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The Magneto War: Savior Complex
A house is not always a home, and the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning is a testament to that. The original stones for the mansion were taken from Breakstone Lake; generations upon generations of Xaviers were raised in the halls of the building. Then, Charles Xavier turned the place into a school for very gifted youngsters, with a student body of mutants. These students were X-Men who fight for the dream of peaceful co-existence between man and mutant. The fight became a war and the students his soldiers. One day, Xavier woke up and saw a general in his reflection and shattered the mirror to bits. The X-Men have been picking up the pieces since and Xavier has recently returned to the mansion. However, he does not feel as if he has returned home, and right now he seeks comfort in the night in his dreams.
In Xavier’s dream it is a beautiful day in New York City. In a park, the Beast entertains some children, while Magik gives some flowers to a police man. Iceman, Angel, Cannonball and the Human Torch fly over Xavier, who stands by his two most special students: Scott and Jean Grey-Summers. Xavier comments on how beautiful the day is, to which Scott replies that everyday is, thanks to Xavier. Xavier tells his two students that he could never have succeeded without them, and Jean replies that they would have been alone in the world without guidance if not for him. Xavier settles the argument and states that together they turned the planet into paradise. No serpent will ever tempt them from the Garden of Eden that they have created.
Suddenly, an explosion from behind the group shatters the serenity. A group of rampaging humans with signs and make-shift Molotov cocktails scream death to mutants. Horrified, Xavier asks the ignorant group what they are doing. This prejudice ended ages ago. Why would they want to undo all that was accomplished? A man throws Xavier out of his hover chair and tells him that it is all a lie. They then set the whole area ablaze, leaving a helpless Xavier to beg that things will not revert back to the old ways.
Suddenly, Wolverine and the X-Men arrive and Logan states that the X-Men won’t let things go bad to the old ways. Xavier, who is picked up by Colossus, is amazed at how fast his X-Men gathered. Storm tells him that, whenever he and the world need them, they will be there. Gambit then asks if they can knock some sense into the protestors, to which Xavier replies no and that violence is not their way.
Suddenly, a powerful voice calls them all fools and blasts the protestors away with a magnetic blast. Magneto descends and tells Xavier that, once again, he is leading his flock to the slaughter. How often does the man need to be shown that paradise cannot be built on straw and good wishes? It must be forged with might and force. Xavier retorts with his own question, asking how many times Magneto must fail before he realizes that he cannot beat people into submission. As the Acolytes arrive and attack the protestors, Magneto tells Xavier that humans fear that which they do not understand, and that which is superior. Xavier tells Magneto that he holds the same prejudices as humans, and that his X-Men will stop him like they always have. Magneto is not so sure, however, and wonders if the X-Men would rather join his cause.
As the X-Men battle the Acolytes, Xavier tells Magneto that mutants are not oppressed. They are misunderstood, mostly due to actions by Magneto and people like him. Angry, Magneto calls Xavier a hypocrite and tells him that he hides behind a façade of humanity, while Magneto is in the forefront of the battle. Xavier demands that all mutants take the hard road, while he refuses to walk with them. While he dreams, the rest of them deal with reality. For too long he has agonized over what he knew in his mind and what he felt in his heart. For too long he has allowed Xavier’s dream for peace deter his own. This ends now. Magneto then sends a blast that knocks away the X-Men.
Xavier unleashes a telepathic assault on Magneto, who is surprised at the power, but adds that Charles has tried this before and the outcome nearly destroyed them both. Does he have the courage to risk this again? Months ago, to save the life of Wolverine, Xavier sold his soul. He later witnessed the consequences of his actions at the hands of Onslaught, the wrath of human authorities, the loss of his freedom and the tainting of his dream. How far will he go to stop Magneto now?
In his bed, Xavier continues to dream and mutters for Magneto to stop.
Outside, things are amiss. Among the trees is the Acolyte known as Fabian Cortez, who stands beside Rem-Ram, the newest Acolyte, who can alter the dreams of those asleep. Rem-Ram leaves Xavier’s mind and Cortez asks the young man if he needs a power boost. Re-Ram declines and explains that Xavier’s dreamsong was strong and he could not control it, only direct it. He then decides to go look for someone else to harass. Cortez, frustrated, asks if Rem-Ram cannot target individuals with his dream-scans, but the other man tells him to give him a break, as all of this is new to him. Meanwhile, the other Acolytes sneak through the darkness towards the mansion.
Sleeping within the mansion is Rogue, whose dreams are so passionate that Rem-Ram must gasp for air. While Xavier’s dream was full of hope and frustration, Rogue’s is of a hungry need for love. Rogue, in a balcony, looks down upon a group of couples all courting, dancing and touching. These are all things she cannot do. A telepathic image of Xavier arrives behind Rogue and reminds her that, with the X-Men, she at least as a chance for a better life. Rogue becomes sad and tells the Professor that he said those words when she arrived, but is her life better? She still cannot touch and everything from telepathic scans and bio-probes has been useless. Xavier begins to tell Rogue that they will find a solution, but another voice calls the girl’s name.
Rogue now finds herself in a park with Magneto, who tells her that they need to talk. Rogue is surprised that Joseph has reverted back to Magneto. Magneto tells her that Joseph was a whisper of what he was. Yet, the man is a shout of what he refused to hear. Joseph knew his feelings for Rogue and made them clear. She cannot deny that there was once a chance for love for them. The two sit on a bench and Rogue tells Magneto that there was a time for love between them but, after everything he has done, there cannot possibly be a love anymore.
Magneto tells Rogue that the way of life he leads will soon be over. If his plan succeeds, they will have a true haven from the strife of humanity’s prejudice. He will need someone by his side and he wants her. Magneto then pulls out an engagement ring and puts it on Rogue’s finger, who is at first afraid to make skin to skin contact, but finds that nothing happens when she touches Magneto. Rogue finds that she is now wearing the outfit she once wore in the Savage Land when she was with Magneto. Rogue is confused as to how they could touch, as before she had troubles in the Savage Land with Zaladane. Magneto looks at Rogue and thinks of how she is like him. How many obstacles must be in her way before she reaches happiness? How long will she keep on looking back for excuses to stop moving forward? They shared things no one else has and they should be together.
Rogue cannot get over Magneto’s past, but he tells her that it was to bring peace to mutant kind. Some of his actions he regrets, some he rationalized, but all were necessary. However, they will soon be part of his yesterday. Suddenly, Xavier arrives and tells Rogue not to trust Magneto and to say no. The two come close to kiss when suddenly Gambit arrives and tells Rogue to stay away from the snake as he will say any lie. Magneto notes the hypocrisy of Gambit’s statement. Who knows more about secrets and lies than a thief? Gambit tells Magneto that he doesn’t pretend to be anything more or less than what he is. He is no mass murderer unlike Magneto. Magneto snaps back that the Morlocks would surely disagree.
Gambit is surprised that Magneto knows. Magneto admits that he knows of Gambit’s involvement with the Marauders and how he unwillingly unleashed them among the Morlocks. All mutants should know of a Judas in their midst. Gambit attacks Magneto, who throws Rogue to the side and shields himself with his powers. Magneto reminds Gambit that his powers are futile against him. Rem-Ram begins to feel Rogue’s fear as the two men battle, but he also feels delight and exhilaration over the fact that they are fighting over her.
Rem-Ram slips out of Rogue’s mind and tells Cortez that he can link with Xavier again, as he has calmed down a bit. However, he does not want to agitate the Professor, as it might uncover them. Cortez reminds Rem-Ram that they need to lull the X-Men while the others retrieve what they need. Rem-Ram should use Xavier’s telepathy to occupy the others, but he should not enter Xavier’s dreams anymore.
Rem-Ram links to Wolverine and is immediately overcome by the heightened senses. In Wolverine’s dream, he unleashes his rage against the Acolytes, while Xavier watches in horror. Wolverine, with his adamantium skeleton, relishes over the feel of it, as he had almost forgotten how it felt to have the metal on his bones. Xavier then spots Magneto behind Wolverine, but Wolverine is too caught up in battle to notice the master of magnetism. Magneto uses his powers to lift Wolverine up and then rips the adamantium out of his body, just like last time. Magneto drops Wolverine and wonders if he is more animal than man without his adamantium crutch. Is he trapped between both states, successful at neither? Wolverine lunges at Magneto and tells him that it was true at one point, but no longer.
As his bone claws snap against Magneto, Wolverine tells him that he traveled a long, hard road since that day his adamantium was ripped out, but he got where he needed to go. He is both man and animal. He will always be and he knows how to balance the two. Does Magneto think Wolverine liked the metal? By cutting him to pieces, Magneto made him whole. Magneto then asks if he can rectify the mistake. If he can bend adamantium, then he can break Wolverine’s bones. In demonstration, Magneto breaks all the bones in Wolverine’s body, leaving him a motionless mess on the ground. Xavier screams in horror.
Outside, Rem-Ram is having difficulty. Cortez asks him what is wrong, and learns that linking the X-Men to Xavier was a mistake. He can’t help them in their dreams, only in his own, and even then he can only do so by reliving a nightmare. The strain is a bit much for Rem-Ram.
In Xavier’s dream, Magneto carries Wolverine’s body and asks him his role in this folly. Xavier, now wearing the mechanical suit he wore the last time he battled Magneto, swears to end this now, as Magneto has killed hundreds today that Xavier could have prevented. He has had enough… Magneto will never kill again!
With that said, Xavier mind wipes Magneto, leaving his old friend and foe on the ground, in a vegetative state. Xavier, more rational, is in shock over how he could have done this again. Why must things always end like this? Why can’t they find common ground? Much to Xavier’s surprise, the not-so-defeated Magneto awakens and, with an evil grin, he tells Xavier that he is a fool and that is why they can never find a common ground. Xavier is horrified by this and confused. Suddenly, he wakes up in bed, alert and clearly aware that everything is wrong.
Outside, Rem-Ram yells that Xavier is awake.
Xavier sits up in bed and telepathically awakens his X-Men, explaining that they are under attack by the Acolytes. He counts eight of them: Cortez, the Kleinstock Brothers, Senayaka, Spoor, Projector and three new recruits, named Rem-Ram, Static and Barnacle. Xavier then uses his powers to mentally attack Rem-Ram and Cortez who are overwhelmed. Cortez, though, musters enough strength to call back the other Acolytes, who have been trying to enter the mansion unnoticed. The X-Men, most of who are dressed in their pajamas, rush out and Nightcrawler asks if the Kleinstock Brothers count as one entity, despite there being two of them. He then asks Storm for orders. The weather goddess simply tells him to hit the Acolytes hard and often, much to the glee of Wolverine.
