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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

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Loose Ends
Prologue:
'Por favor – no me mates -' gasps Ernesto Gallegas as he kneels on the ground, pleading for his life, as a woman with blank eyes stands over him, spikes wrapped around her legs and arms. Ernesto's record includes assault, robbery and drug-trafficking. He was paroled two weeks ago. From an observation booth that looks down over the room Ernesto and the woman are in, two men look out, 'He begs for his life?' one of them asks. The second man explains that the woman is now physically capable of reducing even a hardened criminal to his knees. 'But will her conditioning outweigh her morals?' the first man asks. The woman glances up at the observation booth, and as if responding to the question, slams her spiked arm into Ernesto's face. The answer is yes.
Chapter One: Picking up the Pieces
Pochutia, Mexico, routine nigvhts for Shatterstar and Julio Richter a.k.a. Rictor as they track a gun shipment, find the exchange drop, kick some butt and move on to another town and do it all over again. Shatterstar leaps into the air and kicks a gun-runner backwards, while Rictor unleashes a small siemic wave, knocking his opponent back. The thugs open fire on the young heroes. Shatterstar blocks the bullets with his swords, while Rictor creates another quake to knock the gun-runners aside.
Rictor's family sells guns – illegally. He has promised to take down the family business. Shatterstar agreed to help him. For months since leaving the outlaw band of mutants known as X-Force, they have used the incredible abilities they were born with – Rictor's vibratory quakes and 'Star's genetically-enhanced martial skills – to cripple the Richters' black market operations. 'Done! Four more cousins and assorted low-lifes read for jail!' Rictor edxclaims proudly when they have taken the gun-runners out. He adds that his family will declare bankruptcy soon. Suddenly, someone claps, and the young men look up to see a man in a suit, face obscured by a wide-brimmed hat, walking towards them. The man announces that he was the buyer for this weapon consignment, but that he can dismiss his loss if it brings such wonderful specimens to his attention. 'I recruit fighters to... test... a very special individual. The pay is handsome. Interested?' he enquires.
A two-hour-drive later, a limo pulls up to the security-guarded gate of a large building, unaware that someone watches from the bushes outside. The man wearing the hat informs Shatterstar and Rictor that Verschiagen Industries is a German pharmaceutical company that specializes in biochemicals to enhance physical performance, and one of their test subjects requires more skilled competition. He adds that the pay is two thousand for every session that they remain standing. 'Five sessions, ten thousand total. Acceptable, senores -?' he asks. Shatterstar introduces himself as Benjamin Russell, before Rictor introduces himself and announces that it is acceptable. 'Cash, right?' he then enquires, while Shatterstar looks at him, a little confused. 'Si' the man in the hat confirms as they exit the limo. Making their way through the facility, Ric and 'Star decide that the place is low-rent but high-tech. They need the money, but is is a second priority, the first being to discover if the “test” subject is here against his will, and if so, free him.
A man in glasses approaches them, and the man in the hat introduces him as Zellig, explaining that he reviews the data from each of the combat simulations. Rictor informs the men that before they agree to this, they would like to know more about the test subject. Zellig explains that she is a volunteer, biogenetically engineered with dermal and subcutaneous extensions. The man in the  hat reveals that normal humans, even those with fighting prowess, have proven no match for her. 'But the two of you...' his voice trails off. Shatterstar announces that they need some rest if they are to display their peak efficiency in these combat sessions. 'Private quarters or can you share one accomodation?' the man in the hat asks as he leads them into a room with a sofa, chairs and television. 'Sharing's fine' Rictor confirms as he and 'Star examine their surroundings. Ric glances at 'Star, 'Nice digs' he remarks, before pointing out that they are probably bugged like a swamp. 'Switch to Cadre Alliance?' he suggests. 'Codlista' Shatterstar replies. That means affirmative in the language of Shatterstar's home world, an other-dimensional realm known as Mojoworld.
Rictor sits on the sofa, while 'Star sits at the table and polishes one of his swords, as they converse in Cadre Alliance, with Rictor remarking that he is surprised 'Star used the Russell name before. Shatterstar reminds Ric that his true identity is so shrouded in mystery that he would prefer to respect all the possibilities of who he might really be. He adds that his mind is filled with two different sets of memories, those of Gaveedra-7, a genetically bred warrior of the Cadre Alliance rebellion call-signal, Shatterstar, raised in the arena games of Mojoworld who came to Earth seeking freedom for himself and his people, and those of a Boston raised human named Benjamin Russell, whose mind was influenced while in a catatonic state to believe he was really Shatterstar, and whose body reawakened upon accepting the uemeuur, the soul, of Gaveedra-7. Shatterstar remembers being on Mojoworld, fighting in the arena which was lorded over by Mojo. 'All of a sudden, having a family selling guns doesn't sound so bad' Rictor jokes, before asking 'So which is it, Ben of Gaveedra? Human or Mojoworld?' Shatterstar puts his swords into their holder strapped to his back and replies 'For now... both... will have to do'.
Outside, the mysterious figure lurking in the bushes runs past the guards at the gate, carrying some darts in between his fingers. The guards are speaking to each other, 'So she says to me, come here with that big gun' the first boasts. 'The truth?' the second asks, when suddenly, the mysterious figure rushes past them, and throws two darts at them, which strike the guards in their necks. Red energy glows around the mystery man's hand, which extends out to the guards, taking them out with ease. He retrives the darts and takes one of their access cards, and sneaks into the Verschiagen grounds quick and silent as a cold breeze.
The next morning, an alarm clock sounds, and Rictor slowly opens his eyes 'Hey' he calls out, looking across the room, Shatterstar is only wearing some shorts and is upside down, lifting himself up by two fingers, he is already over one thousand push-ups. 'Hey' he calls back to Ric, who rubs his head and points out that they haven't seen this side of noon since Cable used to run them through drills at dawn. 'Using the term “we” to just mean me, of course...' Rictor adds. 'Of course' Shatterstar agrees in between counting more push ups.
An hour later, in the combat training room, Zellig is in the observation booth with some others, and Rictor calls out to him, asking him where Senor Blanco – the man with the hat – is. 'Gone to get more recruits' Zellig responds. 'You won't need 'em after you see us in action' Rictor calls back. 'Oh, I'm sure we will...' Zellig mutters as a door opens, and the female with spiked arms and legs appears. 'Height: five foot, two inches. Weight: approx ninety pounds' Shatterstar announces. 'Small' Ric points out. 'Doesn't account for heart and mettle' Shatterstar remarkss. Suddenly, the woman's arm transforms and extends upwards to some pipes running overhead, she swings towards the heroes. 'Or prehensile extensions of her epidermis' Shatterstar adds, as he prepares his swords. 'First pass is mine' Shatterstar declares as he slices his sword through the woman's extended arms. 'Benjamin Russell my butt' Rictor thinks to himself, but he admits that, walking warrior or not, his friend's personality has changed. 'Star is more relaxed, enjoying life more when he isn't fighting, even cracking a joke or two.
The woman's arm severed, she falls to the ground, she looks up at Shatterstar, her arm re-forms, the spikes re-appearing around them. Shatterstar still rocks most when he's fighting – but the same could be said for Rictor, too, who unleashes a seismic shock, ripping up the ground beneath the woman – who responds by extending her arm again and wrapping her tendrils around Rictor's neck. 'You are good. Making me look like a chatterbox' Shatterstar remarks as he lashes out at the woman again, cutting her arm to free Rictor, when suddenly, they all hear screams, and look around. 'They prob'ly can't believe you said “chatterbox”!' Ric jokes. Someone points out that it came from above, in the observation booth. Indeed, Zellig and the others have darts in their necks, and suddenly, are shocked by red energy. 'They are under attack. By whom?' Shatterstar wonders. 'First guess would be him!' Rictor declares as a man in a blue costume with a yellow vest that holds several more darts, breaks through the glass of the observation booth and throws three darts towards Ric, 'Star and the woman.
'You do not have to do this, V-2!' he calls out to the woman, who has grabbed the dart with one of her tendrils. 'He spoke in German?' Shatterstar realizes, holding the dart meant for him in his fingers, catching it before it stuck him. 'Julio – did you see gthe darts coming?' Shatterstar asks, 'Uhm... yup... saw one land, too. This is prob'ly gonna hurt, huh?' Ric remarks as he looks at the dart in his arm, before the new arrival releases the red energy, striking Rictor who falls to the ground. 'Some manner of synaptic pulse channeled through the darts?' Shatterstar wonders as he leaps towards the new arrival. 'I would have said that too...but I was too busy screaming like a girl...' Rictor replies, rubbing his head. Shatterstar takes a swipe at the new arrival with his sword and asks him if he has been recruited for the combat session. 'No' the new arrival replies, announcing that he is here to rescue V-2 from this madhouse. 'She does not have to be a puppet pulled by their twisted strings!' he exclaims. 'I am what I was meant to be' V-2 replies as she extends her tendrils, wrapping them around her would-be rescuer. Shatterstar realizes that she was speaking German, but notes that she looks half Hispanic, while the man she has wrapped her tendrils around looks half Asian. 'Regular United Nations of multicultural crossbreeding' Rictor thinks to himself as some darts are thrown into the woman's tendrils.
They all share the simplicity of the international language of war! 'I am sorry, V-2, but you leave me little choice!' He releases energy which surges around V-2 and he tells her that what he does is for her own good and that of the others. She screams, and then falls to the ground. 'Her agonized scream betrays the hypocrisy of your words!' Shatterstar exclaims as he lunges towards the other man, who readies more darts. 'ENOUGH!' Rictor souts, knocking the others off their feet, Rictor reports that he can't speak German, but if the new arrival understands English, then he needs to know that the woman is dead. 'Dead? That is... not possible – I only discharged enough energy to stun her!' the man exclaims. 'A convenient excuse' Shatterstar remarks as he places one of his swords to the man's neck. 'I could have killed your friend and I did not!' the man exclaims. 'Point to you'' Rictor mutters, while Shatterstar points out that the woman still lies dead.
Suddenly, Zellig and several guards appear in the combat room, and the guards all aim their guns at the intrduder. 'You must believe me' he pleads. He explains that his given name is Asahi, although he calls himself Hanransha, which means “The Rebel”. He reveals that he was the firs test subject and there are eight of them in total, while he escaped months ago, and he has been searching for the others since. 'He is lying!' Zellig exclaims. Hanransha asks why he would have placed himself at such risk then, and more importantly, why would he have wanted to kill his own sister? 'Sure coulda used that ten thou, too...' Rictor remarks. 'Priorities, Julio' Shatterstar replies, when suddenly, a strange noise fills the room. 'Is someone humming?' one of the guards asks. Whether genetically-bred alien warrior, or human child, one thing Shatterstar is for certain and that is a mutant with power seldom used because of how severely it exhausts him – the ability to channel a sonic vibration through his sword! That vibration is followed by an explosion, and 'Star, Ric and Hanransha run from the burning facility. 'I have a car over the hill!' Hanransha calls out as he leads the way. Rictor is next, and he asks 'Star if he needs a hand, but trailing behind the others, Shatterstar announces that he is fine.
