They’ve become horrible, Dagger states. As horrible as they? asks Cloak.
Dagger decides she has to cleanse the drug from their bodies with her daggers of light. But, even as Dagger’s light knives strike, purging the drug from Wolfsbane, the werewolf jumps at her an bites her. Rahne turns to normal and sinks into Dagger’s arms, whereas Dagger’s light powers suddenly go wild – the wolf’s saliva having transmitted the drug and setting up a chemical imbalance.
Sunspot jumps to attack Cloak and is swallowed in Cloak’s all-consuming cape. Moments later, an unconscious, normal Roberto falls out of the cape. Cloak’s power, too, is acting out of control. The mutants and Spider-man can only watch, as a chemical-crazed Dagger unleashes light knives against Cloak and he, in turn, moves to envelop Dagger in his billowing cape of darkness. In the end, light and darkness dispel each other, leaving Cloak and Dagger as they were, cursed as ever before.
The mutants thank them. Dani wonders if they are also mutants and asks if they have a place to stay. Spidey suggests they could be mutants and explains about Xavier’s School run by a man that could help them. They could live with kids their own age. Dagger looks at them, clearly tempted, but Cloak declines. They still have much to learn about their power and themselves. They must do so alone. With that, he teleports them away, leaving the confused and sad mutants and Spider-Man.


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[Assistant]
Down deep in darkness
(Beneath New York City)
A commuter train rushes past Times Square platform at rush hour without stopping. Atop the train is Spider-Man, who wonders if something has happened to the engineer. The ‘dead man’ switch should activate if anything is wrong, but the brakes clearly aren’t operating at present. Peering inside the lead car, Spider-Man sees a group of armed thugs holding the passengers at bay. They want all the cash and jewellery they can get, but what they get is a face full of Spider-Man.
He crashes through a window and kicks a muscular blond man. He tries aiming his gun at Spidey, but receives a punch in the face for his trouble. Spidey moves swiftly through the carriage, striking his opponents as he goes. He’d been riding the train as plain old Peter Parker, when the train started speeding through station after station without any announced explanation. The passengers get out of his way, but the engineer is grabbed by another thug at gunpoint.
As the train hurtles through the tunnels, Spider-Man sees another train parked at the next station. There’s no way a collision can be avoided, unless he does something, fast. He throws the thug clear and climbs back onto the roof. Smashing the window causes the dead man switch to automatically apply the brakes, but the train still isn’t slowing down quickly enough. With the lead car cleared of passengers, he leaps forwards and into the train stopped ahead of them, and orders everyone off the train, now!
Everyone rushes from the carriage and Spidey just manages to leap clear, as the first train crashes into the back of it. His spider-reflexes enable him to avoid being crushed, but he is knocked unconscious as he lands. Amidst acrid smoke, rescue crews try to evacuate the station. A fire-fighter figures Spidey must have been crushed on impact but, unseen by him, Spidey lies in a gap between the walls. Dead to the world, a group of Morlocks pick him up and whisk him further underground. One figures that, although the X-Men have prohibited them from raiding the surface man’s world, there’s nothing to prevent them from seizing those humans who come to them. They are led by a Morlock sporting a large Mohawk.
(Westchester County)
Kitty Pryde, also known as Ariel, a member of the X-Men, is babysitting two young boys. They are playing a board game called Sewers & Serpents, and squabbling about the rules. Jeff insists you have to have the guts to break the rules to win, but Edward thinks you need to stick to them. Kitty asks them to pipe down, as she’s on the phone. She is speaking to Storm, who is back at Xavier’s. Storm assures her that babysitting two boys cannot be as bad as some of the situations she has found herself in with the X-Men, but Kitty isn’t so sure. Professor Xavier asked her to baby-sit; a means by which she can continue to do typical teenage type stuff. Storm tells Kitty that it’s hardly as if the professor has sentenced her to a gulag.