South of Beersheba, Israel, is a military bunker that is now the home of the former X-Man known as Joseph. From the moment he woke in a South American jungle, the word home has been meaningless to him. Now he sits in his research lab, a prisoner of his uncertainty. He came to Israel to learn who he really was, but the Israeli files on Magneto are conflicted and he has no memory of any of the events depicted. He has committed many acts of violence in the past. How can Joseph be both shining knight and the dragon in this story?
Joseph stands in front of his mirror and stares at himself. Suddenly, Quicksilver arrives at his side and tells Joseph that what stares back can be frightening. He of all knows this. Joseph is surprised to see Quicksilver and asks him how he eluded security to get here? Quicksilver boasts that no security available can stop him from getting where he wants to go. As for why he is here, he has spent recent weeks trying to regain semblance in his life. Joseph asks if his existence tips the scales, to which Pietro replies that he is his son, but he is now older than “Magneto.” Their relationship has never been a familial one. The X-Men told him that Joseph had parted with Sabra without even a goodbye. Finding Sabra was easy, as she is very public. He hopes Joseph does not mind.
Joseph is overcome with shame and is glad Pietro came, especially how they left things last time they spoke. He is unsure of how to deal with his son, since he is unsure of himself. Quicksilver explains that he was once the founding member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and then later a proud Avenger. After his recent association with the Knights of Wundagore, he realized that he has been spending his life trying to “deal with myself.” He is here to deal with Joseph. His discovery of his relationship to Magneto was difficult, especially since they wasted so much time when he was younger not knowing one another.
Joseph apologizes, then thinks of how funny it sounds for him to say that when he does not even remember being a bad father. Pietro tells Joseph that it is the thought that counts. As he reluctantly will admit, usually Joseph’s thoughts are nice. He is a good man. He is the man they all wishes his father had been. Joseph thanks Pietro and they shake hands. Pietro tells Joseph that if he ever needs him that he can just call. He will be there quickly. Pietro then leaves Joseph, who realizes that he may not know who he was or is, but he is closer to what he will become.
At the mansion, the X-Men are in a heated battle with the Acolytes. Wolverine takes time from fighting Spoor to wonder out loud why they are all even fighting. Gambit wonders why everyone must complicate things. They should follow his lead. He then attacks Cortez with some of his charged cards. However, his attack does not even reach Cortez, who is protected by a force field. Gambit is confused, as he does not know the Acolyte who is protecting Cortez. Storm flies overhead and notices that the woman can emanate a force-field. The woman, Static, blasts Storm with her powers and tells her that she can disrupt neurosynaptic impulses, meaning she can cut off powers.
As Storm and Rogue both find themselves victims of Static, Marrow tries to help them, but is intercepted by Cortez, whom the girl recognizes as the one who can amplify powers. Cortez confirms this and states that Marrow is the one with the out of control bone growths. He then amplifies Marrow’s powers, causing her bones to grow rapidly and randomly. “And I thought she couldn’t get any more repulsive…” mutters Cortez.
Infuriated, the freed Storm threatens to hurt Cortez if Marrow is harmed, but Cortez is one step ahead of the wind rider and sends Barnacle after her, as she is claustrophobic. Barnacle, who hisses like a snake, tackles Storm mid-air and secrets his liquids, which start to harden Storm’s skin. Barnacle tells Storm that he can harden the moisture in her skin and turn it into a carapace shell.
Shadowcat phases out of the mansion with Xavier, who sends her to help Storm. Shadowcat interrupts Xavier and tells her that she knows what he wants her to do and that they have been training with him long enough not to have everything spelled out for them. Cortez sees Xavier and tells Static to scramble his powers. Shadowcat tries to phase Storm out of the shell, but finds that Barnacle can still turn her into a shell. She still has moisture in her phased state, though it is harder for Barnacle to transform her.
Nightcrawler arrives and tells Kitty that he loves to play Errol Flynn to her Alexis Smith. Barnacle recognizes the names from the movie “Gentleman Jim,” which surprises Nightcrawler who wouldn’t think that Barnacle was a movie buff. This makes what he wants to do harder, which is too teleport Barnacle’s head off if he does not free the ladies. Scared, Barnacle surrenders, though adds that not even Flynn would threaten to take someone’s head off. Nightcrawler admits that he would not either, but threatening is another story. He then punches Barnacle.
Shadowcat rushes to Marrow and tells her that she is going to phase her through her bone cage. Marrow is not certain if even Kitty can do that, but Shadowcat is able to phase Marrow through her protrusions with ease. Marrow supposes she should be glad that Kitty doesn’t have the stones to be nasty, but Kitty tells her not to bet her life on it. Marrow, impressed, is happy that the rose has thorns too.
Angry, Storm tells the Acolytes that they have danced long enough. They chose to start this fight for no reason, so she will end it. She then blasts Barnacle and Senayaka with lightning. Cortez realizes that he is losing and desperately tries to learn the answers they need. Cortez has Static scramble Xavier’s powers, as he is the only one who can give those answers. Rem-Ram will then enter Xavier’s mind while his shields are down. Concerned, Rem-Ram reminds Cortez that he cannot enter a mind while the person is conscious. Angry, Cortez amplifies Rem-Ram’s powers and tells him that he can but was always scared of the pain. Cortez is sorry to say that the pain will be greater with the power boost.
Rem-Ram collapses to the ground and screams in pain and Cortez amplifies his powers. Xavier, who is busy warding off Static, asks Rogue to aid Rem-Ram. As Rogue rushes to Rem-Ram, Cortez tells the man that he has failed them and Magneto. Rogue throws Cortez away and sees that he is his usual supportive self. It is a wonder anyone follows him nowadays. Xavier tends to the Acolyte and begins to realign the boy’s injured synaptic systems. He then tells the other Acolytes to look on and to see the difference between his way and Magneto’s.
Cortez watches from a distance, as his Acolytes finally realize the truth. He had come to learn if Joseph and Magneto were really the same being, but he has learned a totally different truth. If he is not strong enough to be Magneto or smart enough to be Xavier, then what is he? Cortez runs into the forest, plagued by these questions.
Rem-Ram regains conscious and apologizes to the Professor. Barnacle approaches Xavier and tells him that they all apologize and ask for forgiveness and asylum. Tired and annoyed, Xavier asks if they finally choose the Institute now. He is sorry, but he cannot accept them. He tried that approach with Sabretooth and failed. He no longer has compassion to forgive their actions or the energy to teach it to others.
Rejected, the Acolytes leave the mansion grounds, with nowhere else to go.
Shocked, Rogue asks Xavier how he could turn them down. Has the whole Onslaught incident really changed him this much? He once gave her and Wolverine refuge. Xavier understands Rogue’s concern, but explains that, when he was mind-linked with Rem-Ram, he learned their goal, which was to find Magneto. Wolverine asks Xavier if he is referring to Joseph, the real one, or both? Xavier is unsure, but Cortez seems to believe that Magneto has returned.
As a result, a schism has formed in the ranks of the Acolytes, regarding what this means for them. Cortez took his followers to the mansion. He wanted them to leave so the X-Men could track them and discover whether their suspicions about Magneto are correct or not. Wolverine asks Xavier what they should do if it’s true. Xavier tells him that they will pray, and fight for their dream as always.
Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, the man in question known as Magneto meets with his most loyal Acolytes and thanks them for coming. Amelia Voght, with a hint of sarcasm, thanks Magneto for gracing them with his guidance. Magneto asks Amelia if they were not past that kind of sarcasm. He then asks her to walk with him as they must talk. She has done well to separate the best Acolytes from Cortez.
Amelia explains that the ones who followed her came because they felt it was their best chance to serve him. Magneto tells her that they will get that chance, and that the day is nearing. However, he has a special task for Amelia, who immediately agrees, without even learning of what the task is. Magneto explains that a fire is coming that will consume the planet. He once lost his daughter, Anya, to a fire, but he will not let his children die again like that. He asks Amelia to look after his children, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, and asks that they be spared when he is forced to burn the blight of humanity off the face of the planet!


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Untitled
(first story)
‘It’s b-broken. Oh God, tell me it’s broken! Come on! Come on!’ exclaims Bobby “Iceman” Drake as he adjusts the thermostat in an apartment while huddling into his jumper. ‘Bobby, the thermostat’s fine. The apartment’s hotter than a sauna!’ exclaims Opal Tanaka. ‘Then why am I so cold? Why can’t I get warm?’ Bobby replies. Opal runs her hands through her hair as she replies that she doesn’t know, before suggesting Bobby tries turning into Iceman. The handsome X-Man shifts his left hand into ice and explains that it makes it worse, that the cold is so intense it feels like he is dying. Opal suggests to Bobby that he call Hank. ‘He’ll know what to do!’ she exclaims.
Bobby reminds Opal how when she left him the first time around that she wanted a normal life, no crises, no heroics. ‘Yeah. So?’ Opal asks. ‘So when I bumped into you again at that party, I thought “this time I’ll try not to blow it”!’ Bobby explains. Opal tells Bobby that he will blow it big time if he dies on her. ‘Make the call!’ she tells him.
Moments later, the image of Bobby’s close friend Dr. Henry “Hank” McCoy a.k.a. the Beast appears on a monitor, and Hank remarks that these are the same symptoms Bobby had when his powers manifested, and that he can see two possibilities. Hank explains that the first is that Bobby’s powers are going through some kind of spontaneous re-adjustment, or else it is to do with the neural inhibitor that Mystique zapped him with. ‘That was months ago and I recovered! My powers came back full strength!’ Bobby replies. Hank explains that some neuro-toxins can stay in your system for years, forever even.
Hank tells Bobby that he is going to have to run tests, so needs him back at headquarters, and will send the Blackbird, remote-piloted, to pick him up. ‘Nice to see you, Ms Tanaka, it’s been a while’ Hank tells Opal after telling Bobby that he can pick the Blackbird up at Hunter’s Point and fly it back himself. Bobby looks at Opal and remarks that he supposes he is off to the City by the Bay. ‘We. We’re off. I’m not letting you out of my sight again until you’re okay!’ Opal exclaims.