They reach the jeep, and Rictor takes the wheel, deciding that Hanransha doesn't look old enough to be out of training wheels, much less have a license. 'License for what?' Hanransha asks. 'The life of a “test subject” is kinda secluded, I take it?' Ric replies as he starts the car and drives off across the rocky terrain. Hanransah explains that he was a product of a planned genetic breeding program whose successful goal was to give birth to mutants with specific powers. He continues, stating that he was Verscuct-1, the German word for experiment, and the girl who just died, she was V-2, his half sister – but he had never met her until today. 'Half sister?' Rictor asks as he drives the jeep. Hanransha reveals that they were all born of one mother, but eight different fathers. Hanransha adds that he never met his father, but first heard of him when he died trying to rescue him a year ago. Hanransha tells Ric and 'Star that he escaped from his mother's madhouse, the main Verschiagen facility in Germany, and he had two leads on where the other V-subjects were – Mexico being the first. 'And the other is?' Shatterrstar enquires. Hanransha announdces that Verschiagen Industries recently signed a research agreement with an American company called STRONGH.O.L.D. 'Strong? As in Martin Strong? Oh-oh' Rictor remarks. 'You are familiar with him?' Hanransha enquires. 'Yeah' Ric confirms, adding that they better find a way to spring for an airfare to Denver, Colorado.
Chapter Two: Strong Attractions
There, built into the side of a cliff is the secluded administrative main building of the STRONGH.O.L.D. Franchise. 'Engage carapace support' Martin Henry Strong announces as his body is lowered into a spider-like base which engables him to move about. He has no arms below the elbow, and no legs below the knee. He hates this part. The infuriating dependency. He is one of the most brilliant men on the planet, and one of the most tragic. His mutant power creates a sympathetic symbiosis with any weak-minded sentient form it encounters. He spent a decade genetically engineering an advanced human body so he could attach himself in order to walk. That perfect body was destroyed in battle with X-Force. It took him two years to find a suitable candidate for his mutant symbiotic engagement. His name was Freddy, born severely autistic, at pubery, Freddy's body began to mutate – bones jutted out, skin grew into umbrella-like flaps, his exterior collapsing into an interior shell, symbolic of his shattered mind, perhaps. Freddy gave Strong a chance to move and touch. Strong has given the boy a sensory awareness of the world he has never had before. Their relationship works, but it is a distateful reminder to Strong of his tragic state – and his abiding hatred of the very nature of human mutation.
Placed into Freddy, it is ironic that Strong's goal is to eliminate the existence of beings like Freddy. But without him, or his own mutation, Strong would be unable to fulfill that goal. 'What do you think?' Strong asks as he moves across the industrial room, where a woman in a black outfit with an orange vest replies 'I think it's disgusting'. She pulls no punches. Her name is Michelle Balters a.k.a. Neurotap. Her mutant ability is to make eye contact, send an energy surge though a target's optic nerves, releasing an internal surge of energy. Michelle's basic character conflict is that she allows herself to be Strong's lab rat so he will pay her family's enormous medical bills – bills charged on her soul, for when Michelle's powers first kicked in, she fried her parents into vegetative comas. Strong smirks and remarks that he imagines it is unsightly, but points out that beggars can't be choosers. One of his / Freddy's spindly extensions taps some keys on a monitor and he declares that, actually, it is an invigorating symbiosis, he can feel Frederick's happiness. The monitor sounds an incoming message, and Strong states that it is from his new associate. 'Guten tag, Hanna' he greets Hanna Verschiagen as she appears on the monitor. Hanna announces that they had an incident in her Mexican plant, and asks Strong how his security standards are.
Strong boasts that in his opinion, it is of the highest caliber, but just in case, to ensure the safety of Hanna's two subjects remanded into his care, so he has assigned an extra level of security. However, outside, a security vehicle is unmanned, and guards lay strewn about the facility.
Hours later:'You were saying?' Neurotap asks as she hears a noise coming from the other sider of the door. They enter the next room, to find 'Star, Ric and Hanransha battling some mutated beings. 'Well, I could hardly be faulted for not expecting a small army to attack!' Strong points out. 'Technically, you could' Shatterstar replies as he leaps towards Strong. Neurotap tells Shatterstar that this is all a bit more complicated than he thinks. 'Sorry, Neurotap, we've danced that dance with you before!' Rictor points out as he struggles against one of the muated beings. He notices Hanransha easily taking his opponents out and tels him to ease up on them. Shatterstar explains that most of them are merely innocent dupes – like Michelle here. 'I'd totally hate both of you for your arrogance... if you also weren't right!' Neurotap calls back. Rictor addresses Neurotap by her last name and as he knocks the mutated beings backwards with a seismic blast, he tells her that he understands she knows they don't have to hate each other. 'But do you get that whagt Strong is doing here has been and still is wrong?' he asks. 'What is the difference? She still works for a kidnapper!' Hanransha points out as he leaps towards Neurotap, who tells him that is not fair. 'I prefer to think of him as an all-encompassing madman!' Neurotap exclaims, adding that it is laugh or cry, 'Gotcha!' she tells Hanransha as her eyes meet his, and Hanransha cries out as energy is surged into him.
Suddenly, Martin Henry Strong cries out in pain, 'Did that hurt, Strong?' Shatterstar asks, jolding his swords as one of the legs of Strong's carapace has been severed. 'I didn't realize you're neurologically attuned to the carapace' Shatterstar remarks, adding that it makes it easier to whittle away at Strong. 'Fight's over, Michelle! Let us leave with the two kids Strong took from Verschiagen!' Rictor calls out as he knocks some machinery into Neurotap with a seismic shock. 'I – I can't...' Michelle responds. Shatterstar holds one of his blades to Neurotap's neck, he tells Michelle that they know he pays for her parents care, but he can make that a moot point. 'You wouldn't...' a wide-eyed Strong utters. 'Let's not wait to find out!' a voice calls out, and a surge of energy strikes 'Star in his shoulder, causing him to drop his sword. 'That looked like a psionic arrow?' Rictor remarks, surprised. 'Felt like one, too...' Shatterstar remarks as he drops to the ground. 'But that means -' Rictor begins, as Sam “Cannonball” Guthrie, Danielle Moonstar and James Proudstar bust into the chamber. 'Means you take on Strong, you also take on X-Force!' Cannonall shouts. 'Much as those words leave a sour taste in my mouth' Proudstar remarks. 'You do not want another one of these, guys' Dani tells 'Star and Ric as she readies another psionic arrow. They are former teammates of Rictor and Shatterstar, and their unvoiced thought: 'What the #$%&?'.
Rictor helps Shatterstar stand up, while Dani declares that they don't need Xavier to read their minds. Cannonball informs them that Michelle left an e-mail asking for help, she knew Strong had bitten off more than he could chew, but that just like last time they dealt with Strong, there is a lot more to this than meets the eye. Dani explains that when Neurotap saw the report on their Mexican shoot-out, she contacted X-Force asking for help. 'In keeping people trapped against their will? Is that what X-Force stands for?' Hanransha asks, slamming his hand against the wall. 'How much angrier are you since your escape, Hanransha?' Strong asks. 'What does that -?' Hanransha begins to ask. 'Angry enough to lose control over your powers?' Strong enquires. 'No!' Hanransha declares. 'Uhm...' Rictor begins. 'That might explain what happened to V-2 in Pochiuta?' Shatterstar suggests. Neurotap informs Hanransha that she knows what it is like to lose control like that, to feel responsible for it. 'Strong – tell them what you told us' she calls out. Strong reports that since escaping from the the Verschiagen Facility in Germany, Hanransha's mind and body has been systematically deteriorating.
Strong opens a panel behind him, revealing another chamber, where Hanransha sees V-3 and V-4 in stasis chambers, 'But – they appear lifeless?' he exclaims. 'Are they -?' he begins to ask. Strong explains that they are in an induced catatonic state, as their powers were breaking down and killing them. He adds that all of Verschiagen's test subjects were bred with a dependency to a neural cortical enzyme – a genetic tag through which Hanna could control them all. Strong informs Hanransha that his anger and power flux is due to not havin received the enzyme in months. Hanransha looks at V-3 and V-4 as Strong tells him that upon his escape, Hanna increased the dosage in the other V-subjects, but it backfired on her, and because of this greater need, like drug addicts, their bodies are deteriorating faster because of the increased enzyme requirements. Strong states that he has identified the enzyme, but he can not replicate it, so placing them in stasis was for their own protection. 'Are you suggesting I subject myself to this -?' Hanransha asks. 'Live on your feet or die on your knees?' Shatterstar asks him, suggesting that they to go this Hanna Verschiagen and taken what they need.
But Ric tells 'Star that it is not so simple, as they can't let themselves get caught by this lady. 'Why not?' Moonstar enquires. Strong reveals that Hanna has done all this to jump-start her own latent mutant potential, and she planned to use the eight V-subjects as biological batteries, with the congruence of their individual powers advancing her dominant powers, and when she could not find the necessary mutants for this process, she decided to breed them, using eight males who could confirm to her DNA structure. 'Her DNA? You're saying that she's...' Rictor begins. 'Hanna Verschiagen is our mother' Hanransha announces as he stares at his “brother” floating in the tank in front of him. 'Excuuuuuse me! But I'm tripping over the complications here!' Rictor exclaims. Neurotap steps forward and suggests that perhaps it is just as easy as Shatterstar said, and maybe she is tired of rationalizing all the times she has turned her back on doing the wrong thing. Strong tells Michelle that right and wrong is rather arbitrary here, and Moonstar adds that is the old X-Force way of doing things. 'We prefer being a bit more... cautious nowadays' Cannonball explains as he and Moonstar look at Rictor. '“We” do?' Rictor asks.
Four rolling vibe-quakes, four rising earth-pillars and one getaway later, Rictor, 'Star, Neurotap and Hanransha sit on the earth-pillars which are propelled through the air, high up, the stars glowing behind the young mutants. Neurotap comments that Rictor has gotten more creative with his powers, to which Ric points out that he has plenty of practice. Up even higher, Cannonball blasts after the others, 'Ric! C'mon, don't make me cannonball through those towers!' Sam calls out. Ric turns back to his old teammate and tells him 'You won't break my contact with the ground, 'cause we'd fall – and you know you can't catch all four of us, so...what say the last one to Germany's a rotten egg?!'