Listening to the conversation, Wolverine points out that he doesn’t know about that. He always had much the same opinion about kids as W.C. Fields. He likes ‘em broiled. Piotr trusts that is not Logan’s opinion of Katya, or his little sister, Illyana, but Kurt adds that they’re hardly children; not after all they’ve been through. Kitty heard that, and knows he’s right. She isn’t an ordinary teenager and it’s about time Professor Xavier stopped treating her like one. She slams the phone down and breaks up the argument brewing between her two charges. After some back chat, Kitty drags both boys to their bedroom as punishment and orders them to shut off their lights, shut their eyes, and shut up!
Out of breath, she leans against the wall outside their room, feeling like she’s gone through a level 10 workout in the Danger Room. She heads downstairs and falls asleep on the sofa. Upstairs, the boys are soon on their feet and sneaking out of their window, via knotted sheets. They head to the pit; the site of a new housing development nearby. Edward and Jeff have been warned off the site by their parents, who are tonight at the opera, but, when mom and dad are away, the boys will get into trouble.
Edward slides down the banking and into the pit. It’s dark and he teases his brother that he’d better not come down as it’s so dark and scary down there. He then notices that there’s a deep dark hole that wasn’t there this morning; a bottomless sewer, just like in their game. Jeff asks him to knock it off, as it isn’t funny. Edward drops a rock into the pit and doesn’t’ hear it hit bottom. Jeff calls for his brother to get out of there but Edward calls out, saying that there’s something coming towards him. He screams in the darkness and Jeff dashes back to the house for help.
Minutes later, he returns with Kitty in tow. Kitty can’t believe it. How can she help the world as an X-Man if she can’t even take care of a couple of kids? Carefully, they slide down towards the bottom of the pit and Kitty realizes that it’s some kind of shaft, recently dug from beneath. She has a bad feeling about this. As she contemplates calling the other X-Men, the four Morlocks attack them. She tells Jeff to run, as she tries fighting her opponents physically. Jeff, however, is caught and dragged beneath the surface, like his brother.
Kitty recognizes her attackers as being Morlocks and figures they thought she might be too much trouble. They’re about to find out they’re right. Kitty phases through the pit floor and into a chasm underground. The Morlocks are mutant outcasts, who choose to dwell beneath the surface in darkness. Recently, the X-Men fought them and, when Storm defeated their leader, Callisto, in a duel, she became their leader. She forbade them to ever raid the surface world again. Kitty wonders why they’ve decided to defy Storm’s prohibition now.
She phases through some more rock and is surprised to see a kind of train station. Two cars sit on the track and the Morlocks load Jeff onto one of them. He cries that he wishes to go home, but one of the Morlocks replies that this will be his home, for the remaining few hours of his life. Soundlessly, the magne-car streaks off down the track and away from Kitty. She has one chance. She leaps aboard the second magne-car ahead of the remaining Morlocks and speeds off in pursuit. The car drives itself and all Kitty needs to do is keep her foot planted on the accelerator pedal. The X-Men always wondered how the Morlocks got around down there, she thinks. Now they know.
Some distance below, the first group of Morlocks brings Jeff before their leader, Strigor. Jeff asks what they’re gonna do with him. He’s petrified, as he is surrounded by well over a score of Morlocks. Strigor thinks it only fitting that he answers the boy. He explains that he is Strigor, an outcast human. He and others like him were down there in the darkness long before the coming of Callisto’s mutantkind. Thus, they do not consider themselves bound by ‘arrangements’ entered into between the mutants, and the hated surface humans.
Jeff doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He just wants to go home. Strigor tells him that is something that he will never do, for tonight the Morlocks feast. Jeff is thrown into a darkened cell and discovers a skull as he sits up. He worries about never seeing his folks again, or Edward, but a voice from behind him shocks him into turning around. “Whining ain’t gonna get us out of here, brother.” He turns to see Edward, standing alongside Spider-Man, who is shackled in place against the wall. His shackles are electrified, so as to prevent anyone tampering with them.
Edward explains that he received the same supper speech when he arrived, but he doesn’t plan on being eaten. They’re gonna get Spidey out of there. Jeff can’t believe it is really Spidey, but cannot argue with the fact that he is there. Edward tries unlocking one of the shackles but is thrown backwards as an electric shock zaps through his body. The zap awakens Spider-Man and Jeff figures that, the same energy that keeps Spidey bound, must also be keeping him unconscious.