Shortly, the auto-piloted Blackbird arrives at Hunter’s Point where Bobby and Opal are ready, waiting for it. As Bobby leads Opal into the new Blackbird, she looks around and remarks that the X-Men travel in style these days while putting her bags in a corner. ‘We’re getting better at that’ Bobby replies, before telling Opal to strap herself in and he will get the Blackbird going. As Bobby pilots the jet high over the City, he notices Opal is being somewhat distant. ‘Something on your mind?’ he asks her. ‘What?’ Opal replies. ‘You’re looking kind of preoccupied’ Bobby points out. Opal replies that she is thinking about Hank’s second explanation. ‘The neural inhibitor. That was something that Mystique did to you, right?’
‘Yeah. She got under my guard. Made me think - well, never mind what I thought. It was all an act. A set up’ Bobby’s mind flashes back to when he kissed Mystique, the stuff in her lipstick was some poison that Sinister created for her. ‘I wonder if she meant for all this to happen’ Opal remarks. ‘Who cares? You can’t second-guess a psychopath. You’d drive yourself nuts trying!’ Bobby replies. Opal supposes that it is always difficult to read someone else’s emotions. ‘Even if you think you know them - you generally don’t. Not really’. As Opal says this, one of the bags she placed at the back of the jet begins to tick - then explodes!
Bobby gets up from his seat, ‘We’re holed! We’re losing pressure!’ he exclaims urgently. ‘Looks that way, doesn’t it?’ Opal replies casually. ‘What?’ Bobby replies, before asking Opal to hold the Blackbird steady while he tries to seal the breach. As he switches to ice-form, he remarks that on any other day, this would be easy. Bobby begins to block the gaping hole with an ice-wall, ‘I’m doing it. No problem!’ he exclaims while Opal gets up from her seat and reaches into a bag. ‘Robert’ she begins. ‘I’m afraid I haven’t been entirely frank with you…’ exclaims Mystique as she switches to her default form, dropping her disguise of Opal.
‘But that’s always been part of the spice in our relationship, hasn’t it?’ Raven Darkholme adds as she fires the gun she pulled from the bag - the bullet strikes a surprised Bobby in the chest, ‘Mystique! This is insane - even by your standards!’ Bobby exclaims, asking Mystique if she did all this just to mess with his head. ‘No, lover. With your melting point!’ Raven replies as she kicks Bobby through his ice-wall, which shatters, causing Bobby to fall into open air. As he falls, a worried Bobby begins to switch to his human form, ‘No no no no no…!’ he exclaims, forcing himself back into his ice-form. Bobby plummets towards an icy mountain, and hits it at full-force, while the Blackbird crashes down some distance away.
A week later, two helicopters are flittering above the mountains where Iceman landed and the Blackbird crashed. ‘nothing moving up here, Tango Seven’ one of them reports. ‘It’s been a week. Anybody came out of that wreck they’re dead by now’ the other replies.
However, where the snow on the mountain ends, a trickle of water begins to fall - it meets up with the water fall, then takes human form as the water meets a small lake. The figure sweeps through the water, and climbs onto the lakeside - it’s Bobby, naked, who has reformed himself, but collapses….
(second story)
San Francisco, at a street lined with boutique shops, a shop door slams open and a pink high-heel shoe is the first thing seen exiting - attached to slender legs, covered by a slinky pink dress. ‘Look out! It’s Tabitha Smith! And she’s looking good!’ the former New Mutant-cum-X-Forcer thinks to herself as she strides along the street, joking ‘Who? Meltdown! Who? BOOM-BOOM!’. Tabby thinks that she likes “Boom-Boom, and ponders the possibility of taking that codename back on, ‘Even if guys used to snicker’ she admits.
Tabby tells herself that she is glad she was able to help out with the new school, otherwise she would never have seen San Francisco. ‘And missing out on this quality shopping would be - a crime!’ Tabby exclaims, when, appropriately, someone throws a shopkeeper through a store window, sending glass and clothing everywhere. ‘What the -’ Tabby asks, as the assailant steps through the broken window, ‘Not “what” - “who”!’ she exclaims, introducing herself as Nuwa. Annoyed, Tabby replies ‘Bad timing, bad guy - you messed up a good girl’s good day!’
Tabby tosses one of her plasma “time-bombs” at Nuwa, who smirks as she dodges the firecracker. ‘Oopsie!’ Tabby mutters as the time-bomb land in the shop, and explodes. ‘I was excited about that sale!’ Boom-Boom exclaims, before telling Nuwa that she has to explode now, and readies another time-bomb. ‘You first!’ Nuwa retorts, pointing at Boom-Boom, her eyes flash, ‘What does that mean…?’ Tabby asks, only to have her question answered when she stumbles over, lands on the road, her time-bomb exploding on her, while Nuwa makes her getaway.
Later, at the X-Men’s new headquarters, Boom-Boom is in a laboratory with her former X-Factor guardian, Dr Henry McCoy a.k.a. the Beast, who is tinkering away with something, while Boom-Boom is ranting about, exclaiming ‘Just when I was about to blow her up - I don’t even know! I got blown up!’ Tabby declares that she cannot even figure out what Nuwa’s powers are. ‘I’ve never even heard of this girl! Where does she get off blowing me up! I was in X-Force! I was in Nextwave!’ she shouts. ‘I don’t know what that is’ the Beast tells his former charge. ‘I dated Cannonball - I bet she can’t even get a date!’ Boom-Boom boasts.
Annoyed, Tabby shouts ‘I mean, Nuwa? that doesn’t even mean anything!’ and asks why she cannot be like most bad guys and have a name that tells one about their powers. ‘So it’s like “I’m Magneto”, and you’re like, “Cool, I’ll take off my jewelry!’. Hank, swinging about from one contraption to the next, suggests to Tabby that Nuwa might actually mean something, and asks her if she has attempted to do any research. ‘Ew. No. Besides, I don’t have a library card out here’ Tabby replies in disgust.
The Beast picks Tabby up and tosses her in to a chair, ‘Allow me to introduce you to the internet! While not entirely reliable, it can be a source of infinite knowledge!’ Hank declares. ‘Ugh. Fine’ Tabby mutters, unimpressed, before asking ‘How do you think she spells it, anyway?’, and turning to the computer, she types in ‘N-E-W-W-A-H? No. Guess not. N-O-O-W-A-A? N-U-W-A…here we go - no! I don’t believe it!’ Tabby gasps, announcing ‘This chick has a Facespace Page!’. ‘I can’t begin to comprehend you’ Hank replies dryly. Boom-Boom explains that Facespace is a website where you connect with your friends and make new friends, ‘But, you know, without having to actually talk to anyone’.
Boom-Boom reads of Nuwa’s Facespace page and announces that it has her powers: ‘Sedation?’ Boom-Boom queries. ‘She makes you sleepy’ Hank explains. ‘I know what “Sedation” means thank you very much!’ Tabby retorts. Before gasping that Nuwa has more friends than she does - including Rhino, Mysterio and Dr. Doom. ‘I would not trust this to be an accurate gauge of one’s self-worth’ the Beast cautions Boom-Boom, before Tabby tells Hank that someone has made a page about him. ‘Really?’ Hank asks, ‘How many friends do I have?’
Later, Boom-Boom marches down the same street, armed with a take-away coffee in one hand, she tells herself that she likes this plan: shopping as a stake-out? ‘It’s a win-win. I’m a win-winner! - Even if Nu-Whatever has more friends than I do. Mos of them were bands anyway’. Tabby approaches a store which has someone lying sedated in the front step.
Inside the store, Nuwa is checking the cash register and is complaining about the poor amount of cash: ‘Ugh. This is it? Doesn’t anyone pay with cash anymore?’ she exclaims, when suddenly, Boom-Boom, time-bomb ready, stands in the doorway, exclaiming ‘No. Cash is lame. So are you!’. ‘Ouch’ Nuwa replies sarcastically. ‘I don’t know why you’re following me around, but you need to come up with better fighting banter’ Nuwa exclaims, telling Boom-Boom that she will let her sleep on it. ‘Oh no - you have sleepy powers…what ever will I…’ Boom-Boom utters as she falls to the ground, only to leap back up, ‘Just kidding!’ she shouts as she holds her coffee up in the air. ‘I beat you with coffee!’ Tabby yells.
‘Your powers don’t work against caffeine! No wonder I have never heard of you!’ Tabby jokes, before asking Nuwa ‘Do you know what else you can do to beat me?’. Nuwa looks somewhat forlorn, before replying ‘Eh…no?’. ‘I thought not!’ Boom-Boom exclaims, before casting a time bomb at Nuwa, ‘This is for tricking me with a crappy super-power!’ she shouts as the time bomb strikes Nuwa in the chest. ‘This is for being dumb enough to put damaging personal information on a website!’ Tabby declares as she throws a time bomb at Nuwa’s stomach. ‘And this is for having more internet friends than me!’ Boom-Boom shouts as a final, large time bomb, propels a horrified Nuwa out of the store. ‘Wow. I like research’ a proud Tabby tells herself.
(third story)
San Francisco, the founding New Mutant Xi’an “Shan” Coy Manh, better known as Karma, sits stern-faced across from the glamorous Emma “White Queen” Frost, at the X-Men’s new training facility. Karma thinks to herself how she prides herself in being in constant control of everything around her, ‘It’s a part of who I am’ she tells herself. After all, given what she has been through in life, she doesn’t like it when she is not in control. ‘Is that all you’ve got? If so, I think we’re about done here, no?’ the White Queen tells Xi’an, who is thinking that, given what she can do, there is no reason she shouldn’t be in control. ‘Not yet…we’re not…I can still…possess you…’ Karma exclaims. ‘Please, Shan, there’s no need to continue this pointless charade’ Emma declares.
Karma makes the attack, it drains her, while Emma barely flexes a psychic muscle, resiting the attack with ease. ‘You’re weak!’ she tells Karma as she stands up. ‘Accept it!’ she suggests, offering Karma a hand, to pull her off the ground. But Karma doesn’t like losing control - bad things happen when she does. ‘I’M NOT WEAK!’ she screams at the White Queen, shoving Emma away. ‘That’s not who I am’ Xi’an thinks to herself. ‘As if there was any doubt, I think you’re just proving my point for me’ the White Queen remarks. ‘Not what I am’ Karma tells herself.