Chapter Three: X-P8
Neustrelitz, Germany, several hours later, 'The experimental parasit eprogram can wait no longer, Frau Verschiagen! Subject two is dead, three and four are unobtainable...' a scientist calls out. 'Then, Herr Frocht, we will proceed with the four subjects we housed here... and the four we just captured this evening!' Hanna Verschiagen exclaims as she stands in a laboratory, where scientists mill about at their stations, and a large machine is in the center of the room, with various cables and wires protruding from it, which tangle around the now captive Rictor, Shatterstar, Neurotap, Hanransha and the four other V subjects, five through eight.
For the young heroes, they are the ones who arrived first – and the rotten eggs. 'Okay, so maybe Guthrie was right...' Neurotap mutters, cables connected to her head. 'Well, if someone told me the V-subjects got more powerful the higher we went up the number chart...' Rictor mutters. 'Then you would not have wished for a V-8, Julio?' Shatterstar asks. 'Remind me not to like your sense of humor later' Ric replies. 'Children, please...you should be honored' Hanna Verschiagen tells her captives. Her voice, like the bad guys in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” filtered through Mary Poppins. She tells the her captives that this is not personal, but she has waited twenty years for this opportunity, the chance to fulfill her true potential – and it is glorious indeed. 'Tell that to the eight children whose lives you have ruined' Shatterstar snaps back. 'Well...eleven, counting you three... but who is counting?' Hanna replies, before bidding everyone auf widersehen as she steps into the machine and it closes behind her, activating the process.
Rictor thinks to himself that usually there is a little more time for expository villainous ranting. He hates bad guys that don't follow the rules. But the thought is lost as the pain rips through him, though the link that is connected to his mind, and the very life is siphoned from he, 'Star and the others and channeled into Hanna, who rapidly begins to undergo a remarkable metamorphosis. 'This... is... wonderful!' Hanna exclaims as energy glows around her in the machine. 'Some minor glitches due to the untested mutants involved, but it's proceeding as -' one of the scientists remarks, when suddenly, 'Did you just feel the floor... rumble?' another scientist asks, when suddenly, Cannonball, Moonstar and Proudstar burst up through the floor in spectacular display.
'Nice to know some things never change... so, co-bosses, what's the plan?' Proudstar asks. 'Old X-Force tactics!' Cannonball announces. 'Indiscriminate carange?' Proudstar enquires. 'Make it more focused – like this centrsl conduit doo-hickey!' Moonstar explains as she fires a blast of energy at the machine in the center of the room, much to the horror of one of the scientists. 'STOP!' Hanna Verschiagen booms as she appears out of the broken machine. 'I SAID STOP!' she shouts again.
X-Force stand before Hanna Verschiagen, and Cannonball suggests that the sever the link and it should cut her power flow. But the three heroes are buffeted by the combined power of all eight mutants that Hanna Verschiagen is connected to. James, Dani and Sam can't remember ever being hit this hard. Shatterstar is still connected to Verschiagen. He knows that the fight is unwinnable, for the witch channels more power than his friends can fight against. Their only chance is to break the link from within. Weakened, he summons the strength to pull the conduit lines from his body, and a shard of metallic debris becomes a a boomerang, slicing Rictor and Neurotap free. 'NO!' Verschiagen exclaims when she realizes what has happened. 'I was so close!' she shouts, before knocking Sam, Dani and James back with another powerful force. 'But even halved I still have power enough to defeat you!' she boasts. With Rictor, 'Star and Neurotap free, Cannonball goes over to Neurotap and asks her if she is okay. 'Different kind of insanity than I'm used to' Neurotap replies. 'Routine for us, unfortunately' Sam tells her, before Neurotap asks 'She's going to drain them, 'til they die, right? Like a vampire?' 'She figures to try' Cannonball tells her. Neurotap wonders if that is why Strong helped her – eight less mutants in the world is okay by him, especially if it makes one big one who will take down a bunch more – all one sick chess game, no matter who gets hurt along the way.
'You have no choice but to let this process continue!' Verschiagen announces. Shatterstar starts to cut some of the cables connecting Verschiagen to the V-subjects, but he is warned that even if his stops her, their bodies will be so depleted that they will die within minutes. She boasts that only she knows the enzyme formula and if she goes, they do, too. 'We'll all – die – anyway...mother!' Hanransha exclaims. 'You will, V-1...but you will die for the sake of a greater cause!' Verschiagen responds as she looms over X-Force, 'Star, Rictor and Neurotap. 'Not for your madness!' Hanransha exclaims, before turning to the other V-subjects, and telling them that though he doesn't know them, they are brothers and sisters, and they cannot let Verschiagen steal what little life they have left. 'If we are to die, let it be taking that from her which she has always craved...stealing back all she ever wanted from us – our power!' Hanransha exclaims. But Hanna Verschiagen tells her children not to listen to the rebel. 'I gave you life so that you could give me life!' she exclaims. 'How wrong is for a mother to ask for the lives she freely gave you?' Hanna asks as the intensity of the energy in the room begins to grow.
'They're speaking in German? What Are they saying?' Proudstar asks. Hanransha is almost consumed by energy, and he pleads with Rictor and Shatterstar. 'You understood what they were saying, right?' Rictor asks. 'Yes' Shatterstar replies. 'So, we only got one chance to make one choice?' Rictor asks. 'Yes' Shatterstar confirms, holding his swords at the ready. Rictor asks his friend what they should do, to which Shatterstar exclaims 'What we always do...whatever has to be done' and he throws his swords forward, they slice through the cables connecting Verschiagen to Hanransha and the other four V-subjects. Shatterstar's swords return to him, and with the conduit lines cut, and no energy to feed her, 'This is not fair...' Hanna Verschiagen utters as she is unable to maintain her energized state, and since the power cannot return to where it came from, it consumed itself – and her along with it, as the energy decreases in size until it, and Hanna Verschiagen, are no more. Moonstar, Cannonball and Proudstar look on in awe, while Rictor holds the withered body of Hanransha in his arms. 'Is she -?' Hanransha asks. 'Gone' Rictor tells him. 'Then... the sacrifice of our lives...' Hanransha begins, adding that the very reason they were created ultimately had meaning. 'Yeah' Rictor assures him as he passes away, and the others hang their heads.
'What you did -' Neurotap begins as she stands in front of Shatterstar, who tells her that it is what they wanted him to do – he gave them dignity. 'What about the rest of us? What about me?' Neurotap asks. 'Star reminds her that they all make their own choices, and then they live by them. 'Or die by them' Michelle points out. 'Sometimes' Shatterstar admits. Cannonball hands Michelle a card with Charles Xavier's number on it, so he can help her with her parents, if she dcides to make the choice that he thinks she will. With tears in her eyes, Neurotap thanks Sam and tells him that she will need it, because she already made her choice. Shatterstar takes Hanransha's t-shirt and wraps it around his head like a bandana. Proudstar queries this, and 'Star explains that on his world, you honor the fallen by wearing a symbol of their courage, to ensure that those who survive always remember why they continue to fight.


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

[Assistant]
Cracked Foundation
Flashback images:
Millions of years ago, an advanced race of beings known as the Celestials made a primitive planet their destination. They traveled across unfathomable distances in order to conduct a monumental experiment that would alter this world’s future. Upon arrival, the Celestials sent forth their gatherers - robotic golem drones who scoured earth, air and sea collecting, categorizing and conducting genetic tests and alterations upon indigenous species. They concentrated most of their efforts on three species, turning one into a race of near immortals known as the Eternals. They gave primitive man the x-factor gene which would one day bear superhuman fruit. To the subterranean dwellers called Deviants, they bequeathed a genetically unstable lineage where mutation is the norm, not the exception.
Finally, when the Celestial host left Earth, they left behind a handful of the golems. Over the course of the millennia that followed, the harsh elements of a still wild and changing world swallowed the golems, burying them in the most inhospitable locations - beneath desert sand, in volcanic lava and deep under the ocean. Until now….
Present:
Today, in an inaccessible part of the Amazon Rainforest, a dense jungle where few men have ever set foot. Ancient stone gargoyles which predate recorded history guard the entrance to subterranean chambers which lead far beneath the Earth’s surface to a lost city built millennia past by architects of an inhuman race. Once this was a colony of the underground empire of the changelings and grotesques called the Deviants. Then as empires are wont to do, the Deviant kingdom crumbled and fragmented, and the colony was abandoned.
Recently, it has been reclaimed by a mysterious organization called the Damocles Foundation, whose members include expatriate Deviants, rogue Eternals and a select group of humans. At this hour, the Foundation’s leader, the cunning Odysseus Indigo, who renounced his loyalties to the Deviant empire to create his own - stands in what was once a gladiatorial arena. At his order, two of the foundation’s most brilliant scientists, geneticist Dr Segismund Joshua and bio-cyberneticist Dr Chandra have traveled halfway around the world in order to bring the only known celestial golem gather, a means to make Indigo’s dreams of empire a reality.
The golem lies on a table in the center of the arena. The Damocles logo - a sword over the Earth is embedded onto the arena floor. Four monitors stand at the edge of the arena. Dr Chandra stands at one of them, while Dr Joshua stands closer to the golem, and Odysseus Indigo stands at another monitor as he declares: ‘He’s beautiful, isn’t he?’ explaining that one of the recovery teams found him in the Mariana’s Trench, and that this one is in even better shape than the first one they recovered ten years ago. ‘I’m here to personally oversee that all goes well here. I refuse to lose this one like we did the last one’.
Indigo places a hand on the golem’s chest and tells his colleagues that, when he created the Damocles Foundation in order to engineer the next dominant species, he knew that theirs would be the only one with this goal. He exclaims that now, with a celestial golem at their disposal, they can leave Sinister, the Hive, AIM and the rest far behind. ‘For just as the Celestials used these machines to restructure the DNA of our ancestors we will be able to rewrite the genetic template of future generations’ Indigo boasts. ‘Assuming we succeed today’ Dr Joshua remarks. ‘To attempt to graft such a volatile power source to a machine we know so little about is reckless’ he declares.
Indigo holds up a globe containing a mysterious being inside it and exclaims ‘You have voiced your concerns, Dr Joshua, however I believe the safeguards Dr Chandra has implemented to be more than enough to allow us to use the remains of the Reignfire entity to reawaken the gatherer!’. Indigo declares that he does not think they will have any of the previous problems Dr Joshua had in controlling the Reignfire entity.
