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Passion Play - part 3 : Taken
Beatta watches her customer getting dressed again. She sits and smiles, and even helps him to button his cuffs and does it all with the same empty expression on her face as usual. Beatta is a prostitute, and over time, men have become an open book to her. This one, she knows, will go back to his wife, and she is well aware that he would never make his wife do the things she was just getting paid for.
After he is gone, Beatta turns around to the window, Nightcrawler is sitting outside. She wants to know how long he has been there, and he replies that he didn’t see anything of what just transpired. Beatta says that it wouldn’t matter. Kurt asks how she is doing, and Beatta says the same as when they had met a few weeks before. Beatta does not understand why he keeps visiting and trying to help her, she thinks that he must want something from her like every other man too. Kurt is unsure how to help and asks her what she wants. The simple reply is “nothing”, however Nightcrawler knows that this isn’t true and begs her to let him help. Beatta says that he can’t as her lover Zhenya is dead. She explains that she is from Russia and she and Zhenya were in love, but he had to fight in the war in Chechnya and did not return. One a day a friend of his came to Beatta with “news”, however once in her room, he knocked her unconscious and she awoke in America where she is forced to work in a brothel. Beatta wanted to marry Zhenya and have a baby, but since she can’t have her dream she wants nothing. Nightcrawler is sorry for her, however he still asks her to help against Oleg. Beatta asks if Kurt would kill him, but he says no, he only wants to make him stop selling slaves and shut down his business. Beatta answers that he comes to this brothel every now and then to “sample the merchandise”, and Kurt asks her to alert him when he comes the next time. In the meantime he will arrange something for Beatta and the other women. Beatta couldn’t care less, as she has heard too many lies in her life. Kurt says goodbye and teleports away, as someone is knocking at the door. He doesn’t see that it is Oleg. Beatta tells him of Nightcrawler and she is supposed to call him when Oleg next comes to her. Oleg tells her that she did good.
Meanwhile Kurt is leaping and teleporting through New York City from rooftop to rooftop, also using power lines along the way. He is frustrated as he did not want to leave Beatta there, but to get to Oleg he needs her. He wonders what would have happened if he hadn’t been recruited by Professor Xavier years ago, but fallen into the hands of a slaver like Oleg. Probably he would be a freakshow attraction or even dead by now. He is thankful to have found friends and family in the X-men and to have a power that allows him to get out of harm’s way. He will not get trapped like those poor slaves. Lost in his thoughts, Kurt miscalculates his last jump and crashes into the trash bins behind St Michaels.
Kim, the thai girl who is still staying at the church checks out the noise and is startled by the sight of a blue devil, but Father Whitney calms her down and takes her inside. Kurt apologizes to his friend for having startled their guest, but Whitney says that his quest is no excuse for his behavior. While the Father drinks from a hip flask, Kurt says he is close to “finishing it”, though the priest says that it is far from over. The slaves face an uncertain future either way. Kurt says that he will take out the leader and shut down his organization, but Whitney wants to know how things will proceed afterwards and takes another drink.
Kurt finally voices his concern about the amount of alcohol his friend is consuming – Whitney explains it as him being tired. Tired of preaching in an empty church and of mentoring a student priest who spends most of his time beating up people. Kurt says that he is trying to do his duty, but the priest says that if that were the case he should start a literacy program, or feed the homeless, but leave the international crime syndicates to the pros. Nightcrawler asks to whom, the police, the government, the Fantastic Four ? They all seem to have other priorities, and the unwanted people have to suffer for it. Kurt thinks that since he has been gifted with his mutant power, he should use it, and Whitney agrees, but also he reminds him that he is not God. Finding and catching Oleg will change nothing in the big picture. True a few people are saved, but soon others like Oleg will take his place and there will be more victims and more failures. Punching and beating was a good approach with the crises the X-Men have to fight every day, but it won’t help him becoming a priest. Taking another drink, Whitney says that if he thinks he can save humanity then he is setting himself up for a fall and should re-think his dedication before taking the final vows. Kurt asks what the point is then, and the priest has no answer than “It may be a lost cause, but that won’t stop me from trying.”