Karma walks over to the glossy wall, and looks at her reflection, while Emma declares that Karma possesses one of the greatest mutant powers on the planet. ‘The ability to possess people’s minds is not one to be taken lightly’ Emma tells her, explaining that she wanted to test her, as she feared that she was losing her edge. ‘Trust me, this is one case where I don’t like being right’ the White Queen assures Karma, who thinks to herself that her powers are supposed to be a blessing - not a curse. ‘I would expect someone with the power to control the minds of others to have better control over her own emotions. Over her own life!’ Emma announces.
Later, Karma walks through a park in San Francisco, head hanging low, she thinks about Emma’s last comment, about not having control over her own life. ‘What the hell does Emma know anyway? She can kiss ma petite derriere!’. Karma decides, boasting that she makes her own choices, has her own free will. Karma recalls her childhood, and how she made a vow as a child that no one would force her to do anything against her will when she grew up. Karma can see the Celestial in the background as she reminds herself that she moved to San Francisco of her own accord, and that, given all that has happened to them, some of the X-Men may feel displaced here in this strange new city, but not her.
‘I refuse to be a refugee ever again!’ Karma exclaims as she walks down a small district, remarking that she is here to be with her people, and her relatives. She enters a child care facility to collect her family, her brother Leong and her sister Nga, the only family she has left. The kids smile as they see their older sister. Karma recalls how her parents were slaughtered by Thai pirates, then she was forced to take the life of her evil brother Tran, becoming the guardian of her siblings. ‘If raising twins can’t teach you a little about self-control, then nothing can’ Karma decides as she leads her siblings home.
On the way, Karma recalls how she has run into other long-lost family members over the years - like odd, murderous uncles, not that she has wanted to spend much time with him, though she did work for him in Madripoor. Now though, Karma just has her siblings. They have each other. ‘And that’s all we need’ she decides as they sit down for a meal together.
Later, after putting her siblings to sleep, Karma tells herself that she definitely has control over her life now. ‘I always have!’ she exclaims. Karma looks at a photo of herself and the other original New Mutants - Sam, Dani, Bobby and Rahne - and she recalls that in those “carefree” days of youth, she was always the level-headed one. Picking up a more recent photo which features Dani, Bobby and Tabby, Karma thinks ‘Well, most of the time, anyway’, as in the photo, she had short pink hair.
Karma recalls her battle with the Shadow King, and decides that even when people, like the Shadow King, tried to take that control from her, or when she was immensely overweight and thought all hope was lost, control was something she always managed to regain and turn to her advantage, like her encounter with Tessa at the Hellfire Club.
Karma looks at a photograph of herself and her dear friend Kitty Pryde, thinking to herself ‘As long as I was around, everything was under control’ and remembering the terrible events that happened to Kitty, she adds ‘If only I’d been there, Kitty…I know I could have…maybe…’ Karma begins to cry, tears fall onto the photo. Her sobbing wakes her siblings, who enter the living area, asking Shan what is wrong. Karma wipes her eyes and replies ‘Nothing’ before asking the twins what they are doing up. ‘We heard you crying and got scared’ Nga replies.
Leong sees the photograph of Kitty and exclaims ‘Aunt Kitty! Aunt Kitty! I miss her!’ he declares as he takes the photo and holds it above his head as he stands on the sofa. ‘Is she coming for a visit? Is she?’ Nga asks excitedly. ‘Can we see her?!’ Leong asks. Karma tells the kids that their Aunt Kitty is not coming over. ‘BOOOOOOOOOO!’ the twins exclaim, before Shan tells them that it is getting late and they need to get back to bed. ‘Aunt Kitty never made us go to bed!’ Leong boasts as he begins bouncing on the sofa, still holding the photo up high, while Nga exclaims that their Aunt Kitty let them stay up late and watch TV with her.
‘We want Kitty! We want Kitty! We want Kitty!’ they declare. ‘Stop it, both of you! STOP IT!’ screams a frustrated Karma. ‘I’M IN CONTROL HERE!’ she demands, taking possession of her twin siblings. The photo falls from Leong and upon landing on the floor, the glass breaks. As Karma mentally forces her siblings to begin walking back towards their room, she recalls what the White Queen had said to her earlier: You possess one of the greatest mutant powers on the planet, Shan. The ability to possess people’s minds is not to be taken lightly. I would expect someone with the power to control the minds of others to have better control over her own emotions. Over her own life.
A wide-eyed Karma gasps ‘Oh my God…no! What have I done!’, and instantly frees the twins from her control. ‘What happened?’ Leong asks. ‘What did you do to us?’ Nga asks, confused. Karma looks at her siblings, realizing that she couldn’t take it anymore, she got too emotional and lost control. ‘Nothing. It was nothing. I’m so sorry’ she tells the twins as she hugs them. ‘That’s not who I am’ she thinks to herself. ‘Not what I am. I have lost my edge. I am weak. I need to take control again - of my powers - of my emotions - of my life…’ and Karma begins to cry.


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

[Assistant]
Kill or Cure, part 2 (first story)
Good with the Bad (second story)
Flaw (third story)
first story:
Iowa, Elkader Community Hospital, a handsome young man is brought into the hospital from the ambulance bay. ‘Nurse, prep me an IV drip and a hemodialysis filter - and bring me some blankets and glucose gel!’ a doctor exclaims. ‘Yes, doctor!’ the nurse replies. The doctor remarks that the patient is pretty far gone, and while other staff begin working on the patient, the doctor turns to the ambulance officer and asks him where he found the patient. ‘Right by the side of the road, naked as a jaybird. Said he fell out of a plane’ the ambulance officer replies.
The doctor announces that the patient is hypothermic. ‘Can’t expect him to make sense’ he remarks, before declaring that they have to get his core temperature up, slow and steady. The doctor orders the other staff to warm the patient up and plug him into the dialysis machine for an hour. The nurse tells the doctor that it is not looking good, their patient’s blood pressure is way down and brain activity is close to coma levels. ‘Cold! Got to - cold -’ the patient - Bobby Drake a.k.a. Iceman, shudders. The doctor assures him that he will not be cold for long. ‘We’re gonna thaw you out good as new!’ he declares.
(Flashback to X-Men (2nd series) #200)
‘If this was your last night on Earth, Robert - how would you want to spend it?’ Raven “Mystique” Darkholme asks her teammate. ‘With someone I care about’ Bobby replies, looking deeply at Mystique, who replies that, on the last night, he would care about everyone. ‘Every scrap of human contact would seem precious, wouldn’t it?’ she asks, before telling him to pretend. Bobby loses his ice form and steps forward, kissing Raven on the lips….
(Present)
Bobby moans as he wakes from his dream and falls out of bed, to the hospital floor. ‘Mister Drake! You really shouldn’t be out of bed!’ exclaims the nurse as she enters the room and proceeds to help Bobby back into bed. Bobby declares that he doesn’t need blankets, but the nurse replies that they have to be cruel to be kind, ‘If the treatment hurts - well, that’s how you know it’s doing you good!’ she explains as she attempts to put the IV back into Bobby, who pulls away, ‘Get your hands off me!’ he shouts. ‘You think I’m stupid, Mystique?’ he exclaims. ‘I think you’re delusional!’ the nurse replies, taking a step backwards as she warns Bobby to lie down before he falls down.
‘One step, and you’re an ice sculpture. I mean it!’ Bobby warns the nurse, whom he believes is Mystique. Bobby ices-up his arm, just as the doctor enters the room, asking the nurse if there is a problem. ‘The patient is refusing his medication, doctor. And he threatened me!’ the nurse replies, backed up against a wall. ‘Threatened you? Good Lord!’ the doctor replies, shocked, before grabbing the nurse and shoving her head against the wall. ‘He must have mistaken you for somebody else!’ the doctor exclaims, before Mystique reveals herself, switching from the doctor into her default form, she tells Robert that she is trying to keep this between the two of them. ‘I know how sentimental you get about innocent bystanders’ she remarks.
Bobby takes a punch at Raven, but misses, ‘There’s nothing between us, Raven! Nothing!’ Bobby declares. ‘Well, you may be right at that. But it’s touching that you chose to use my given name!’ Raven replies as she kicks Bobby in the head, sending the founding X-Man careening across the room. Bobby blasts Raven with an ice-beam, but Raven just smiles as it barely affects her. ‘That’s it, Robert. Keep fighting. Don’t give up. An X-Man never gives up!’ Mystique exclaims. ‘Even when the odds become ridiculous!’ she adds as she kicks Bobby hard in the head once more, while he is still on the floor.
Raven kneels over Bobby and holds a dagger to his throat, ‘I could kill you so easily. I could have killed you in Mississippi, or Flint. You keep rolling over for me, Robert. Do you think I find that cute?’ Raven exclaims. Bobby looks up at Mystique, warning her that he will find her and bring her down. ‘I’m going to end this!’ he boasts. Mystique laughs, ‘Just what Logan said!’ she exclaims, before asking ‘What about all that pillow talk, Robert? “I’m not sure what I bring to the X-Men, I’m not sure who I’m meant to be”?’ Mystique asks as she pins Bobby to the floor.
‘What do you want from me, you lunatic!?’ Bobby demands. ‘A little understand. A little tenderness’ Raven replies, before grinning wickedly as she exclaims ‘Actually - I’m testing both of us to destruction!’. Raven tells Robert that she never loved him, to which Bobby exclaims ‘Good! Thank God!’, before Raven reveals that she pulled her punches with him, all along the line. She prepares a syringe, filling it with some drug, as she wonders what that means, after she has killed so many people, betrayed so many people, ‘To hesitate, without knowing why’. Raven explains that the drug she has is about a thousand times the dose of Sinister’s nerve-killer compound that Bobby has already had more than enough of to shut down his whole system.