Meanwhile, up above, an unlikely duo watches from the shadows. She is Selene, a centuries-old enchantress and Black Queen of the Hellfire Club. Her bewildered companion is Roberto DaCosta, heir to millions and the solar-powered mutant called Sunspot, formerly of X-Force. ‘You can see why I brought you here’ Selene tells her young companion. ‘You have a personal stake in stopping Indigo’ she reminds him. ‘I don’t care about the Damocles Foundation, but Reignfire’s another matter. That thing nearly stole my life!’ Bobby exclaims, frowning.
In Flashback Illustrations:
When Reignfire first appeared, taking control of the Mutant Liberation Front after Stryfe’s defeat, the fiery terrorist confounded X-Force. He seemed to be intimately acquainted with every part of the heroic young mutant’s lives, while to them he remained an enigma. None of the members of X-Force wanted to voice their suspicion that there might be an uncomfortable connection between Reignfire and Sunspot. Then, following months of mysterious absence, Bobby returned and announced he was Reignfire.
However, despite Bobby’s assertion, the real truth was far more convoluted. Reignfire was Project Nineteen, a protoplasmic mutant symbiote being studied by Dr Joshua who later introduced Bobby’s blood into Nineteen’s system. Nineteen assumed Bobby’s shape, inherited his solar based power, and gained an intimate knowledge of Roberto. For a psychic link between him and Bobby had somehow been forged, a one way link that allowed Reignfire to control Bobby at times. When Cable severed the link, mistakenly believing that he had destroyed an aberrant personality in Bobby’s brain, Reignfire disappeared, psychically scarred and traumatized. Recently he returned, this time, desperately trying to kill Bobby and the other members of X-Force. Eventually, he was defeated, reduced to his original protoplasmic state.
Sunspot and X-Force believed Project Nineteen to be in SHIELD custody, but Bobby recently learned that the SHIELD agent who claimed the body was in fact an agent of the Damocles Foundation.
Present:
Sunspot tells Selene that he cannot afford to risk Reignfire playing games with his life and endangering his friends yet another time. ‘But I’m sure you know that - or you wouldn’t have tracked me down to get my help’ Bobby adds, before asking Selene to be straight with him. ‘Why are you here?’ he asks her. The Black Queen replies ‘A pre-emptive strike. I have no interest in letting Indigo’s organization become powerful enough to interfere with the Hellfire Club’s agenda’. She adds that it is no just Reignfire, but the golem that they must destroy.
Suddenly, ‘You won’t have that chance, witch. Argos the Hunter promises you that!’ exclaims Argos as he steps forward. He is among the Damocles Foundation’s most formidable soldiers - the Sword. ‘Remember me, hunter?’ Bobby asks as he moves towards Argos. ‘I have not forgotten our first encounter in Kentucky. You will not be as lucky as you were then’ Argos replies. Bobby flies into Argos, telling him that luck has nothing to do with it. ‘It’s all training. Well, training and a little attitude’ he exclaims, while Argos cries out for his staff, which Bobby knocked from his hands.
‘How many times have I told you, Argos, you cannot afford to toy with this new breed of humans - they are far too dangerous to allow them any advantage!’ declares Zona as she materializes and collects Argos’ staff, before smacking Bobby in the back with the staff. Zona is the leader of the Sword, and is a master of camouflage and invisibility. Her opponents are seldom aware of her presence until it is too late. Zona and Argos approach Selene, telling her to surrender, as Indigo wants her alive. ‘But that doesn’t mean unhurt’ Argos points out, while Selene exclaims ‘You knew we were here all along’. ‘From the moment you arrived’ Argos confirms. ‘It will only take a moment to cast a spell to spirit me away from here’ Selene declares as she runs from Argos and Zona.
‘Stop!’ exclaims a rather large member of the Sword who Selene almost crashes into. ‘My. Aren’t you a big one’ Selene remarks. The warrior introduces himself as Stranglehold, to which Selene replies ‘Well, there’s no hope of getting past you, is there?’. ‘Nope’ Stranglehold tells her. ‘Then I give up - oh and one other thing’ Selene exclaims, before casting a spell. This shunts Stranglehold backwards, and he screams that he is on fire. ‘I’ve been putting over-confident brutes in their place long before you were born, Deviant…’ Selene exclaims, when, suddenly, Selene screams as lightning bolts of electricity lance through her body. ‘You won’t do that again, witch’ a voice exclaims as Selene falls to the ground.
Another member of the Sword appears over Selene, ‘Confused? Allow me, dear lady. I am Pyre. I control the atmosphere’ the warrior exclaims, suggesting Selene be thankful he did not ignite the oxygen around her in payback for what she just did to Stranglehold. ‘Rot…in…Hell…’ Selene whispers. Zona pulls the Black Queen off the ground and remarks that it is too bad Pyre’s shock treatment failed to change her personality. Argos tells Zona to be careful that Selene doesn’t cast another spell.
Suddenly, Odysseus Indigo arrives, ‘I’ll see to that ladies, and gentlemen’ Indigo declare, telling Selene that he is sorry they have to meet this way. ‘Give you a tumor…malignant…tumor…will consume you…from inside…’ Selene utters. ‘I’m sure you would, but you understand I can’t let you’ Indigo replies as he tips an orange dust from a pouch into his hand, then rubs his thumb into it, and presses four marks of the orange into Selene’s head as he tells her that it is the ashes of a Lemurian sorcerer. ‘With this containment mark you will be unable to harm me in any way’ Indigo tells Selene, who boasts that she doesn’t need magic to skewer him like the pig he is. ‘You are as charming as your reputation implies’ Indigo smiles.
Meanwhile, in Detroit, on the outskirts of the city is an unusual junkyard belonging to a strange and eccentric fellow named Sledge. There is nothing he cannot procure for his clients for a price. It is rumored that mob bosses and politicians alike owe him for services rendered. Tonight, Sledge entertains guests who have come to him seeking sanctuary. This he gives freely for he owes one of them his life.
Sledge moves through his workshop, followed by the two new arrivals - one human female, the other something more. ‘My sources confirm yours. That rat found another one’ Sledge exclaims, adding that you would think the host would have picked up their garbage on the way up. ‘Now, we have to clean their mess’. ‘You destroyed the last one, old friend. I shall take care of this one’ the inhuman companion remarks. ‘Not with that arm, pal. It still hasn’t healed since the last time you faced your old crew’ Sledge tells his strange companion.
‘I can deal with them’ the woman boasts, hands on hips. ‘You’ve spent the past year putting as much distance as possible between you and those goons - why be a moron and risk capture again?’ Sledge asks her. The woman protests that she has been training, and can control her power. ‘I’m not saying you don’t have the right stuff, sweetie, but face it, you still don’t have complete control over that talent’ Sledge points out. Suddenly, an alarm sounds. Sledge turns to a monitor, and excuses himself form his companions, explaining that is the outside alarm, and that he has trespassers. ‘They oughta be meeting my puppies right about now’ Sledge declares.
At that moment, the trespassers are making their way through the junkyard when several robotic dogs made of junk begin attacking them. However, the trespassers are none other than teenage mutant heroes known as X-Force! ‘Guess this Sledge doesn’t cotton much to visitors!’ Sam “Cannonball” Guthrie remarks. Danielle Moonstar points out that Sledge has got top-secret military hardware and state-of-the-art electronics. ‘He’s more than just some crazy old junk dealer!’ she declares. ‘Say the word and I’ll pull the plug on all these mechanical pit-bulls!’ Jesse “Bedlam” Aaronson boasts.
But James Proudstar tells Jesse not to bother, pointing out that Sledge’s robot-wielers are designed to scare the locals, and are of no threat to them. ‘No threat, right. I’m sure if we scratch their ears they’ll roll over and lick themselves’ Tabitha “Meltdown” Smith mutters. Suddenly, a garage door opens, and Sledge emerges from his office. ‘James! It’s been a while, my boy. What brings you and your friends to the Motor City?’ Sledge calls out. ‘A personal matter’ Proudstar replies. Sam stands next to his friend and James introduces Sledge to Sam, explaining that he rejoined the team after they last met. ‘But it turns out you two havge already met’ James reveals to Sledge.
‘We have?’ Sledge asks, surprised. ‘Ten years ago. At a Kentucky roadhouse called Big Susie’s’ Sam reveals. ‘You were a child then. I’m surprised you remember that night’ Sledge replies, leaning on his crutches. Sam declares that he would never have forgotten any of that evening if Sledge hadn’t erased it from his mind. ‘I know my uncle’s side of the story. Now I want yours’ he declares. ‘Well, you couldn’t have arrived at a better time. Tell me, do you believe in coincidence?’ Sledge asks. At that moment, Sledge’s guests enter the junk yard. ‘You can’t be thinking of using these children, Sledge’ the strange looking one remarks. ‘We didn’t need their help before, and we don’t need it now’ the woman declares.
‘I believe you know Ulysses Dragonblood and Arcadia DeVille’ Sledge exclaims. ‘Yeah, we met in Kentucky a few months back’ Sam replies, adding that Arcadia did a real number on Dani. ‘Moonstar…’ Arcadia exclaims. ‘Arcadia’ Dani replies. It was in a rural farmhouse where Dani tried to stop Arcadia from killing two members of the Sword. Arcadia resisted Dani’s intervention, inadvertently catalyzing a singular transformation in the Cheyenne-born mutant. Dani then became able to channel a quantum energy that changes the subatomic structure of living things and inanimate objects alike. ‘Do you have any idea what you did to me?’ Moonstar asks. ‘What I did to you?’ Arcadia snaps back. ‘I’ve been haunted by these weird dreams with you and a giant Demon Bear -’ Arcadia begins.
‘You’ve been dreaming of the Demon Bear? I thought I saw its ghost in Golden Gate Park!’ Dani exclaims, adding that there must be more to this - when suddenly, energy crackles around her as she gets closer to Arcadia. ‘Whoa!’ Dani exclaims, stepping back. Ulysses explains that Arcadia unknowingly gave Moonstar the same ability she has to warp reality, and now their proximity is activating the other’s powers. Sledge suggests that they discuss this in transit, as the odds of success have become much greater in the past few minutes, but time is running out. Ulysses admits that X-Force are an efficient unit, but that this does not concern them. ‘Guthrie was there when I destroyed the last one your brother’s people found’ Sledge reveals, before Sam asks them what they are talking about.
‘The Damocles Foundation’ Sledge replies. ‘They have in their possession another of the Celestial gatherers like the one you saw me destroy’. Moonstar announces that they have had a few encounters with the Foundation themselves, but they don’t know much about them. ‘They hide behind many fronts but here is the truth’ Odysseus declares:
Illustrative images, narrated by Odysseus Dragonblood:
‘For millennia, the ethereal Eternals and my people, the Deviants, warred with each other for control of this planet. Humanity, ignorant of our shared history, believed us to be Gods and Devils - and out interaction with mankind became intermingled with myths and folk tales’.