In a bar in downtown, Oleg meets with another crimelord. After making the usual threats to each other, Oleg explains what he wants. Although he forcefully took over most of the business, he offers to sell it back and writes a number on a paper. That’s the amount he wants for retreating from the territory. The other crimelord is surprised about the number being very low, but Oleg already needs it the next day. Besides there is something else, Oleg says he needs to “lay off” some of the contractors he works with, and a few friends of the other crimelord might be among them. However he doesn’t mind, it’s none of his business and he will let Oleg proceed. Still the crimelord gets curious and wants to know who is on Oleg’s tail, but he is told that this is none of his business either.
Beatta has been ordered to make the phone call to Kurt, and sitting alone in her room she is debating with herself wether to make the call or not. She is surprised that she actually cares, and part of her wants to believe Nightcrawler who somehow was different from the many men in her life. Yet thinking about the consequences if she would not do as told, she makes the call.
Nightcrawler hurries to brothel and along the way he still wonders what to do with the women after he freed them from Oleg. He teleports to Beatta’s window, and she keeps repeating “He is here“, avoiding to look at Nightcrawler. Kurt is concerned and tries to calm her down, but she keeps acting scared of Oleg. When Kurt prepares to head downstairs and fight Oleg, Beatta calls him “Father“, but then hesitates. There is something awkward in the silence and Kurt realizes that something is wrong, still he heads downstairs. Behind a door he hears about 10 to 15 male voices, but he is sure to beat these odds and teleports inside. Yet he finds Oleg and his men holding the other women hostage and pointing guns to their heads. Kurt raises his arms and surrenders, but Oleg smiles and then shoots him.
Nightcrawler wakes up with his hands tied behind his back. He hears Oleg ordering his men to get the girls on a plane and move out. Seeing him regaining consciousness the gangsters make fun of him and Oleg rubs it in Kurt face that Beatta betrayed him. One of Oleg’s henchmen then takes Nightcrawler into another room where he is to receive a bullet to the head. With his last strength, Kurt rips the bonds apart and teleports to safety into the building’s basement, before blacking out from the loss of blood.


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Passion Play - part 4 : Crossing
While Father Whitney is asleep, Kim decides that she has to leave. Both Whitney and his young apprentice (Nightcrawler with an image inducer) have been very kind to her, but she knows that sooner or later someone will see her and call the police and she would get deported. This she can’t allow, as she doesn’t want to return to her family empty-handed when they gave their entire savings to pay for her journey to the United States. Kim runs away into the night.
Elsewhere, Nightcrawler regains consciousness and sees Wolverine over him. He tells him he has to fight the pain and get up. Once he is standing, Kurt sees some familiar faces including Cyclops, Phoenix, Professor Xavier and Captain Britain. Xavier encourages Nightcrawler and tells him heroes always beat the odds and keep fighting on with all their heart. Kurt wonders if they are communicating telepathically, but Xavier says that he is hallucinating because he has lost so much blood. Nightcrawler gets sad, he is honored that all of his friends are present but he wonder why the one being he was expecting most is not there – God. However “Xavier“ replies that God is in fact the only one who really is there, after all he answered his prayer and Nightcrawler is not dead.
Kurt fully wakes up and searches the building. It is empty and deserted, only Beatta is still there, left behind by Oleg. She reveals that Oleg is about to see a thai slave broker and that the other girls are being brought to Chicago by plane. Kurt gets angry, Beatta set him up before, why should he believe her now. He demands to know why she betrayed him, he was kind and posed no threat to her, and he even accuses her of having made up the story of her kidnapping to lure him into a false sense of security. However when she turns around, Kurt sees that she was beaten. He apologizes and promises to stop Oleg, but she doesn’t want to hear it. She tells him to leave her alone various times until Nightcrawler finally does as she asks.