Raven presses the tip of the needle to Bobby’s cheek, ‘For the love of God, Raven!’ Bobby screams, but Raven tells him to shush, when, suddenly, a security officer smashes the glass door open, ‘Stop! Stop what you’re doing!’ the real doctor shouts at Mystique. ‘Kill or cure, Robert. Kill or cure!’ Mystique whispers as she shoves the needle into Bobby’s stomach. Bobby screams. ‘Either way, it’s going to be educational!’ Mystique boasts as she tosses one of the security guards over her head when he lunges at her, while Bobby lies in agony on the hospital floor….
second story:
The Middle of Nowhere, in Nevada. 6.42 P.M. at the “Dirty Pig”. Several vehicles are parked outside as the sky turns a dark orange color. ‘He just always liked him more, you know? It’s as simple as that. You get that…um…I’m sorry, man, what’s the name again?’. ‘B-B-Bernard’ a voice stutters. ‘Right, sorry. I don’t mean to change the subject here, Bernard, but…can we go ahead and put that musket away?’ asks Cain Marko a.k.a. the Juggernaut, as he holds onto his glass of beer while a scrawny man called Bernard holds a musket up to him, and various other patrons at the bar mill about, watching. Cain grins from under his protective helmet as he tells Bernard that he can pretty much guarantee that if the relic of a musket goes off, he will not be the one laying on the floor bleeding.
8.15 P.M. Juggernaut looks uncomfortable as he sits on a small chair, while a woman called Lauren looks at him and exclaims that, from everything he has told her so far, she thinks he should be good. The bar tender declares that he agrees with Lauren. ‘The X-fellas seems to get all types of cool stuff, crazy space planes and what not. I’d go good!’ he declares. ‘I’m voting bad’ a younger guy mutters while he taps away on his mobile phone. ‘I’m surprised you’ve had time to chime in with all your note-passing’ a man with glasses remarks to the young guy, who replies ‘It’s texting’. ‘Call it what you like, son, it’s dumb. We’ve been listening to this giant idiot for hours now and you’ve barely noticed that attractive young girl because of all your “texting”!’ the older man with glasses declares.
This annoys the young woman, who mocks the older man, ‘Good parenting, Ward’ she tells him sarcastically “Hey, son, stop playing with your doo-hickey and look at the skank, she’s so hot and skanky!” The young woman adds that she agrees with Beav. ‘Bad is where it’s at’. Cain turns to the elderly man at the bar and asks ‘What about you, old man? Good guy or bad guy?’. The old man replies that it doesn’t matter to him, ‘Either side you pick, you still got a big bucket on your head!’.
Cain frowns, and declares that he has tried to be nice here, deliverance, but any more of that kind of speak and he is going to make things real uncomfortable. Cain stands behind the man at the bad, ready to grab him, when a voice exclaims ‘Very. It’s very, not real. Wasn’t the X-Men’s fort also a school?’ asks Beav. ‘Nicky, Nicky, Nicky’ Juggernaut mumbles as he picks Beav up by his shirt and holds him off the ground.
8.42 P.M., and Beav is stuck to a hook on the wall. The young woman brings Juggernaut some burgers, while Cain, looking at Beav’s phone, announces that he agrees with Ward. ‘You have to have little girlie fingers to even use this thing!’. Addressing Beav as Nicky once more, Cain asks him if he is a little girlie. ‘Enough!’ Ward shouts, declaring that he hates to say it, but they need to get back to Juggernaut’s “problem” so they can be on their way. ‘Good idea’ Cain agrees, before shoving a burger into his mouth and telling Bernard that he wants another round.
9.37 P.M., The blonde woman tells the old man at the bar that she is so tired of hearing about “morals”, and while Juggernaut downs another beer, she exclaims that she is not some crazed criminal activist, but that she doesn’t see much of a difference between “good” and “bad” anymore. ‘Both sides do whatever they want, whenever they want. At least if you’re “bad” you don’t have to pretend to follow anyone’s rules!’ she points out. ‘Dam right about freedom, man!’ Beav exclaims from where he is still strung up on the wall. ‘What would you be doing right now if you were an X-Man?’ Beav asks. ‘Moving’ Cain replies. ‘Moving?’ Beav asks, surprised. ‘To San Francisco’ Juggernaut explains. ‘Lame’ Beav mumbles.
The dark-haired woman, Lauren, suggests to the blonde woman that she calm down a bit, but the blond-haired woman snaps ‘In a minute’ as she continues on with her speech, ‘Seriously, man, they’re just words now. Good or bad? Hero or villain?’ she remarks, adding that both sides are just imitating some concept of those words that used to be relevant, but not anymore. ‘We’ve watches “heroes” fighting “heroes” because one side didn’t want to be told that they couldn’t run around blasting things whenever they see fit!’. The old man at the bar picks up Beav’s phone and begins texting a police officer, informing him of the current situation. ‘That sounds like a villain to me!’ he remarks to the others in response to the blonde woman’s comment.
Bernard tells the blonde woman that she is taking reality for a ride around in the country. ‘What does that even mean?’ the blonde woman replies. ‘If I took out a gun and shot one of you in your hick head today, I’m sitting in the chair tomorrow’ the blonde girl remarks. ‘If I shoot one of you with …uh…mind bullets and I happen to have some skittles suit on, then I’m probably free as a bird regardless of “good” or “bad”. Why waste time pretending?’ she asks.
10.04 P.M. and Beav is still strung up to the wall, while the old man and the blonde girl lean against the bar, and Ward makes his way over to a table where Lauren and Bernard are sitting. ‘Okay, this has been good. You all gave me a lot to think about and I appreciate that’ Cain remarks as he puts his helmet back on, addressing the blonde woman as Mac he tells her that she scares him a bit, and made good points. He begins to say something else, when suddenly, a voice booms ‘This is the Police. Come out with your hands up!’. The old man at the bar just taps the mobile phone and grins.
Juggernaut makes his way out of the bar, ‘It’s okay. I’m a good -’ he is about to say “guy”, but one of the Police Officers orders him to freeze. Cain goes wide-eyed as a myriad of cops begin firing at him. Cain continues to walk forward, finishing his sentence ‘…guy. But since you didn’t ask…’ I’m good with the bad!’ he concludes as he demolishes all the cars in sight while walking away from the “Dirty Pig”.
third story:
Emma Frost a.k.a. the White Queen stands in her diamond-hard form, gazing out over San Francisco. ‘A new start. A new beginning’ the sultry villainess-turned-heroine thinks to herself. ‘That’s what we came here for. What Scott led us here for’. Emma thinks that moving here is an scape from the endless cycle of hate and fear, of death and destruction, an escape from the past they hold on to so tightly. ‘The X-Men will let go of it all, and meet the future headfirst with hopeful, open arms’. But she decides that is rubbish, of course some things cannot go forgotten, cannot be forgiven. ‘And I know they hate me for it!’ she tells herself.
Later, inside the X-Men’s new home and headquarters, the White Queen thinks ‘I don’t deserve this. Any of this. I don’t deserve him. And they all see it’, as she looks at her lover, leader of the X-Men, Scott “Cyclops” Summers. Emma watches Scott sleeping, she stares at him, wondering when she will wake up to find out that this is just some cruel joke. ‘When no one is watching, I can’t even bring myself to touch him’ Emma admits to herself, knowing that Scott does not leave himself open, the way he did with little-miss-perfect. ‘I can feel that part of him he keeps hidden, just in the way he looks at me’. Emma decides that, no matter what Cyclops says, he will never completely trust her. Emma pauses over their bed, where Scott still sleeps, before she walks out onto their balcony, deciding that Scott is right to feel that way. ‘I have to force myself not to read his mind while he’s sleeping’ she admits.
Later, Emma is with Dr. Henry McCoy a.k.a. the Beast, who is working on the new Cerebra. ‘…and still haven’t my favorite café, yet. Somehow I keep getting sidetracked in Ghirardelli Square’ Hank explains, before telling Emma that she should join him, though he doesn’t look up from his work. Emma thinks to herself that she and Henry casually talk about the finer things in life, but it is a world that Hank knows Emma doesn’t belong in. ‘He’s judging me. He knows of my tawdry past, before I remade myself’.
Emma makes her way through the new headquarters, and stops outside a room where Wolverine a.k.a. Logan, Kurt “Nightcrawler” Wagner and newcomer Armor a.k.a. Hisako Ichiki, are gathered. ‘No way. You’re making this up!’ Armor exclaims, shocked. ‘You wish’ Logan replies, while Kurt explains that you are on TV in another dimension right, the star of a top rated show. ‘There’s probably an Armor-Baby, too’ he adds. ‘WHAT?’ asks Hisako, shocked again as the long-serving X-Men discuss the Mojoverse. Emma tells herself that Logan and Kurt play along with her, but always keeping one eye on her, wondering if Cassandra Nova is still inside.
Further along, Emma comes across Piotr “Colossus” Rasputin, who is using his incredible strength to move various pieces of large equipment. Emma watches him and thinks to herself that Peter doesn’t talk much, certainly not to her, and she feels that he blames her for the loss of Shadowcat.
Angel a.k.a. Warren Worthington III and Ororo “Storm” Munroe walk past the White Queen, without acknowledging her. Emma watches them, ‘Too good for me’ she thinks to herself, knowing that Storm and Angel are too loyal to Jean and Xavier, and too sure that she has sunk her hooks into Scott’s mind. ‘They’ll never let go of my time with the Hellfire Club’ Emma realizes.
Soon, Emma stands before a group of remaining students, who ignore her, too busy interacting with each other. She realizes that the students have kept their distance after everything that happened before they shut the Institute down. Emma decides that Hellion and Mercury were right to turn on her, then the others followed. Emma knows that her darling Cuckoos are more lost to her than ever, and that she doesn’t need to read any of the minds to know that deep down inside, they hate her, and will never forgive her.
‘So I wait. I wait and I try. I do everything I can to be the person they want me to be, to be the person that deserves him. But I watch them all, and know’ Emma tells herself as she is gathered with Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, Beast, Colossus, Angel, Nightcrawler, Armor and fellow newcomer Megan Gwynn a.k.a. Pixie, in a dockside restaurant. ‘They talk and laugh like a family, like real people. Except for me’ she thinks, sitting between Kurt and Piotr, but slightly back a bit. She watches, waiting for it to come, for the other shoe to drop - the moment they turn to her and tell her that she doesn’t belong, that she is the villain of their story, that this was part of their plan all along. ‘That I don’t deserve to be with them’.
Emma tells herself that, when that time comes, she wouldn’t have to work so hard, she wouldn’t have to open herself up to them, to hate herself every day for holding herself to their standards. ‘Please just tell me that I’m a fool to think that you would forgive me…’ Emma thinks to herself, before shouting ‘Tell me already! Hate me, judge me, cast me out! Just get on with it!’ she screams at the other X-Men. The others all look at her, some concerned, some stunned. ‘Um, sweetie? Everything okay?’ Scott asks from across the table. Emma gets to her feet, ‘Absolutely fabulous, darling’ she replies as she walks out of the restaurant. ‘Just tell me when it’s over’ she adds. ‘She’s not going to melt our brains or anything, is she?’ Pixie asks.