‘A thousand years ago, a covenant between Eternal and Deviant was reached, and we agreed to leave humanity to its own devices until the fourth Celestial host arrived’.
‘Before the fourth hose arrived, man split the atom, and the true balance of world power began to shift. My brother, Odysseus Indigo, broke away from the Deviant empire and formed a splinter group of Deviants and Eternals and humans to create an control the next species that will rule this planet. I was part of the Foundation until I realized that my brother’s interests were entirely selfish, and left, taking Arcadia with me’.
Present.
Ulysses exclaims that with a Celestial golem at his command, Indigo no longer needs Arcadia’s reality-warping abilities. ‘The gatherer gives him the means to jumpstart the next evolutionary step. We can’t let that happen!’ Sledge declares.
Meanwhile, in a holding cell in the Deviant outpost, Selene tells Bobby that he is wearing out the floor pacing back and forth, and tells him to relax, as this is only a temporary setback. ‘How can I relax when we’re far beneath the Earth’s surface in a cell that somehow cancels out my power?’ Bobby replies. ‘Hmm…I can see how that might upset you’ Selene tells him, to which Bobby frowns and asks Selene not to patronize him. ‘I don’t like you that much, and considering all the times you made life a nightmare for the X-Men and New Mutants, I certainly don’t trust you. The only reason I agreed to come with you is because Indigo. The only reason I agreed to come with you is because Indigo has possession of Reignfire’ Bobby declares.
‘That’s the difference between us, Roberto. I have absolute faith in you’ Selene tells Bobby as she walks over to him. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Sunspot asks. Selene smiles and strokes Bobby’s face, telling him that he has such potential and yet he has squandered it with Xavier’s scout troops. ‘They’re holding you back’ she tells him. ‘What are you doing?’ Bobby asks, pulling away from Selene’s touch. ‘Afraid of what I might do to you?’ Selene asks. ‘Since you’ve been known to drain the life-force of your enemies until there was nothing left but dust - I’d be a fool not to be afraid of you’ Bobby retorts. Selene poses seductively and runs her hands through her hair, telling Bobby not to be a child. ’I am a sorceress, not a succubus. And I’m offering you power’ she announces. Selene informs Sunspot that she is in control of the Hellfire Club now, and after they have disposed of Indigo, which they will, she wants Sunspot to renew his membership.
Elsewhere, X-Force, Sledge, Ulysses and Arcadia materialize on a platform underground. ‘In the old days, the Deviants harnessed monstrous beasts Rockgnashers to cut thousand of miles of subterranean tunnel. It allowed us to travel throughout the world unnoticed by humanity’ Sledge reveals, adding that the royal Deviants however used teleportation technology stolen from the Eternals, and it is fortunate that some are still active like this one. ‘You say us. Then you’re a Deviant’ Meltdown declares. ‘By birth. By choice I am American’ Sledge replies, revealing that in the 1950’s he aided the State Department and was given citizenship. ‘How could I not love the country that gave us the Cadillac, Eldorado and basketball?’
‘You talk too much, old man!’ exclaims an ape-like Deviant crouched at the control console. ‘Hello, Veeg. You’re looking well’ Sledge replies. ‘Just because I agreed to help you does not mean I want to make conversation with you’ Veeg replies, declaring that he has taken great risks in bringing everyone here, and that Indigo will skin him alive if he finds out that he has been feeding Sledge information. ‘Earlier today, the Sword captured two spies - a human female and male. One is supposedly a mutant’ Veeg reveals. ‘Another mutant?’ James asks, concerned. Sam remarks that if this mutant is a prisoner, they may be able to enlist his aid, or at least use him to create a diversion. ‘Take us to him!’ he exclaims.
A short time later, X-Force, Sledge, Ulysses and Arcadia stand in front of a cell door. ‘If this is gonna take a while, let me blow the door down’ Tabitha offers. ‘What, and wake the whole neighborhood. Allow me. My powers are more discreet’ Bedlam exclaims. But Sledge tells his young friends that there is no need, as his disruptor has done the work. And with that, the doors slide open - revealing Sunspot behind them. ‘Bobby?’ Sam calls out, shocked. ‘I don’t know how you ended up here, but it’s good to see you, man!’ Cannonball exclaims, opening his arms to embrace his friend.
But Sunspot pulls back: ‘Hmm. I didn’t think you guys cared what happened to me’ he tells his former teammates. ‘I mean, I got ramrodded out of the States and no one except Domino came to see me’ Bobby tells them. ‘We didn’t find out until you were out of the country’ Sam exclaims, while Tabitha snaps at her ex-boyfriend, telling him not to get on his high horse, as he didn’t exactly leave them a forwarding address, or call them.
Suddenly, Selene appears behind Sunspot: ‘That’s because Roberto had more important things to do. Hello, children’ she exclaims. ‘Selene…’ Proudstar whispers, while Moonstar tells those unfamiliar with Selene to stay back, as she is dangerous. ‘So am I’ Arcadia boasts. ‘No, Arcadia. She’s a centuries old enchantress. She’s dangerous and deadly!’ Dani declares. ‘Don’t tell me you’re worried that I’m holding a grudge following our Texas encounter - when you destroyed the rune staff I was using to channel the power of interdimensional convergence. I’ve moved on. I suggest you do the same’ Selene declares. ‘Bobby, what in God’s name are you doing with her?’ Cannonball asks. ‘Lesser of two evils’ Sunspot frowns, as he reveals to his friends that Indigo is using Reignfire to power the golem. ‘And we need to stop them!’
Back in the arena, the golem has been opened up, and Dr Chandra and Dr Joshua stand over it. Dr Chandra remarks that the gatherers require an enormous amount of energy that they could never produce and maintain at this scale. ‘By implanting the Reignfire entity into the Celestial made host, we have given it a powerful solar battery - whose unique symbiotic nature should adapt to the gatherers’ physiology. ‘You hope’ Dr Joshua tells her, pointing out that they don’t really understand the Celestial science behind the gatherers. ‘Oh, Doctor, are you still angry because I took your pet project away from you? After the fiasco in Las Vegas, you’re lucky your involved at all’ Dr Chandra declares. ‘You never liked me, did you?’ Dr Joshua asks. ‘Ahem…beginning bonding. Activating power feed’ Dr Chandra exclaims, ignoring her colleague’s question.
Energy crackles around the golem, while Indigo tells the Doctors that he is curious. ‘If we re-awake Reignfire, how can we be certain that he won’t attempt to control the gatherer?’. Dr Joshua replies that the psi-team destroyed the core personality after Holiday brought Reignfire back from Vegas. Dr Chandra explains that her team then implanted synaptical nannites which allows them to control the entity. ‘Reignfire can be turned on and off at will’. Suddenly, there is an explosion in the arena. ‘Hell’s bells!’ Indigo exclaims, turning around.
‘This abomination goes no further, Odysseus’ Ulysses tells his brother, with X-Force, Sunspot and Arcadia at his side. ‘Why, little brother, you’ve brought X-Force and Arcadia to me. If you’re trying to make amends for your betrayal, this is a very promising start’ Indigo exclaims. ‘Take out Indigo, hard and fast!’ Cannonball orders. The stern-faced young mutants all rush towards Indigo, despite Ulysses exclaiming ‘No!’, and the always brash Arcadia calling them idiots. ‘They have forgotten that I can neutralize the superhuman ability of any foe’ Indigo remarks, as X-Force fall to the ground before him. ‘That power never worked against me, brother’ Ulysses points out, adding that it doesn’t work on Arcadia. ‘That means you’re out of luck, bud’ Arcadia declares.
Indigo grins wickedly, ‘Are you going to let a little girl fight your battles, brother?’ he asks, admitting that Ulysses will need Arcadia’s help against him. ‘Let’s not forget I was the first born. I’m stronger, smarter and better looking than you!’ he boasts. Indigo tells Ulysses that he should have remained loyal to the Foundation. ‘You mean to you’ Ulysses exclaims. ‘There’s no difference. Without my vision and guidance the Foundation would have fallen apart long ago’ Indigo boasts, before he punches his brother in the stomach. ‘You and I both know the world is on the brink of an age of catastrophe -’ Indigo exclaims. ‘Nothing would be more disastrous than giving you more power than you already hold’ Ulysses replies.
‘Ulysses, move! I can’t get a clear shot at -’ Arcadia exclaims, while Indigo pulls his brother backwards, ‘You’re a little unfocused, brother. Could it be that you’ve grown to care for the girl? How positively paternal’ Indigo remarks, telling his brother that Arcadia will be better off without him. ‘I’ll make sure her talent and power don’t go to waste. ‘Arcadia, remember what I told you - don’t look him in the eye!’ Ulysses calls out. But it’s too late. Arcadia tries to look away, but Indigo’s gaze is like that of a cobra - hypnotic. Arcadia stands frozen, mesmerized, helpless.
On the other side of the room, Sledge, who has watched from the shadows, makes a slow but purposeful move toward the golem. ‘Damn these legs. If I could only move the way I used to, this thing would be destroyed and we’d be back in time for the Pistons game!’ he tells himself, when, suddenly, ‘Sorry, you crippled old frog, I can’t let you do that!’ Selene declares as she smacks Sledge back across the arena. ‘What are you doing, Selene?’ Sledge calls out. Selene shoves her hands into the golem’s chest, and smiles, ‘Finishing what they started. Indigo intended to control the gatherer through the Reignfire symbiote and science - but I can do the same thing with sorcery!’ she boasts.
Sunspot looks at Selene, and in his mind, he feels what is left of Reignfire’s psyche reawaken, screaming. ‘Why are you doing this, Selene. I thought you wanted Reignfire destroyed as much as I did?’ Sunspot calls out. ‘Alive…I am... Alive…’ Reignfire utters. ‘It’s far better this way, Roberto. Reignfire and the gatherer are mine to command’ Selene declares. ‘You must be insane!’ Cannonball tells her, while Proudstar points out that the golem is moving. ‘Arise!’ Selene exclaims, with the golem now standing behind her. Everyone turns their attention to Selene and the golem, as Selene tells Bobby to tell his friends to step back.
‘And as for you, Indigo. You’d be wise to remember that this creature has the power to create and destroy’ Selene exclaims. Indigo asks Selene what she wants from him, to which Selene reveals that she wants the Damocles Foundation. ‘You’ll be working for me from now on’ she declares, when suddenly, ’Never!’ shouts Pyre as he and the Sword appear. ’Ah, the Sword. Indigo’s attack dogs. Stop them, my pet!’ Selene orders. With that, the gatherer blasts them with energy - and de-evolves the sword into their primitive reptile-like ancestors.