Oleg is leaving New York by car. Driving along, he kind of regrets having to leave, but nothing lasts forever. He already learned this back when the USSR broke apart. At first there was much confusion with new governments trying to establish themselves. It was a pretty free market and people like Oleg can make much money in such times. Oleg is a strong person, he proved himself in several wars and he knows what it takes to survive. That's why he now leaves New York and cuts his losses.
Father Whitney finds a trail of blood in his church and assumes that Kurt has again beaten up a criminal. However Nightcrawler explains that it is his own blood this time, but he has already bandaged the wound. Kurt wants to speak with Kim, and the priest fills him in that she is gone, apparently too scared of deportation. Kurt says that he has to leave again, no matter how futile his cause might seem. Although Professor Xavier’s dream of acceptance for everyone is unrealistic and utopian, Kurt believes in it. He teleports away.
Later that day, Kurt pays another visit to Mrs. Emsoon, Kim’s former master, again using his image inducer. He asks for her help, all he needs to know is the address of the Thai travel agent where Emsoon got Kim from. She admits to not have been sleeping very well in recent weeks, but for giving away that kind of information she wants immunity from any charges. Nightcrawler turns her down, not only is he not in the position to make such deals, but more important she can’t make such a deal with God. Instead he tells her that she should give the address because it is the right thing to do and hope for forgiveness.
Oleg has gone to a travel agency which is the cover address of the thai travel broker. His arrival startles the broker, and he asks what Oleg wants. The crimelord says that he closes up shop in New York and before saying goodbye he has to tie up a few loose ends. Strangling the travel agent, Oleg says that when he goes so do his associates – that is the way of good business.
Nightcrawler bursts in and kicks Oleg into a wall. The russian gets annoyed and asks why Kurt continues to bother him. After all he is no better or worse than any other businessman, but Nightcrawler tells him that what Oleg is doing is wrong. The gangster pulls his gun and shoots at the mutant multiple times, but Kurt teleports out of the way to appear behind Oleg and knock him into a wall again, saying that he ruined those people's lives. Oleg answers that he is only giving them what they desire, but Kurt knows that enslavement was not what they hoped for. The battle continues and Nightcrawler finally disarms and defeats Oleg, though he mocks him. As there is no law against human trafficking, he will get little or no jail time, and his business will continue without him. Others will bring illegal immigrants to the United States and force girls to work as prostitutes. Nightcrawler announces that he will deal with every single one of them, but Oleg says it is pointless, he can never expect to win. The police are coming and Oleg tells Nightcrawler to stay in church as he would make a terrible businessman.
(weeks later)
Kurt is wondering the streets of New York, still hoping to spot Kim anywhere. While looking, Kurt thinks about Father Whitney, who, although he doesn’t say it directly, thinks him unfit for priesthood. A prostitute comes up to him looking for business. Kurt refuses and points to his collar, but the girl repeats her offer – it would be the first time that her customer was priest. Kurt gives her a hundred dollar bill and tells her to take it and go home. She doesn’t know what to make of it and suspecting a set-up or to be dealing with weirdo, she wants to give the money back. Kurt insists that she keeps it, but she doesn’t want it so she throws it away, saying that that there is no person who pays her without wanting something. He wanted to help for a very selfish reasons, namely to have reason to believe that no matter how bad things are, one can always change his life for the better. He believes that people only need that one last chance to get things right.
The wind carries the hundred dollar bill to a homeless man who goes to get a room for the night.


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The Devil Inside part 1: The Locked Room
Under the shade of a tree, on the grounds of the Xavier Institute, Ororo, talks to Kurt about an incident that occurred at the Metro General Hospital the previous night. Reading from a police report, she goes into the details.
At 8:04pm, Barney Franks, a night guard, checked as he had always done on the children in the psychiatric ward, which is located on the fifteenth floor. All fourteen of the children inside the locked recreational room were happily playing. Taking an unscheduled bathroom break, something he never does, he leaves the corridor outside the room for 4 minutes. On his return, he looked into the room and found all but one of the children mutilated and dead. The sole survivor, a ten-year-old boy called Seth, was sat quietly in the middle of the room.