Emma thinks to herself, as she stands on the water front, that she has done terrible, evil, things in her life. ‘I don’t belong here’ she declares, when suddenly, someone approaches her. ‘Then go’ he tells Emma in response to her comment. Wolverine reveals himself and tells Emma that she has been sulking around here ever since they arrived. ‘You’re killing the mood’ he tells her. ‘I don’t “sulk”!’ Emma replies, turning to Logan. ‘Emma Frost doesn’t sulk. I don’t know who you are, babe’ Wolverine replies. Emma tells Logan that she is not in the mood, and that he knows quite well who she is. ‘You’ve seen the true me, and it’s not this. Even when I try to play hero, the villain always shines through!’ Emma exclaims.
‘I am the White Queen. I always have been. I always will be. You know it, they all know it. We’re all just waiting for me to show my true colors, aren’t we?’ Emma snaps at Logan, who replies ‘You wanna know who you are? I’ll tell you’. Logan proceeds to tell Emma that Scott Summers would give his life for her. ‘That’s who you are!’ he exclaims. Logan assures Emma that they all would. ‘Even the kids’ he declares, telling Emma that they all know she would do the same for them. ‘You’ve done nasty things? Look around. We all have, even Cyke. There’s blood on all our hands, there’s dark in all out souls. That’s the price we pay, doing what we do’ Wolverine declares.
Emma remains silent as Logan gives his speech, concluding with ‘The evil we deal with, it gets inside us all’. Emma tells Logan that, with her though, it stayed. ‘Fact that you hate the darkness within you so much, that’s all I need to know’ Logan assures Emma. ‘You’re an X-Man, Frost. You’re one of us. You want forgiveness? Start with yourself’.
‘I never thought this would happen’ Emma thinks to herself later, looking out over San Francisco once more. ‘That I would care so much. That I would let them get inside me. That I would fall in love. That they would care for me, defend me, comfort me’. The White Queen tells herself that all the X-Men would give her the second chance that she would never give herself. She shifts into her diamond-hard form, where she feels nothing. ‘I’ve worked all my life to make my mind as perfect as my body. To be cold and hard and emotionless’ Emma declares, before returning to her human form, and realizing that may be her flaw. The emotions wash over her like icy water, and Emma feels it for the very first time. ‘This is what forgiveness feels like. Here, in this place, with these incredible people…maybe there can be such a thing as a second chance for even me’ Emma tells herself, before she begins to cry.


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

[Assistant]
Kill or Cure, part 3 (first story)
Abomination (second story)
Uncheerable (third story)
first story:
‘So yeah…I was in a pretty bad way back there’ Bobby “Iceman” Drake remarks, sitting in the passenger seat of a truck.
(flashback to X-Men Manifest Destiny #2, narrated by Iceman)
While Mystique attacked the hospital staff and security officers, Bobby lay on the floor, the neurotoxin running like wildfire through his system. Struggling to get up, Bobby didn’t think it would have done any good even if the doctor could have got to him. Bobby could feel his body, his mind, shutting down, like the lights going out on a comms board. That was the wrong metaphor, Bobby decides. ‘I was melting’ is more correct, as his thoughts leaked out of him like blood out of a wound, and he thought to himself, out of nowhere, just go with it.
(present)
‘So what did you do?’ the truck driver asks Bobby. The handsome X-Man replies that he just let it happen, but that he put his own spin on it. ‘You know how they say you replace every cell in your body every seven years?’ he asks the trucker. ‘When I use my power, my body turns to ice’ he remarks, turning his hand to ice to demonstrate. ‘But I also control the moisture in the air. I can turn that into ice too’. Bobby explains that the ice inside him, and the ice around him, is all the same thing.
(flashback continues)
Blood lies in pools on the floor where Bobby struggles to get up, the toxin inside is killing him because it is such a massive overdose for someone of his body mass. The concentration of the chemicals in his blood is enough to kill him ten times over. But Bobby began to control the ambient moisture that is effectively part of his body mass too, and began to ice up as far as he could, drawing all that moisture towards him, into him, then he released it again, three times, like passing air through a filter, Bobby let the poisoned molecules of his body dissipate into vapor, and remade himself out of fresh, clean ice, like a body swap, done one piece, one cell, at a time, until he was finally as good as new. While Bobby reconstructed himself, the hospital staff, including the nurse Mystique injured, now recovered, watch him.
(present)
‘So don’t take this the wrong way, but how come you’re telling me all this? Super heroes don’t normally do that, do they? They play it close to the vest’ the trucker asks Bobby. ‘The truth? I’ve been looking at your face all this time’ Bobby replies. ‘Why? You looking to make a move on me or something?’ the trucker asks. ‘I wanted to see how you reacted to the story. If you were her, I’d know by now’ Bobby explains, referring to Mystique. Bobby reveals that part of him almost wants Mystique to succeed, as someone he love and respects died because he trusted her. ‘I feel like I deserve to be punished for that!’ Bobby explains, adding that he doesn’t want to be taken by surprise.
Suddenly, a Police Officer on a motorcycle speeds up behind the truck. ‘Aw man, we got us a cop on our -’ the truckie begins to say, when suddenly the Police Officer pulls out a rifle and begins shooting at the front of the truck. The truckie swerves the truck, while Bobby tells him to stop the truck. ‘She’s only after me!’ he exclaims. ‘She? That’s a guy, you moron!’ the truckie replies, only for Bobby to kick the truckie out the door. ‘I’m doing you a favor here!’ Bobby exclaims as the truckie falls onto the edge of the road, and rolls down into a ditch. ‘Lousy thieving mutie…son of a…’ the truckie mumbles.
The Police Officer blows out one of the trucks tires, causing the truck to tumble onto one its side, and slide along the road for some distance, before exploding - and Mystique shifts into her default form, bringing the motorcycle to a halt not too far away, grinning wickedly as she does. Suddenly, Bobby emerges from the fire in his ice-form, ‘Can’t kill me with fire, Mystique. Not any more!’ Bobby announces as he walks to Raven Darkholme, telling her that if she wants to finish this then she will have to look him in the eye as she pulls the trigger. Bobby drops his ice, shifting to his human form, and Mystique raises her rifle to his chest….
second story:
San Francisco, late one night, the young mutant Jonas Graymalkin sits on a hill, looking out at the Golden Gate Bridge.
At that moment, senior X-Man Dr. Henry “Hank” McCoy a.k.a. the Beast, sits in his lab at the X-Men’s new headquarters, various monitors displaying images and data of Jonas. ‘Results of examination - physical and psychological, genetic and telepathic’ Hank begins, recording himself as he remarks that the subject is a mutant as whose powers are enhanced strength and agility, not to mention showing signs of invulnerability. Hank remarks that Jonas’ powers are limited however, to locations with insufficient photonic sources, such as darkness. Hank explains that the absence of light triggers Jonas’ mutant abilities.
The Beast remarks that exposure to electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths of 300 NM to 1400 NM - i.e. normal light, render Jonas powerless. ‘Synopsis: subject has powers in near total darkness; subject is unpowered in the presence of light’ Hank declares, before stating that Jonas appears to suffer from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, and that the traumatic event being hypothesized based on forensic analysis. ‘To wit, soil samples taken from under subject’s fingernails, analysis of dirt trapped in subject’s bronchial passages…suggests that subject - who, according to optical dating, appears more than 200 years old - spent the better portion of his life buried alive’.
Back outside, Jonas exclaims ‘This was lovely. This night. The meal. The music. It was all quite…intoxicating. I haven’t been out like that in a long, long time, as you can well imagine!’. Jonas turns to someone sitting beside him and declares that it has been longer still since he has had such pleasant company. ‘Please…don’t say anything. Not yet’ Jonas asks his companion. Jonas exclaims ‘I know why you’re here, why you…reached out as you did. You’re curious. Your friends, who seem quite upstanding, are curious. It’s understandable’. Jonas tells his companion that his friends what to know, and he himself wants to know, how he came to be so incarcerated. ‘Buried. As if a corpse’.
Jonas explains that he lay there for such a long, long time, until some manner of apocalypse decimated the area, upsetting the very structure of the earth that the Xavier Institute was built on - and thus unsettling Jonas from his confinement. This manner of apocalypse, as Jonas put it, was of course the Sentinel attack on the Xavier Institute. Jonas tells his companion that he is getting ahead of himself. ‘Neither the manner of my confinement  nor the means of my extrication are your primary interest. You’re interested, I imagine, in why I was so confined’ Jonas remarks, revealing that he was buried simply for what he is. ‘But you know what I am, don’t you? After all, you’re just like me’ he tells his companion. ‘I’ll begin at the beginning, I suppose…’.
In his lab, the Beast states his hypothesis: ‘Since lack of light triggers subject’s mutant power and subject was without such light for over two centuries…conclusion would be that his subterranean incarceration actually prolonged his lifespan. Unfortunately, however, solitary confinement of that duration, no social contact, no visual stimuli, totally sensory deprivation…”Traumatic street” might not be sufficient to cover the torment subject endured!’
Outside, Jonas begins his tale:
(Flashback, over two hundred years ago, narrated by Graymalkin)
The handsome young Jonas Graymalkin grew up in the province of New York, on the very lands where his companion’s compatriots found him. ‘The only son to Charles and Marcia Graymalkin’ he reveals. Jonas exclaims that he had a good life, a happy one, but that there was much strife at the time, some tumult concerning taxation and representation in the British Parliament, but that he was not overly concerned with that. ‘I was sixteen years old and far, far more concerned with what I had discovered about myself. About what I was’.
Jonas reveals that it was a grey day, and he was in the barn…experimenting…with his newfound identity - when suddenly, his father caught him. ‘He was horrified. Speechless for a moment - until a single word came to his lips. A word that encapsulated what I had become’. Abomination Charles Graymalkin boomed at his son, before punching Jonas hard in the face. ‘A madman’s fury. A father’s shame’ Jonas tells his friend, recalling how he was knocked to the barn floor, and that there was no one else in the town, in the entire colony he’s imagine - none that his father knew at any rate. ‘And it disgusted him’ Jonas declares, recalling how his father continued to beat him, curse him and curse his mother’s womb for bearing him. ‘I was sixteen and my father was a strapping man’ Jonas tells his companion. ‘There was little I could do…before the world turned to black’. Just before the world turned to black though, his terrified eyes caught one last glimpse of someone else in the barn.