Selene grins, and tells Indigo that if he doesn’t want his own pre-Cambrian make-over, then she suggests he gives her what she wants. ‘Selene, you’re much too clever a woman to be wasting your time with that tired old boys club’ Indigo tells her. ‘Maybe you haven’t heard. There’s been a change in management. The Hellfire Club belongs to me!’ Selene announces, proudly. ‘Is it just me, or does anyone else feel their power coming back?’ Meltdown asks her friends. ‘Indigo’s obviously more worried about Selene and the gather than he is about us. And Frankly, I’m not thrilled about that combination either. We have to destroy the gatherer’ Cannonball declares. ‘I think i can take care of the gatherer, but…’ Moonstar begins, ‘You’re gonna need help. Funny, that’s exactly what I was thinking once I shook off Indigo’s evil eye. Is it just me or are we tuning into each other’s brainwaves, or something?’ Arcadia exclaims as she and a now sparkling Moonstar attack the golem.
‘I can’t explain the bond between us, Arcadia - but without your assistance, I could not stop this creature!’ Moonstar replies. Together, the two young women’s energetic assaults rend the gatherer apart at a subatomic level. When they are done, there is nothing left of the golem - or of Reignfire. Their actions, however, do not sit well with Selene. ‘Moonstar, I have tolerated your presence out of respect to Roberto, but I have had enough! Your meddlesome presence has cost me yet another valuable tool, and I will not look the other way a second time!’ Selene booms, casting a spell, she knocks X-Force back, exclaiming ‘You’ve brought this upon yourselves, children. Prepare to suffer as you never have before!’….


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

[Assistant]
Temptation
Bobby “Sunspot” DaCosta wakes from an uneasy slumber. Haunted by a disturbed and uncomfortable dream. He was fifteen again, playing futebol in a Sao Paolo stadium, scoring goal after goal, leading his team to victory. Then when he turned to acknowledge the crowd’s roaring adulation, the stands were empty - except for an angel - his angel - Juliana. To see her again, even in a dream, makes him ache with pain and regret. Still, he tries to hold onto the image of her face, the way the afternoon sun spun her hair white gold - but dreams are fragile things, and this one is washed away by the unfamiliar reality of his surroundings….
Sitting up in the large bed, wearing only a pair of boxer shorts, Bobby wonders where he is. ‘What am I doing in a hotel room? And an expensive one by the looks of things? I shouldn’t be…’ the young mutant hero thinks to himself. Suddenly, a voice calls out ‘Rise and shine, sleepyhead!’. ‘Who?’ Bobby asks, as a middle-aged man appears before him. ‘Bobby, sweetie. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten Lenny Delmonico - your friend, your confidant, your agent - the man who made you the international phenomenon you are today!’. As Delmonico hands Bobby his costume, Bobby looks at him and tells him that he has no idea what he is talking about.
‘Enough with the kidding, Bobby. It’s almost one and we got a busy day ahead. Photo shoots, interviews, personal appearances, and the video music awards show tonight. So get dressed already’ Delmonico exclaims. ‘I think you’ve got me confused with someone else’ Bobby replies. Delmonico opens the French doors which lead to the balcony, and tells Bobby not to play humble with him. ‘You and I both know you’re the idol of millions. See for yourself!’
Fully clothed, Bobby steps onto the balcony and before him lies a sea of adoring fans, all shouting ‘Sunspot! Sunspot!’ and carrying signs like “Marry me Bobby”, “Bobby we love you” and “Bobby 4ever”. Delmonico tells Bobby to face it, that everybody and their grandmother loves him. ‘You’re a solar-powered sensation!’. ‘This is insane!’ Sunspot exclaims. A little girl climbs up the side of the balcony, ‘Bobby!’ she cries, adoringly. ‘Oh my gosh! I can’t believe how much cuter you are in person!’ she exclaims, introducing herself as Belinda Cisneros. ‘And I know you’re busy saving the world and everything, but can I have your autograph?’ she asks. ‘Um…we’re ten stories up…aren’t you taking a big risk asking for an autograph?’ Bobby asks.
‘This is nothing. Remember that cheerleader who tried to skydive into your Malibu ranch?’ Delmonico asks. ‘The other girls in the Moreno Valley Fan Club are going to die when they find out I met y-’ the little girl exclaims, only to suddenly fall from the balcony. Bobby powers up and dives off the balcony, telling her to hold on. ‘No one’s going to fall to their death over me!’ Sunspot declares, reaching the little girl, he catches her in his arms. ‘Oh my…’ Belinda exclaims. ‘You could’ve been killed pulling a crazy stunt like that!’ Bobby tells her, hovering in the air. ‘But you were there to save me. This is exactly how I imagined it would…oh my…’ the little girls exclaims as she swoons.
‘Poor mixed up girl, she fainted’ Bobby remarks, before he flies back inside and places her on the sofa. ‘That was great, Bobby-O, but the next time, tell me in advance so I can get it on film - then we do a pay-per view special, followed by a video/DVD release. What d’ya think?’  I’ll tell you exactly what I think as soon as I put this girl down…’ Bobby replies, before spinning around and grabbing Delmonico, exclaiming ‘Okay, here’s the deal, I think you’re messing with my mind, and I don’t like it!’. Delmonico tells Bobby to lighten up, and exclaims that he is on top of the world here.
‘No, I don’t know where I am right now. But I should be with X-Force’ Sunspot replies, pointing out that the last thing he remembers was watching Dani Moonstar and Arcadia Deville destroy a Celestial robot called a gatherer that caused Selene, who was controlling the robot, to turn on X-Force with a vengeance. Sunspot looks around and remarks that this is beginning to make sense to him now. ‘Selene’s always struck out at anyone who stands between her and what she wants. You can come out now, Selene. I’m through playing games’ Bobby declares.
Selene a.k.a. the Black Queen materializes in the room, as Delmonico vanishes. ‘I’m impressed, Roberto. Few people can see through such elaborate illusions’ Selene smirks. ‘You must admit, it’s an attractive fantasy’ Selene adds. Bobby asks her if she really thought he would buy this charade for a moment. ‘I’m a mutant. In the real world, people like me are hated, hunted and feared, not treated like celebrities’.
Bobby frowns at Selene as he declares ‘You’ve been toying with me since our paths crossed in Sao Paolo, and I’m tired of it. Now, tell me what you’ve done to the rest of X-Force, before I make things really hot for you’. Selene smiles and tells Roberto that there is no need for threats. ‘Like yourself, your friends are guests of the Hellfire Club’.
Selene tells Bobby that each member of X-Force is ensconced in one of the club’s nightmare chambers, rooms in which the darker side of the subconscious takes on a tangible reality. ‘Right now, I imagine each of your friends is coming face-to-face with one of their own personal demons. ‘For example, how many times has James Proudstar blamed himself for the Camp Verde reservation massacre?’ Selene asks. ‘If only he had been there that night, perhaps he could have stopped Stryfe’s death squad - or perhaps he would have simply watched everyone he loved on the reservation die before his eyes’.
‘Run! Get out of town before it’s too late!’ James Proudstar shouts as he speeds through the illusionary Camp Verde. ‘They’re going to kill you all unless you do something! Are you listening to me? I’m trying to save your lives!’ James shouts. ‘Why isn’t anyone listening?’
Selene continues, telling Bobby that Tabitha Smith - ‘Meltdown - if you insist on those ridiculous code names your people love - is facing a different dilemma’. Selene informs Bobby that Tabitha is confronting her own dirty little secret, one she ran away from a long time ago. ‘Why she feels any remorse over her actions, I’ll never understand. A young runaway on the streets of New York’s alphabet city has to do what she can to survive’.
‘C’mere, Smith. We want to show you something’ a detective tells Tabitha, pulling her towards a alleyway, cordoned off by Police. ‘I don’t need to see nothing’ Tabitha tells the detective. ‘What’s the matter, Smith? Guilty conscience?’ another detective asks as they lead Tabitha over to the cordoned off area, where a burly man lies face down in the alleyway. ‘Recognize him, sweetheart? Maurice Antonini, but everybody calls him the Tiger’. The detective points out that the Tiger won’t be getting up because his head was blown off. ‘You wouldn’t happen to know anything about this?’ he asks. ‘N-n-no…’ Tabitha whispers.
Selene informs Sunspot that the uptight Sam “Cannonball” Guthrie, X-Force’s leader, has returned to his roots as well. ‘You can take the boy out of the Kentucky coal mines, but you can’t take the mines out of the boy’ Selene jokes, adding ‘Imagine being forced to support a family of six at sixteen. That’s more responsibility than anyone that age should have to bear’ she exclaims.
‘Front end’s collapsed on us, Sam. We’re trapped!’ a miner tells Sam. ‘Don’t worry, I can get us all out!’ Sam exclaims, but the miner tells him not to bother. Coughing, he tells Sam that they are all dead anyway. ‘We all got the black lung’. These mines are gonna kill us just like it did your daddy!’
Selene tells Sunspot that X-Force’s newest member, Jesse “Bedlam” Aaronson is losing his precarious hold on his sanity. ‘Did you know he’s dependent on psychoactive drugs to control his neurochemistry?’ Selene asks.
Wearing a straight-jacket, Bedlam is lead down a corridor. ‘There’s been a mistake. I don’t belong here!’ he exclaims. ‘Doctors say you’re paranoid and subject to delusional episodes, Jesse’ one of the orderlies declares. ‘I don’t need to be institutionalized, I just need my medication!’ he exclaims. ‘Sorry, buddy, there’s no cure for you’ the other orderly tells him, shoving Jesse into a padded cell. ‘I’m not CRAZY!’ Bedlam shouts. ‘I’m not crazy. I’m not crazy’.
Sunspot and Selene stand before four frames on a wall, each depicting one of the four who are trapped in their own illusions. ‘Okay, so you’re putting everyone though a customized psychodrama, trying to break their spirits’ Sunspot exclaims, telling Selene that this is not going to work, as they are stronger than that. ‘We can’t be broken!’ he declares. ‘Anyone’s spirit can be crushed, Roberto. One needs only to feed the fear and guilt that eat away at a man’s soul’ Selene replies. Bobby asks where Dani is. ‘She’s not part of this nightmare gallery you’re showing me’ he points out. ‘Are you trying to pay her back for spoiling your fun with the Celestial robot?’ Bobby asks.