They figure out a plan to free the superhero. Edward kicks the top off the skull, which acts as a bowl. He then scoops up water from a puddle and throws it towards Spidey. It’ll either save him or kill him. Fortunately, despite being almost fried by wave after wave of electricity which spasms through his body, Spidey manages to pull himself free and kneels on the floor to recover. He thanks them, and explains that his spider-strength instinctively kicked in to save him. He asks where the heck they are and who they are. The boys excitedly fill him in on the details, as Kitty’s magne-car pulls up behind the first one.
She hops out and runs off to find the boys. It’s really dark down there, but she notices two Morlock guards standing in front of a locked door. She decides to go for the direct approach and wanders over to them. She asks where the tour of Howe Cavern starts. They see her and leap towards her but, as her natural state is to be phased, they go straight through her and land with a thud against the wall. Kitty grabs the keys to the door, just as the door comes flying off its hinges towards her. She phases to allow the door to go through her and notices that Spider-Man is responsible for its detachment.
Spider-Man wonders if she is a Morlock, but Edward explains that she’s their babysitter. He can’t believe it. Kitty introduces herself and says that the door flew right over her when she ducked. Spidey finds her story hard to believe, but buys it for now. He suggests they make a quick exit, for the Morlocks will probably have heard all the commotion.
They head through the tunnels, but are ambushed from above. As Spidey faces the Morlocks, Edward picks up a large bone from the ground and says he isn’t going down without a fight. Kitty notices his bravado and thinks back to the board game. Edward is now the one willing to break the rules in order to win. Danger reverses the kid’s roles. She asks them to stay back and leave the fighting to Spider-Man.
Spidey uses his agility to lay into the hapless Morlocks, and Kitty thinks he’s just as the other X-Men describe him: fast and funny. However, there are too many for him to fight alone, so it looks like her secret identity is about to become a thing of the past. One man leaps at her, but goes straight through her body. Spidey notices it as he webs up a few guys, and is surprised.
The two kids also come under attack and they fight furiously with the bones; determined not to be taken lightly. Kitty uses her limited physical prowess, as well as her phasing, to keep away from her opponents and warns Spidey that, the more time they spend there, the greater the danger to the kids. He hears her but isn’t sure where the exit is. Kitty tells him to look for a way up, a flight of stairs or a tunnel, anything like that. She learned that when the X-Men fought another group of Morlocks. Spidey makes the connection and Kitty tells him to go to the head of the class. She also asks him to keep it under his hat. She doesn’t want Edward and Jeff to know.
The kids, meanwhile, face Strigor. Kitty can’t worry about her identity now, so she asks Spidey for a fastball special. He throws the slender Kitty, saying that, although he’s no Goose Gossage, he’s been clocked at 95mph in a pinch. As Kitty flies, she remembers how Colossus and Nightcrawler practice this maneuver all the time. It’s fun. She just hopes it’s too dark for the kids to see her.
She smashes Stigor’s face into the rock and Stigor drops like a stone. Unfortunately, a muscular companion grabs Spidey around the neck. “Die surface dweller!” he cries. Congratulating him on his originality, Spidey uses his fighting skills to throw the man over his shoulder and through a stalactite. The man is knocked unconscious, but the stalactite’s destruction turns out to be far worse than the threat caused by the man. It was supporting the ceiling, which now begins to crumble.
Spidey quickly erects a shield out of webbing for them to stand under and the other Morlocks flee, as rocks rain down on them. Kitty and the gang soon find a flight of steps and run up them, grabbing a ladder that leads to the street. Spidey pulls everyone out into the street and finds he is right where he started. Kitty states that it’s not right where she started. She has to get the kids back to Westchester. Spidey offers to help, but Kitty figures she’ll call Professor Xavier. It’ll cost him much more to come and get her than she’ll earn babysitting, but maybe he’ll think again before assigning her to typical teenage work again.