When Jonas finally roused, night had fallen, and his father had been busy - digging Jonas a shallow grave. Jonas tells his companion that he didn’t think his father knew, ‘At least I choose to believe he didn’t know’ that he was still alive as the dirt was being shovelled on top of him. ‘So consumed he was with his disgust’. Charles Graymalkin’s last words to his son were ‘Damnable monster! You are not my son! No such bane could ever spring from my loins! The earth take you, damnation!’. And the cold dirt continued to cover poor Jonas.
(Present)
The Beast states that, based on genetic analysis, as well as forensic study, it appears that Jonas’ powers did not manifest until his incarceration. ‘The lack of refulgence, of light in his - for lack of a better term but hardly a more descriptive one - grave appears to have triggered his mutant power’. The Beast declares that, if not for the triggering of his mutant power, Jonas would have died - very quickly, and unpleasantly. Hank remarks that it raises the question however, and he knows this isn’t a purely scientific inquiry, of what occasioned Jonas to be buried alive in the first place. Hank remarks that the White Queen’s previous conversation with Jonas hint that Jonas was the victim of some prejudice. ‘But if his mutant powers didn’t manifest until after, I’m unclear as to what that prejudice could be…’ Hank states.
Outside, Jonas’ companion, after listening intently, remarks ‘It wasn’t your fault, you know. I guess it wasn’t really your father’s either’.
(Flashback, over two hundred years ago)
Inside the barn, standing in the shadows, tears fall down the face of a horror-stricken young man as his boyfriend is beaten to apparent death.
(Present)
‘It’s not like there was a lot of tolerance back then’ Jonas’ companion points out. ‘You…know?’ Jonas asks, turning to his companion, who has just come into view - it’s Victor Borokowski a.k.a. Anole. ‘Yeah. It’s okay, though. It’s all gonna be okay…’ Anole assures his friend.
(third story)
Nightcrawler and Wolverine are discussing their good friend and fellow X-Man, Colossus. Nightcrawler remarks that since the move to San Francisco,  Colossus wakes up before dawn, before his alarm clock even goes off, and begins exercising - lifting weights, jogging, everything. Nightcrawler adds that Colossus does everything anyone asks him to do - teaching the kids, lifting heavy things, the usual. ‘Is he painting?’ Wolverine asks, to which Nightcrawler replies that Storm arranged for canvases to be delivered weekly, but that they are all unpainted. ‘Alright. Fine. Let’s do this thing’ Wolverine replies.
Greymalkin Industries, Marin, Colossus’ face gets smashed in by a rocky hand, which shatters as it strikes Colossus’ steel form. ‘Awww…’ Rockslide complains, clutching the remains of his arm. ‘Why would you do that?’ Colossus asks as they stand in the kitchen. ‘I…I…uh…because I never liked you! Yeah! I hate you!’ Rockslide retorts. Rubbing his head, puzzled, Colossus asks Rockslide if he doesn’t want his arm. ‘Not now, I don’t! Hate you!’ Rockslide retorts as he skulks away, rocks once comprising his hand littering the floor.
‘…and, uh, then I broke’ Rockslide tells Wolverine and Nightcrawler, sometime later. ‘Did he laugh? Because I’m laughing’ Wolverine exclaims. ‘No, he didn’t laugh, jerk face. He didn’t even smile. And you know what? You know what? You guys are crappy friends!’ Rockslide tells the long-serving, senior X-Men. Nightcrawler tells Rockslide that they are only trying to cheer Colossus up. ‘You were supposed to pick a fight with him, not fall apart. You flunk, Pebbleslide. In life’. Wolverine exclaims.
‘Dammit!’ Rockslide exclaims, remarking that he doesn’t see how beating Colossus up would cheer him up anyway. ‘What else was on your list? Insulting his mother?’ Rockslide asks. ‘Peter’s mother is dead, Santo. She was murdered!’ Nightcrawler quickly replies. ‘Dammit! Can I just go?’ Rockslide asks. Nightcrawler thanks him for trying, to which Rockslide replies ‘I hate you!’ as he storms out of the room. ‘Now what?’ Nightcrawler asks Wolverine. ‘Got me’, Logan replies, before remarking that “bar fight” was the only thing in his “cheer up” bag. ‘Hell, if I knew how to cheer people up, I’d be cheered up!’ Wolverine exclaims, before asking Nightcrawler if he has thought of anything. ‘We keep trying’ Nightcrawler replies.
Soon, Wolverine is slumped over a table, dozens of empty beer bottles scattered across it, ‘Woof…I’ll be…good in like…hurf…like ten minutes. Isn’t…isn’t this fun?’ he asks. Colossus holds one beer bottle and stares ahead, while Nightcrawler mutters ‘Ja!’ in response to Wolverine’s question.
Later, Nightcrawler and Wolverine watch as Pixie tells Colossus a joke: ‘So the priest says “I don’t know, but his face rings a bell!”. Isn’t that the best?’ Pixie laughs. ‘But the man died!’ Colossus points out. ‘Well…yeah, that’s why it’s funny!’ Pixie explains.
Later still, Colossus joins Nightcrawler and the Beast at the cinema, and the Beast whispers that perhaps this was a poor choice in film, as it is really quite depressing for an “action-thriller”.
‘What did you say?’ Colossus asks Iceman, who replies ‘You know, a “lady of the night”, a ho -’ Iceman replies, until Wolverine punches him in the face. ‘Dammit, Drake!’ Logan snarls.
A bewildered Colossus stands with Blindfold and Loa in the communications room, where Loa explains that you type in stuff: ‘Like whatever you’re doing at the moment, called “tweets”!’. Colossus replies that he is doing nothing, to which Blindfold cryptically remarks ‘No…I’m sorry, please. No one will “follow” you’.
‘You have got to be %*$@ing kidding me! Again?’ complains Match as Colossus and Rockslide toast marshmallows on his flaming head. Rockslide tells Match to shut up and get some sensitivity. ‘His girlfriend’s dead or something!’ he exclaims, referring to Shadowcat.
Later still, Colossus, Wolverine and Nightcrawler are surrounded by civilians throwing streamers and confetti. ‘What the hell, Kurt?’ Wolverine asks Nightcrawler, who replies ‘It was called the “Colossus party!” I didn’t know!’. Suddenly, the crowd of civilians begins to run in all directions, as a trolley carrying several other civilians zooms towards them, out of control. Colossus shifts to his armored form, and digs his feet through the concrete road as the trolley coils against his powerful form. The crowd cheers, while Nightcrawler exclaims ‘Logan! I cannot believe you did that! People could have been hurt!’. Logan swears that it wasn’t him, to which Nightcrawler grunts that he believes him, before teleporting away. X-23 steps out of the shadows and remarks that Colossus does not look any happier. ‘Shut up’ Wolverine tells her.
Later, back at the X-Men’s headquarters, Logan exclaims to Colossus ‘That’s it! Enough already!’. Nightcrawler tries to calm Wolverine down, but Logan tells Colossus that Kitty is gone, they know, and reminds him that he was there when it happened. ‘We all lost her!’ he tells Colossus. Several others gather around as Wolverine tells Colossus that if he is going to curl up and die then to do it already, ‘You’re depressing everyone!’ he exclaims. ‘Your whole life has been a big pile of misery, we get it. So do something new!’ Wolverine declares, telling Colossus to make a choice and change his life, make a new start, which was the point of the X-Men coming to San Francisco.
‘JUST DO SOMETHING!’ Wolverine roars, raising a fist to Colossus, who armors up just in time as Wolverine’s fist strikes his hand. ‘Logan…if I could just “cheer up”…don’t you think I would have?’ Colossus replies calmly, before telling him to stop trying to help him. Colossus walks away from Logan, Kurt and the others, as Kurt suggests to Logan that it is perhaps best if they let him go. ‘Give him time’ Kurt remarks. ‘No. No way. I ain’t giving up. We just have to figure out what he needs’ Wolverine replies.
Later, the sun sets over San Francisco, and Colossus sits on a bench in the middle of a seemingly deserted park. Suddenly, a small voice calls out to him: ‘Excuse me, Sir? Could you help me rescue kitty?’. Colossus turns to the direction of the voice, and sees a young girl pointing to a tree. ‘She climbed the tree again, and you’re very tall’ the little girl declares. Colossus walks over to her and kneels beside her as she asks again if he would help her rescue kitty. Colossus takes the little girl’s hand and walks with her towards the tree. ‘Little girl…nothing would make me happier’ Colossus replies.


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

[Assistant]
Kill or Cure, part 4 (first story)
Mercury (second story)
Work It Out (third story)
first story:
‘Neat trick’. Mystique a.k.a. Raven Darkholme tells Bobby “Iceman” Drake as she holds a shotgun to his chest. ‘Not that hard’ Bobby replies, standing by a blazing truck in nothing but his boxer shorts. ‘No? I can feel the heat from here. Why aren’t you burning?’ Raven asks. Bobby replies that fire is an exchange of energy, and that cooling the air creates convection currents, making the heat flow along the gradients he chooses. Turning his body to ice, he exclaims ‘Trust me. Where I’m standing - it’s frosty cool’. ‘So? Now?’ Raven asks, staring her one-time lover in the eyes.
Bobby tells Raven that she either drops the gun, or uses it. ‘I don’t see any other options, do you?’ he remarks. ‘No’ Raven replies, slowly pulling the trigger back. Bobby just stares at her - Raven’s hollow yellow eyes stare back, before there is a click. Bobby smirks, ‘Dense ice in the breach plays hell with a precision-built modern firearm, doesn’t it?’ he asks. ‘Sometimes’ Raven replies, before smacking Bobby over the head with it, declaring that it still works well enough for her, before kicking Bobby in the stomach and knocking him over. Raven elbows Bobby in the face, ‘Cat got your tongue, Robert?’ she asks the handsome X-Man. ‘Or do you just have a glass jaw?’ Raven asks as she punches Bobby’s jaw.