Selene frowns and points out that this is not the first time Danielle Moonstar has cost her an instrument of great power. ‘She also kept the rune staff of Yggdrasil from my possession’ Selene declares, informing Bobby that she has left Moonstar in the care of an associate who will see that she doesn’t interfere with her ever again. ‘And this is how you plan to convince me to join the Hellfire Club - by threatening my friends?’ Sunspot asks. Selene puts a hand on Bobby’s shoulder and tells him that his friends are holding him back. ‘I’m offering membership and eventually…inevitably…a seat in the Inner Circle’ Selene tells him, adding that translates to real power. ‘The kind of power even your father never had’.
‘My father was consumed by his greed, and he died because of it. I’m not going to walk down that path’ Sunspot replies, telling Selene that if she thinks she has such keen insight into his character, then she should know why he will never be a part of it. ‘Ah, yes, the girl. A tragedy, I admit, but the Club is no longer the one you knew’ Selene assures Bobby, before promising to make amends for any injustice done to him. ‘Simply allow me to give you a taste of things to come’ Selene asks, as Bobby’s costume is suddenly replaced by a suit. ‘Some things you can never make up…certainly not with a chance of clothes’.
Selene tells Bobby that he is he going to posses power, he will have to dress the part, and suddenly, Bobby finds himself in the Oval Office. ‘And that’s the President!’ Bobby exclaims. ‘Another illusion? Or is this a nightmare chamber, too?’ Bobby asks. ‘Think of it as your future’ Selene tells him. ‘Bobby, thanks for coming on such short notice’ the President exclaims, staring out his window. The President and Bobby shake hands, as the President tells Bobby that it looks like he needs his help again. ‘My help? Right. Like the President of the United States would ever need my help’ Bobby replies.
The President tells Bobby that he wouldn’t be in this office if it weren’t for his efforts to put him here. ‘I look to you for guidance’ the President tells him. ‘Without your insight, that whole Genosha fiasco would have turned into a full-scale war. Now I need your help at home. Senator Trask is looking to restart his father’s Sentinel program’ the President exclaims. ‘As a member of the Inner Circle you would control the politicians who determine national policy’ Selene whispers into Bobby’s ear. ‘You could dismantle the Sentinel program without lifting a finger. Aren’t you tired of being another soldier in the trenches? Do you really want to spend the rest of your life living underground?’ Selene asks.
Bobby suddenly powers-up and tells Selene that it is a nice pitch. ‘And your visual aids are very compelling - but I am not my father. I don’t want any part of the Hellfire Club!’ he exclaims, unleashing a blast of solar energy at the phoney President. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to find my friends and get as far away from you as I can!’ Bobby declares, taking flight.
Knocked to her feet, Selene gets up, as a horrid voice says to her ‘Apparently you are not as persuasive as you would like to think, my queen’. ‘Aren’t you confined to the lower levels of the building, Blackheart?’ Selene asks the demon, as fiery energy lashes around him. ’The boundaries imposed by Damion Hellstrom’s magics limit me to the Hellfire Club’s underground levels…but they do not bind the son of Mephisto’s astral form!’ Blackheart boasts. Selene asks Blackheart how long he has been watching, to which Blackheart replies ‘Long enough’ and asks her why she is so intent on converting the DaCosta child. ‘Should I be jealous?’ he asks.
‘Let me remind you that our relationship is strictly business. I’ve found demons to be lousy and potentially lethal lovers’ Selene replies, before admitting that her interest in Roberto is person. ‘His father and I were always at odds in the Inner Circle. I hope Emmanuel DaCosta is spinning in his grave knowing that his only son will soon be under my thumb!’. Selene adds that once they deprogram all of Xavier’s cant out of him, Roberto will make a fine Rook. ‘Take this advice from the lord of deceit and corruption, your offers of fame and power will not sway DaCosta. To entrap a noble soul, you must appeal to his heroic instincts. You’ll need the girl’ Blackheart declares. ‘My plan all along’ Selene replies.
Back inside Meltdown’s nightmare, Tabitha sits on a chair in a darkened room, while one of the detectives asks ‘So you used those fancy schmancy time bombs to pop Antonini, huh?’. The other detective remarks that it is too bad a girl who can create plasma projectiles and manipulate them ends up here. ‘Bet your mommy’s proud’ he adds. Tabitha tells him not to talk about her parents, and asks them why they even care. ‘Everybody knows Tiger was a nasty speed-freak who liked beating up girls and worse for kicks’. ‘This isn’t about what you did, it’s about what you’ve done. Now, you may think you’re a tough chick with these fireworks, but I think you’re nothing but a scared little girl’ one of the detectives exclaims.
Tabitha cries and plasma time bombs float around her. ‘He was coming at me with a knife…what was I supposed to do…let him cut me up like he did my friend Gina?’ Tabitha asks, claiming that she didn’t mean to, but that Tiger kept coming at her - suddenly, a door slams open - and Sunspot announces that this interrogation is over. ‘Hey, pal. We’re working in here!’ one of the detectives exclaims. Sunspot grabs Tabitha and begins shaking his ex-girlfriend by the shoulders, telling her that none of this is real. ‘Bobby? You’re not supposed to…what are you doing here?’ Tabitha asks.
Bobby takes Tabitha into the hall, and Tabitha exclaims that she is so confused. Bobby informs her that she is in the Hellfire Club in New York City, and that Selene is playing games with them, making them suffer for interfering with her latest grab for power. ‘I should’ve known that…guess I got disorientated when she zapped us halfway around the world’ Tabitha remarks. Bobby tells her that it is the rooms as well, nightmare chambers that somehow make your deepest fears and regrets. Tabitha tells Bobby that she doesn’t know what he heard in there, and if it changes the way he thinks of her, she understands. Bobby replies that it doesn’t change anything. ‘I know who you are. I know it was self-defense’.
Tabitha smiles and tells Bobby that he is a better guy than people give him credit for. ‘Me included’ Tab admits. ‘That’s not what Selene thinks. She thinks my dark side makes me prime material for the Hellfire Club fast track’ Bobby reveals. ‘Would you really want to join a club that makes you wear those stupid old clothes? Not even’ Tabitha exclaims, while Sunspot opens another door and suggests they look for the rest of the team, but the first door reveals nothing. ‘Bingo. I think I hear Sam’s voice behind this one’ Tabitha reveals, opening another door.
Cannonball finds several other miners gathering around him as they try to dig their way out of the mine. ‘It’s no use. Every time you clear an opening another part of the shaft collapses’ one of them coughs. ‘You’re wasting what little oxygen’s left us’ another declares. Sam replies that he refuses to give up, declaring that there is always a way out. ‘Boy, there’s a fine line between persistent and stubborn’ one of the miners tells him. ‘Working these mines killed my father. I’m not going to let them take anyone else’ Sam declares.
Suddenly, there is a loud noise. ‘Another cave in?’ Sam asks. ‘No. The cavalry’ Meltdown exclaims. ‘Can you say “mind game”?’ Bobby asks. ‘We’ve got to get these men to a hospital!’ Sam calls out. Tabby and Bobby prop Sam up and lead him out of the chamber. ‘I know you mean well, Sam, but listen carefully, they’re just figments of your subconscious…’ Tabitha tells him. ‘Wait…don’t tell me…Selene’ Sam exclaims. ‘You’re not the only one who feels foolish for not figuring it out sooner’ Bobby tells his best friend. Sam informs Tab and Bobby that sometimes he feels guilty because he escaped the mines and got out of Cumberland, while his dad and that generation never did.
Elsewhere, James Proudstar has found Jesse, lying on the floor of the padded cell in his straightjacket. ‘Jesse, it’s me - James Proudstar’ he calls out, shaking his teammate. ‘You’re not James. James doesn’t exist. You’re a delusion. Like the rest of X-Force’ Bedlam replies, eyes glazed over. ‘See, I’m crazy. I can’t pretend I have friends. I can’t have a normal life’. ‘Looks like we’re not the first to arrive’ Sunspot announces as he, Cannonball and Meltdown arrive. Sam asks James how he managed to escape his own personal guilt trip, to which James replies that it took a while for him to realize what was happening. ‘I was caught in the middle of the Camp Verde massacre. Everyone I knew was dying all around me and I couldn’t do anything to stop their killers or save their lives’ he explains.
James continues, revealing that he then realized the nerve gas was not affecting him, and if it wasn’t affecting him, then none of it was real. ‘After that, I was able to shut out the illusion and find the door’. James tells his friends that he heard Jesse down the hallway screaming, and arrived just before the three of them did. ‘He’s pretty far gone. He thinks we’re the illusion’ James explains. Cannonball points out that Jesse is the only one of them who has had no experience with this kind of artificially-created reality. ‘There are times I wish we had a full-fledged telepath on the team’ Sam adds. ‘You don’t have to be Jean Grey to handle this’ Meltdown boasts as she walks over to Jesse. ‘Tabitha, what are you -’ Sam exclaims, before Tabitha shouts ‘C’mon, Jesse, snap out of it!’ and slaps him across the face.
‘YEOW!’ Bedlam shouts, before following the others out of the chamber. ‘I know I lost it for a moment, but did you have to hit me?’ he asks, rubbing his face. ‘It works on RV all the time’ Meltdown replies. Sunspot tells his former teammates that they need to find Danielle and get out of here. ‘I want to put as much distance between me and the Hellfire Club as we can’ Bobby adds. Suddenly though, ‘Not gonna happen, muties!’ one of the Hellfire Club guards shouts as a group of them confront the young heroes. ‘No one walks out on the Black Queen!’ another exclaims, before X-Force and Sunspot engage the Hellfire Club guards in battle.
Sam blasts through several of them, telling Bedlam to be careful, as some of the Hellfire Club soldiers are cyborgs. ‘After they got cut up by Wolverine a few tears back, the Inner Circle had them rebuilt’ Proudstar explains. ‘Don’t know about that. If these mooks were even partially mechanical, my power’d make their prosthetics malfunction’ Bedlam replies. ‘Since that’s not happening, I’d say these guys are one hundred percent human!’ Jesse adds, while Sunspot punches on in the face, and Meltdown throws around her time-bombs.
‘You’re wrong. They signed away their humanity the day they joined the Hellfire Club!’ Sunspot declares, reminding his friends that the Hellfire Club killed the first girl he ever loved, so as far as he is concerned, they are all monsters without souls or - he stops in his tracks as a face-plate falls off one of the soldiers. ‘I was right when I said they were monsters. They’re demons!’ Sunspot announces. ‘Demons? Didn’t we fill our demon quota by taking out Pandemonia a few months back?’ Bedlam asks. ‘Looks like Selene’s put the Hell back in the Hellfire Club’ Sam remarks, while Meltdown unleashes another plasma time-bomb and exclaim that she hopes Dani is doing better than this.