Kurt is shocked by the revelation, especially that it had happened to children. Ororo explains that no one knows how or why this happened. Although there is a video camera in the room, during the 4 minutes Barney was away there is just static. The cameras outside the room show Barney going to the bathroom and returning with nothing in between. Ororo surmises that either the children were killed by Seth or someone else teleported in to kill them.
Kurt double checks that there was no other way in, which Ororo confirms, before guessing that Ororo wants him to go because he may be able to offer an insight if it was a teleporter. Although Ororo agrees with his point, she also points out that he has tact and a sense of empathy other X-Men do not have. In illustration to this point, Wolverine and Cyclops can be seen fighting behind the two.


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The Devil Inside part 2: The Knotted Rope
The question Kurt Wagner gets asked most often (other than “Where do you get three-toed shoes from“) is: “So, what’s it like to be an X-Man?“ The answer, of course, changes, but at this very moment, it is a lot like jumping off the Dakota Building in New York city to try and save a man who’s burning to death. Which is exactly what Kurt is doing. The blue-skinned X-Man teleports to the ground where the burning Barney Franks is screaming ‘It hurts! Lord, it hurts!’ A security guard asks Nightcrawler what he is waiting for, so Kurt leaps at the burning man, teleporting him upon contact and with a crowd of onlookers watching, Kurt and Franks end up in the Central Park reservoir.
Kurt’s plan was to hopefully douse the flames - but Franks is still burning - even underwater. Kurt sees how terrified Franks is, clutching onto Kurt - will he burn or drown with him? Suddenly, Franks pushes Kurt away, Kurt wonders if Franks doesn’t realize that he is his only hope. Kurt begins to swim back to Franks, remembering the file that Storm gave him earlier, which said that Franks and his wife have been married seventeen years and have three children. Kurt thinks that other than the matter of Franks leaving the murdered children unattended for four minutes, he seemed like a decent man, confirmed by the way he did everything he could to prevent Kurt from burning with him….
Soon, Kurt sits in the back of a ambulance, informing his X-Men team leader, Storm, that he could not save Franks, as he pushed free, and burned to death. Storm tells Kurt that he didn’t have a choice, and that from what he is telling her, Franks would have died no matter what he had done. Nightcrawler explains that Franks was fine, until he caught fire in front of the Dakota Building, for no reason at all.
Storm asks Kurt if he is talking about spontaneous combustion, but Kurt thinks that Dr. Childs or one of the other people in the apartment looking down on Franks might have done something to him. Storm asks if this is something meta-magical, and offers to put Kurt in touch with Dr. Stephen Strange, for if the fire was mystical, then he is their best resource. As paramedics lift Franks’ body into the ambulance, Kurt informs Ororo that there is someone else he would like to try first.
Limbo: as Kurt walks up the mighty palace, he thinks that his ex-girlfriend and foster sister would have to live in Limbo, but he knows that Amanda Sefton a.k.a. the new Magik is nearly as accomplished magician as Stephen Strange. As Kurt approaches the palace doors, two very large snakes suddenly slide into view. One of them exclaims that this is very interesting, the other agrees, as Kurt is not dead, and not magical either, even though he looks and smells like a demon. Arms folded across his chest, Kurt declares that he will try not to be offended by that comment.
The snakes tell Kurt that he should not be in this place of the dead, to which Kurt informs them that he is here to see their mistress. ‘And you are?’ ‘And we should let you past because…?’ ask the snakes, when a voice calls down to them from a balcony - ‘Brad! Roger! That’s enough boys!’ Amanda Sefton looks down at Kurt and tells him that it has been ages. Nightcrawler looks up at Amanda and tells her that she looks wonderful. ‘Flatterer’ replies the comely blonde. Kurt asks his former Excalibur teammate if she will let him past, ‘or do I need a secret password?’