Bobby keels over, and remarks that he would have worried about this stuff once - the cracks, the structural damage, ‘But these days we both know - I can laugh it off. So what’s the point of all this?’ he asks Mystique. Bobby casts forth some ice, surrounding Mystique, he uses the ice to trap her, remarking that he thought he could reason with her, but that he should have known better, and just gone straight to plan B. Bobby picks up the shot gun and asks Mystique what it is going to be. ‘Surrender or hypothermia?’. ‘Neither. Enjoy the respite. It won’t last long’ Raven snaps back.
‘Then what? You want to keep on coming at me until I put you down? You want to force me to kill you?’ Bobby asks. Mystique replies that would be interesting, but that she knows her limits and is aiming lower. ‘At what? What do you want from me?’ Bobby asks, frustrated, throwing his arms in the air. ‘”Kill or cure”, I said, remember?’ Mystique remarks, before asking Bobby if he thinks he is cured yet. ‘Of what? Are you insane? Cured of what?’ Bobby snaps. ‘Of double vision. Weakness. Uncertainty’ Raven replies. ‘ENOUGH!’ Bobby shouts as he freezes the shot gun then snaps it with ease.
‘I let you get close to me once. Touch me. I wish to God I hadn’t!’ Bobby exclaims. ‘So do I. It’s hard to pretend that touch didn’t happen. But I’m working on it’ Raven replies. Suddenly, a voice shouts ‘Hey! Mutie!’ Bobby turns around and sees the angry truck driver running towards him with a crow bar. ‘You totalled my truck!’ the truckie shouts. Bobby assures the truck driver that he will be compensated, and tells him to stay away from here. ‘Compensated? You’ll be eating through a straw!’ the truckie snaps back. ‘Sorry, pal’ Bobby remarks as he freezes the truckie’s crow bar, ‘I don’t have time to be gentle’ Bobby declares, turning his back from Mystique as he tells the truck driver that the X-Men are based in San Francisco. ‘You can find them online’ Bobby tells him, explaining that they will reimburse him for his loss.
Suddenly, the truck driver goes wide-eyed, ‘Where’d the kid come from? Why’s she all blue?’ he exclaims, pointing behind Bobby, who quickly spins around, ‘Oh great’ Bobby mumbles, while Mystique, appearing as a child, tells Bobby that it was a good trap, for anyone with a fixed size and body mass, that is. ‘Now - how small a piece can you grow back from?’ Raven asks as she tosses several grenades at Bobby, grinning wickedly. Bobby creates an ice-sled and with the truck driver in tow makes a hasty getaway, despite the truck drivers’ protests. They make it several yards, before one of the grenades blows up Bobby’s ice-sled, and he and the truckie fall to the ground. ‘San Francisco. That’s news to me’ Raven exclaims, emerging from the smoke in her child form. ‘But I’ll see you there. And we’ll lay this to rest!’ she announces, shifting back to her default form. ‘Yeah. That we will’ Bobby replies angrily….
second story:
Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco, where Mercury a.k.a. Cessily Kincaid and X-23 a.k.a. Laura Kinney are out for a walk. Passing several other people, they stand at the end of a pier, looking out at the sunset, and Cessily sighs. They look into the water below the dock, and see their reflections, before Cessily looks at her own hand, and sees her reflection there also. X-23 calls out to Cessily, ‘I’m silent by nature. You’re not’ Laura tells her, remarking that there is something wrong. Cessily explains that she never thought she would see this ocean again, ‘I never wanted to’ she tells Laura, explaining that it reminds her of home, of her parents. ‘Your parents?’ Laura asks.
Cessily apologizes, and quickly walks away. Passing a newspaper stand, where a newspaper with the headline So Long Skrulls and a photo of several X-Men can be seen, Laura catches up to Cessily, asking her to stop. ‘What happened?’ X-23 asks. ‘What happened?’ Cessily replies. ‘Look at me. That’s what happened!’ she declares, before remarking that she doesn’t blame her parents. ‘One day I was their beloved daughter, who they raised and loved unconditionally…and the next…I’m not even human anymore. I’m a mutant. I’m nothing more than a…disfigured freak’. Cessily picks up some jewelery at one of the stalls, while Laura tells her that it is her parents’ problem, not hers. ‘They’re not made of metal!’ Cessily replies. ‘I am. And that definitely makes it my problem’.
Cessily picks up a container of putty, ‘I’m like this stuff…a blob of malleable goop’ she exclaims, opening the container of putty as she and Laura sit down at a table, exclaiming that it doesn’t matter, metal or clay, ‘We’re one and the same’. Cessily begins to play with the putty, ‘You fool yourself and think it’s like magic. You can change shape at will. There’s freedom in making yourself into anything you can imagine’ she remarks as she creates a butterfly out of the clay, before squashing it in her hand, ‘Until you realize that no matter what…you’re still a metal freak. You don’t have skin, you don’t have…you’re not a person. You’re not…human’.
Upset, Cessily tosses the putty onto the table, declaring that, in the end, you are just tossed aside, just like every useless object eventually is. She hangs her head, while Laura frowns and tells her that she hope she is ready for some therapy. ‘What are you talking about?’ Cessily asks, looking up, when, suddenly, a voice shouts ‘Well, well, well…looks like it’s our lucky day!’. Three men wearing Hellfire Cult masks approach the two girls, one of them slams a baseball bat down on the table in front of X-23, while another tries to hit Cessily from behind, but she shifts her form so that she is not injured, stretching her body out, while a third man holds up the newspaper with their photo on it, ‘Just like in the picture!’ he declares.
‘You guys picked the wrong day to piss me off!’ Cessily exclaims as she wraps her body, snake-like, around one of the Hellfire Cult members, who shouts ‘No! Let go’. Laura watches, tossing the putty up in the air and catching it, while Cessily moves on to the next Hellfire Cult member, who exclaims ‘What the…uggh! Get off me!’ as she slinks around him, eventually mummifying him as she wraps him in a cocoon. ‘That’s it! I’m outta here!’ the third member exclaims as he begins to run away. ‘You wanna lend me a hand, maybe?’ Cessily asks Laura, who is still causally tossing the putty up and down. ‘This is your fight’ Laura replies, before Cessily extends one of her arms, and punches the fleeing Hellfire Cult goon in the back of the head.
‘When did that suddenly become my fight?’ Cessily asks Laura, who is collecting the newspaper from one of the unconscious Hellfire Cult members. ‘Once I decided you needed to see the truth for yourself’ Laura tells her. ‘And what truth might that be?’ Cessily asks. ‘That silly putty can’t do what you just did’ Laura points out as she presses the putty against Cessily’s photo in the newspaper. ‘You’re more than just some blob of lifeless metal, Cessily. You are a person. And a hero’ Laura declares, removing the putty from the newspaper, now displaying Cessily’s face in it. ‘You just need to put your past behind you, forget about what people say and look at you who are now’ Laura tells her. Cessily holds the putty with her face on it in one hand, and holds her other hand out, reflecting her now-smiling face. ‘You just might like what you see’ Laura tells her.
third story:
‘This will probably not go well’ Kurt “Nightcrawler” Wagner thinks to himself as he goes head-to-head with a Danger Room construction of Apocalypse, one of the X-Men’s deadliest foes. ‘What am I even thinking?’ Kurt wonders, teleporting just in time before the Danger Room construction of Apocalypse punches him. Kurt tells himself that there are plenty of easier settings in here - like Sauron he remarks, before joking that he doubts anyone would program Sauron in. Kurt teleports onto the back of the computerized Apocalypse, telling himself that he may be outmatched, but that he has to try, before he is flipped to the ground. ‘Ugh…could we reset? Try that again?’ Kurt asks. ‘Certainly. Danger Room resetting…’ the Danger Room announces.
Teleporting over towards Apocalypse, Kurt thinks to himself that it hardly feels he has been of much use these days. ‘Certainly not in top form. And so easily distracted’ he remarks, caught off guard as the computerized Apocalypse extends its arm and punches Nightcrawler hard in the chest. ‘End scenario!’ Kurt shouts quickly, causing the Danger Room to freeze, before changing his mind, and telling the Danger Room to load the next scenario. The computerized Apocalypse shifts into Sabretooth, while Kurt asks the Danger Room where the last location was. ‘The previous simulation recreated the Japanese Tea Garden here in San Francisco’ the Danger Room announces. ‘Ah. I hear it’s lovely!’ Kurt remarks as he punches the computerized Sabretooth in the face, before teleporting up to a ledge.
Kurt remarks that he has been meaning to go to the Japanese Tea Garden, but admits that he would not do well with all that peace and quiet. He tussles with Sabretooth once again, and remarks that whenever he has time to think, he thinks about Kitty. An image of Shadowcat flashes into his mind, enabling the computerized Sabretooth to catch him off guard, kneeing him in the stomach. Kurt tells himself that this is exactly the problem. ‘You can’t stay focused. You’re not much of an asset’ he admits, before calling out to the Danger Room to end the scenario as the computerized Sabretooth prepares to tear him apart.
‘Do you wish to end training session?’ the Danger Room asks. Kurt hesitates, before replying ‘No’ as he rubs his head. The Danger Room asks him if he wishes to load the next sequence, to which Kurt replies ‘Surprise me’. Suddenly, a giant computerized version of Doctor Doom appears, and Kurt exclaims ‘Well done. I am surprised’ as he finds himself on the computerized Doom’s shoulder. He sticks his hand into the fake Dooms’ eye, telling himself that he needs to get himself together, and slides down the computerized Doom’s body, remarking that it is not as if the X-Men need him here. ‘Relevant expletive not found!’ the Danger Room exclaims.
Kurt teleports onto the computerized Dooms’ back, recalling that Pixie has already proven to be a stronger teleporter than himself, and with so few students here, his services are hardly required. The computerized Doom shakes Kurt off, causing Kurt to plummet towards a ground covered in fire, ‘End scenario!’ he shouts, and just in time as he lands on the Danger Room floor. ‘Who am I kidding? This is foolish!’ Kurt tells himself, remarking that he cannot keep merely distracting himself. ‘I am distracted enough’ he admits, adding that that his real problems cannot be solved with simple fisticuffs.
Nightcrawler teleports into the Danger Room control booth and programs something into the computer. An image appears in the Danger Room, it’s Kitty Pryde. ‘Hi’ she exclaims. ‘Hello’ Kurt smiles at the computerized version of his long-time friend, with a computerized Lockheed flying nearby. Kurt cries as he wraps his arms around the holographic Shadowcat, telling her that he is sorry he was not there for her, and that he misses her. ‘I miss you too, Elf’ comes the reply.