At that moment, in the lowest levels of the Hellfire Club building, ‘LET ME OYT OF HERE!’ Danielle Moonstar shouts, stuck in a strange force bubble. Blackheart flips through one of the many books in the room and asks if it is too much for a little quiet while he reviews his ledger. Blackheart remarks that it appears that some of the inferno’s bookkeepers have been remiss in the accounting of souls. ‘Right off the top at least two senators, seven investment bankers, three Silicon Valley CEOs and one cardinal are late in paying his devil due’.
‘I feel so sorry for you’ Moonstar tells him sarcastically. Blackheart tells Moonstar that she really should be more respectful when speaking to the Lord of the Inferno, while Danielle thinks to herself that she is just trying to keep him distracted while she attempts to crack herself free. Blackheart looks at Moonstar and informs her that her reality warping powers are of no use here. ‘The containment sphere is not of this Earthly plane, and is not subject to the physical laws and order’ he adds. ‘Seems to me I’m getting through’ Dani exclaims.
Blackheart realises that she is, and remarks that Moonstar is more powerful than Selene led him to believe. ‘If you wield power enough to sunder an infernal sphere, you are too dangerous to allow to live!’ he declares. Blackheart asks Moonstar if he mentioned that if she dies by his hand, her soul becomes indentured to him, and tells her not to be sad. ‘Heaven isn’t all it’s cracked up to be’. Dani looks in pain, and screams, ‘I’m burning up’ she remarks, when, suddenly, a voice not of this realm declares ‘That will be enough, Mephisto spawn!’
Hela appears, informing Blackheart that Danielle Moonstar’s soul belongs to her, the Goddess of Death. ‘Asgardian Goddess of Death, to be more precise’ Blackheart tells her, before pointing out that she doesn’t exactly have jurisdiction here. But Hela tells Blackheart that his actions violate the covenant of Underworlds. Blackheart asks Hela to forgive him for not following the protocols, pointing out that he finds them rather stuffy, before asking her what her interest in Moonstar is. ‘Didn’t think the Norse Gods had many Native American believers’ Blackheart remarks.
‘As long as even the smallest amount of Asgardian blood flows in her veins, she is mine!’ Hela booms. ‘Maybe that flies in the other eight realms, but you’re in New York City. As I remind an exorcist I know possession is nine tenths of the law’ Blackheart tells Hela. ‘Are you willing to go to war with me, little sprite?’ Hela booms, as everything in the room begins to swirl around. ‘Hmmm…when you put it that way…no…not at the present moment’ Blackheart replies.
Hela vanishes and the room returns to normal, while the infernal sphere fades. ‘Great. Bad enough I’m trapped in the Hellfire Club with the son of Mephisto…now I find out Hela wants payback for the time she used me against my Valkyrie sisters in Asgard!’ Moonstar declares. Blackheart tells Moonstar that it appears she is free to go. ‘Although, with Hela waiting for you, I wouldn’t be too quick to leave. I could help you, but you’d have to sign a contract’ Blackheart tells her.
Back upstairs, Bobby, Sam, James, Tab and Jesse are overwhelmed by the demonic Hellfire Club guards. ‘No matter how many of these guys I take out, more take their place!’ James exclaims. Bedlam exclaims that he has no room to use any of the martial arts moves he learned from Delphi’s memory box. ‘Fell like I’m trapped in the mosh pit at Woodstock ‘99’ he jokes. ‘Too many…the odds are turning against us!’ Sam exclaims, when suddenly, the room begins to sparkle. ‘They’re all vanishing…’ Meltdown exclaims. ‘Ah think we just got lucky’ Sam declares, as Danielle Moonstar appears before them, glowing with quantum energy, she tells them that she is sorry it took so long for her to get her. ‘I found out the demons vanished when I used my power on them. Couldn’t stay on Earth’ she explains.
Sam helps the weary Dani up and tells her that he is so glad to see her, while Dani announces that Selene is in league with the demon Blackheart. ‘That explains the George Romero mob we met’ Sam jokes. Meltdown exclaims that she never much liked dealing with the supernatural, to which James points out that if they were in San Francisco they could bring in Jennifer Kale. ‘I don’t get why this is happening to us. You guys must have ticked off a lot of serious players in the past’ Bedlam mutters as they walk down a corridor. Sunspot informs everyone that Selene wants him to join the Hellfire Club. ‘She doesn’t know how to take no for an answer’ he tells Bedlam.
Sam tells everyone that they need to slip out the back way, and motions to a window, supposing that is as good an exit as any. Suddenly, massive tentacles bust through the floor and grab the six mutant heroes. ‘WHAT?’ Dani exclaims. ‘Am I the only one feeling way too Sarah Michelle Gellar-ish right now?’ Meltdown asks. ‘No one’s leaving yet, X-Force!’ Selene exclaims, while Sunspot asks her if she ever gives up. Selene smiles, standing next to Blackheart, and tells Roberto that they are still in negotiation. ‘That is why I brought Blackheart with me. ‘I understand you met him once before in his native realm.
Blackheart stands with a cloaked figure before him and remarks that this is an opportunity Sunspot cannot afford to refuse. ‘Join us and the world is yours to shape to your liking. Walk away, and you will regret it for the rest of your life’ he declares. ‘I think I’ll take that chance’ Bobby replies, asking Selene if she is through. ‘Allow me one last chance to change your mind. My appeal to your vanity failed, as did my offer of power. Let me offer you a more personal incentive’ Selene announces, before telling Blackheart to introduce Roberto to their guest. Blackheart pulls back the cloak on the mysterious person - and Bobby’s jaw drops. ‘No…it can’t be!’ he gasps.
Roberto DaCosta stares into a face he thought lost to him forever. She is even more beautiful - more angelic - than he remembered - but her eyes register no awareness of her surroundings, or of Bobby - for she is a phantom soul, trapped in the limbo between life and death. ‘JULIANA!’ Sunspot shouts. ‘How DARE you? This isn’t Juliana Sandoval! It can’t be!’ he shouts at Selene, as he remembers how Juliana died while saving him from one of the Hellfire Club’s soldiers. ‘I held her as she bled to death in my arms!’ Bobby exclaims.
Selene and Blackheart close in one Bobby, and Selene assures him by her true name that this is no illusion, no artifice of smoke and mirrors. ‘The girl that stands before you is Juliana Sandoval, the first and only girl to whom you ever gave your heart…trust your heart, and you’ll know I’m not lying’. ‘How can this be possible?’ Sunspot wonders, to which Blackheart informs him that the other side doesn’t want this publicly known, but that sometimes mistakes are made. ‘Juliana was meant to survive that gunshot wound, but someone in processing screwed up - and since she wasn’t scheduled for the Elysian Fields quite yet, she ended up in Purgatory’ Blackheart reveals.
‘You can give her another chance at life, Bobby. All you have to do is join the Club’ Blackheart tells Sunspot. Moonstar informs Bobby that Blackheart is the Lord of Deception and tells him not to believe him. ‘You can’t make a deal with the Devil. Haven’t you seen those old Twilight Zones?’ Tabitha asks. James agrees, and tells Bobby not to do it, while Bedlam declares that he has to agree with the team, that this seems like a really bad idea. ‘The Hellfire Club killed Juliana. Don’t let them use her memory against you!’ Sam tells his best friend.
Bobby touches Juliana’s face and powers-down, remarking that he knows it is too good to be true. ‘But looking into her eyes, I know it’s her. I feel it’ he tells his friends, while telling Juliana that he is so sorry for all the pain he caused her. ‘Bobby…?’ Juliana whispers. ‘It’s so cold, Bobby. Why is it so cold?’ she asks, confused. Selene tells Sunspot that the decision belongs to him. ‘Serve as my new Black Rook, and she will find new life’. ‘If you refuse, she returns to the limbo in which I found her‘ Blackheart warns Bobby, who asks Selene ‘You can really bring her back?’. Selene smirks, and tells Bobby ‘That’s exactly up to you’.
With great deliberation, Roberto DaCosta makes up his mind, knowing full well that his life will never be the same again.
An hour later, Sam, Dani, James, Tabitha and Jesse walk downtown. ‘How could Bobby say yes? He knows that Selene and Blackheart can’t be trusted’ Dani exclaims. ‘Guess he still had it hot and heavy for that Juliana babe’ Bedlam remarks. James points out that it was more than that though, as Juliana died saving Bobby’s life. ‘Every minute of every hour since then he owes to her. Until now, that’s the debt he could never repay’. ‘Yeah, but the deal was made under…what’s the word…duress. It doesn’t count’ exclaims Meltdown.
Tabitha suggests that they should get a lawyer, and if that doesn’t work, just bust Bobby out of the Hellfire Club. Sam tells Tabitha that he doesn’t like this any more than she, but that Bobby made it clear that his decision stands. ‘We have to respect that, even if we don’t like it. When Bobby’s ready to leave, Ah’m sure he’ll let us know…’.
And at that moment, Bobby stares out a window at the Hellfire Club, telling himself that his friends think he is crazy to surrender to Selene. ‘But I see no other choice. Not if it involves giving Juliana the second chance she gave me’. Bobby admits to himself that he is a member of the Hellfire Club now. ‘God help me’. Suddenly, Selene materializes beside Sunspot, and tells him to come along, that they have much to do before they present him formally to the Club. ‘What about your end of the bargain, Selene?’ Bobby asks. Selene replies that, as they speak, Juliana is about to begin her new life.
Selene informs Sunspot that today in Baltimore, a young woman Juliana’s age was brought to a hospital emergency room suffering from a massive cerebral aneurysm. ‘The woman’s soul has already moved on, long before her body acknowledges its absence’ Selene adds, revealing that into this body, Juliana’s essential being will be placed. ‘It will be traumatic for Juliana at first, to find herself bound once more by mortal flesh. She will be disorientated. When she will tell them she is not the woman they thinks she is, her doctors will attribute her eccentricities (and her fluency in Portuguese) to the aneurysm.
Selene assures Sunspot that, in time however she will embrace that woman’s life and family as her own. ‘It will be simpler that way. Eventually she will forget that she was ever a girl named Juliana Sandoval. But that’s the price you pay for a second chance’ Selene declares.
And indeed, at that moment, in a Baltimore hospital operating theatre, ‘We’ve done all we could. Call it, nurse’ a doctor calls out. ‘Time of death. One forty seven AM’ a nurse replies while the doctor covers up the body. There is a flash of energy over the woman’s body, and the doctor announces that he will inform the family. ‘She was so young’ the nurse adds. Suddenly, one of the monitors hooked up to the body begins to beep. ‘Doctor…’ the nurse exclaims as they spin around. ‘Incredible…’ the doctor declares, and the woman sits up on the table… ‘’Berto?’ she asks….