Soon, Kurt and Amanda, dressed in an elegant silver dress, walk side by side through the mighty palace, before taking seats in a lounge. Amanda asks Kurt how his trip was, to which he replies it was fine, but reminds her that traveling through dimensions makes him feel rather queasy. ‘That must be why you never come to visit!’ remarks Amanda. Kurt begins to make an excuse, but Amanda tells him that she is only teasing, before finishing her glass of wine, and asking him why he never comes to visit her. Kurt hesitates, before suggesting there is too much history between them.
A bottle of wine floats beside Amanda, refilling her empty wine glass as she remarks the question is begged - why now? Before Kurt can answer, Amanda tells him that he must want her help with that little boy. Taking a sip of wine, Amanda tells Kurt not to look so surprised, as his life is an open book to her. She asks him if he hasn’t realized that by now, to which Kurt asks how. ‘Some people use Google to keep track of their exes, other people use crystal balls. I use both’ declares Amanda.
Nightcrawler exclaims that thirteen children died violently, and no one knows how or why. He explains that then the guard who was watching them burned to death in front of his eyes. Then there is Seth, the one boy who survived, and who wont talk to anyone. Kurt tells Amanda that part of Seth feels like he wants to talk, but he is scared, that it is as if Seth were consciously willing himself not to talk, if such a thing were possible. Amanda exclaims that it sounds awful.
Kurt informs Amanda that according to Seth’s nurse, Christine Palmer, Seth just sits in his room all day, sculpting clay figures and playing with a piece of knotted rope. Amanda looks surprised, and asks if Seth really plays with a knotted rope. Kurt replies that he does, so Amanda asks him, just to be clear, his sense tells him that “darker forces“ are at work here, and asks him if he means magic. Kurt replies either magic, or the occult. Amanda tells Kurt that she doesn’t know what he means by “occult“, but that magic, a lot of magic, involves binding things together, or untying them. A book floats down from the book case into Amanda’s hand, and Amanda suggests that Seth might be a magician without even knowing he is.
Kurt seems surprised, so Amanda tells him that it is possible, and that while most people learn and study magic, some know it innately. Amanda suggests that Seth is tied knots into the rope to make sure he keeps himself from talking - a locking spell to ensure his secrets remain secret. Kurt seems sceptical, ‘Magic, Amanda? In a piece of string?’ Amanda tells Kurt that it is the same principal as talismans or magic wands - a physical object that helps with spell weaving. Amanda smiles and tells Kurt that she will tell him about binding spells, if he will tell her about Nurse Palmer.
Thunder booms and lightening strikes outside the building where young Seth Walker is being kept. Nightcrawler, in disguise thanks to his image inducer, sits opposite Seth and asks him if he thinks the lightening is scary. Seth offers no response, so Kurt shows him his image inducer, and tells him this is responsible for the way he looks now, that he changes his appearance to stop him from being scared.
Kurt holds up the piece of string, and asks Seth if he could try something. Upon seeing the string, Seth puts down the clay he is playing with and watches as Kurt unties one of the knots, and laying the string down on the table, asks Seth if he can talk now, if he wants to. Seth replies yes, while Kurt thinks to himself ‘Finally’. Kurt asks Seth where he learned to do that, did someone teach him? Seth replies that he just knew. Kurt tells him it is a good trick and asks if he does it often. Seth replies that he only does it when he needs to.
Kurt asks Seth if he did it the night his friends were…his voice trails off, but Seth knows what Kurt is talking about and replies yes. Kurt asks why, to which Seth replies that he felt something happening. Kurt asks what he felt happening, and Seth informs him that he started getting really hot, they all did, it was like something was growing inside his stomach. Seth reveals that he just tied a knot in the rope, like this one, and that is all he remembers about the night - except that he couldn’t save them. Seth explains that he made the other knots after if happened, because he didn’t want to talk about that night and because Dr. Childs kept asking him questions. Kurt begins to ask Seth what kind of questions Dr. Childs was asking him, when suddenly, Dr. Childs enters the room, shouting ‘That’s enough!’
Seth looks scared as Childs declares that the interview is over and informs Kurt that he just phoned the F.B.I. Who revealed to him that they did not ask ‘you X-people’ to help with the investigation. Kurt replies that he never said that they had, and Childs remarks that he assumed that, and is going to rectify his imbecilic mistake right now. Kurt tries to reason with Dr. Childs, telling him that someone has to look out for Seth. Childs declares that he is doing just that, but Kurt points out that he is not Seth’s legal guardian, when an elderly woman enters the room, declaring that she is.
The woman introduces herself as Meredith Wagner, Seth’s aunt. Seth exclaims that she isn’t, but Meredith tells Seth that he wouldn’t recognize her because she and his father rarely spoke, as he cut her out of his life when she moved to Europe and married a man he didn’t approve of. Childs tells Kurt that ever since the city placed Seth in their care, they had been looking for any surviving relatives, and that after four years of searching, they finally found Mrs. Walker living right here in New York City.
Meredith reveals that she moved back to the U.S.A. two years ago this June, as after her husbands death she kept thinking she could reconnect with her brother and his family, before admitting that she had gotten used to not having them in her life, but of course if she had known that Seth’s mother and father had died, and that he had been remanded to the state, then she would have sought him out - she truly had no idea.
Dr. Childs tells Kurt that as he can see, Seth will be looked after properly, and since neither he nor the X-Men have jurisdiction, he will have to ask him to leave. Childs pushes Kurt of the door, ignoring Seth’s cries ‘Wait, please!’ Kurt looks back at Seth, and suddenly, sees not Meredith Walker standing behind him, but a horned demon. Kurt does a double-take, but the door closes.
Kurt wonders if it was his imagination, and every instinct tells him that something terribly, terribly wrong is happening here - but what can he do? He returns to his normal form, when Christine Palmer approaches him, and asks him if everything is all right. Kurt replies that she startled him is all. The pretty Nurse informs Kurt that there is something she thinks he should see - something unnatural.
Christine reveals that at the start of her shift she went down to the morgue to prepare the children’s bodies for autopsy - to see if the cause of their deaths could be discovered by that way…her voice trails off. Kurt asks Christine what happened, and leading Kurt down into the morgue, Christine informs Kurt that she hasn’t even told Dr. Childs about this…her voice trails off again, but Kurt urges her on. However, she doesn’t say anything - until they enter the room where the bodies are kept, and Kurt stands in shock looking at the tables where the bodies were kept - only the bodies are gone.
Christine explains that she came down here, and all thirteen of the mutilated bodies had been burned up. All bodies were piles of ash, even what was left of Barney Franks’ body. ‘How they burned to nothing down here, in their airtight cabinets, without a single fire alarm going too, without anyone noticing…we, you tell me, Mr. Wagner’. Still stunned, Kurt wonders what is happening her, as the mystery deepens.


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The Devil Inside part 3: Fourteen Demons
The Xavier Institute, Salem Center, Westchester, New York. In the gymnasium, Emma Frost stands between Nightcrawler and his challenger, both clad in protective gear for the game of fencing they are about to engage in. The White Queen tells the duo not to stand on ceremony, that they should feel free to draw blood, before taking a set next to her teammates, Logan and Beast. Examining his sandwich, the ruggedly handsome Wolverine tells Beast that he thinks this is his, as it has turkey in it. Emma just sits there looking bored, even as Kurt lunges at his competitor.
‘I’m bored. Is anyone else here bored? This is deathly boring, isn’t it?’ remarks Emma, when suddenly Kurt’s competitor lunges back, when Kurt cries out, Logan, Beast and Emma all look up at the fight, as it has become slightly more interesting. As Kurt leaps at his competitor and knocks them back, Logan smiles at his antics. Swords poised, Kurt tells his competition that he is impressed, telling her that she has gotten better since they last - suddenly Kurt’s competitor strikes him with her sword, and as his clothing rips, ‘Match!’ is called.
From the side of the gym, one of the X-Men’s leaders, Ororo Munroe tells Kitty that she did some nice work, and Kurt’s competitor - Kitty Pryde thanks Storm, before whispering to Kurt ‘Are we in trouble?’ Storm then asks Nightcrawler if she can have a word with him. Nightcrawler replies that she can, and whispers to Kitty that it is just he who is going to get in trouble. Logan and Beast also joke that Kurt is in trouble, Kurt thinking he is getting in trouble because he should be working on his „Demon murder“ case and not fencing with a friend, he asks Ororo if he can shower first.
Storm waits on a bench as Kurt showers, with a towel in her hand. Kurt leans around from the shower, and Storm smiles when he says that he assumes the towel is for him. As Kurt dries himself and gets changed, he tells Storm that he hasn’t given up on Seth if that is what she thinks, that he is just taking time out. Storm realizes Kurt is clearing his head, and Kurt informs her that it has gotten trickier, as he has been more or less barred from the hospital, that the dead children’s bodies were destroyed before autopsies could be performed - there is not much to go on. Storm smiles and asks if there is anything she can help with, joking that she is a goddess.
The close friends walk past the Danger Room, where Beast is currently facing off against some Sentinels, and Kurt informs Storm that Christine Palmer, one of the Nurses at the Metro hospital gave him copies of the dead children’s medical records and histories. Storm informs Nightcrawler that she knows Christine, before Kurt reveals that all of the children were admitted to the Metro hospital after Dr. Childs took over the Children’s psychiatric ward, and all of them were orphans. He adds that all of their treatment was sponsored, by wealthy New Yorkers like doctors, diplomats, attorneys and heads of foundations. ‘Society people’ suggests Storm.
Kurt reveals to Storm that he gave Beast their names, and he did some detective work for him. Storm asks if Hank turned up anything interesting, to which Kurt declares that if you would consider that each of the sponsors live in the Dakota Building where Dr. Childs’ apartment is, where Barney Franks spontaneously combusted, then yes, very interesting. Storm mentions that historical of not, she has never really cared for the Dakota Building, as the maintenance fees are ridiculously high, and none of the apartments get any sunlight. Kurt mentions that when he visited it, the entire building, it felt evil somehow, like it was disturbed and polluted. Storm asks Kurt what is next, assuming of course his „time-out“ is over. Kurt reveals that if Christine keeps to her word and promises to turn a blind eye, then he will try visiting Seth again tonight.
Later that night, Seth sits at his desk, a small lamp illuminating the room as he plays with his clay figures. Seth tells Kurt that he can come out of the shadows, as he knows he is there, in fact he knows he has been there for almost half an hour. Nightcrawler steps into the light and asks Seth if the way he looks doesn’t frighten him. Seth replies that it doesn’t anymore, and he knows he only looks bad on the outside, that on the inside he is okay. Kurt motions to the clay figures and asks Seth what they are - Kurt knows he has been making them since the murders.
Seth informs Kurt that they are not statues, but jars. Kurt looks perplexed, as Seth reveals he has almost finished, as he has done twelve and has two more to go. Kurt asks what they are jars for, to which Seth reveals they are for each one of his friends who died, and one for when he himself dies. Kurt is stunned, and asks Seth why he would even think that. Seth asks Kurt if he really wants to know, to which Kurt replies he does, and so Seth says ‘The Devil’. Seth informs Kurt that he the Devil is real, and that he has seen him, in his head and in his dreams.
Forlorn, Seth tells Kurt that the Devil hurt and killed his friends, and that he now thinks he wants to hurt him too. Kurt tells Seth that he will not let anyone hurt him, and tells him that he has to be honest about something. Kurt asks Seth if he thinks Dr. Childs is the Devil. Seth seems a little surprised and reminds Kurt that Dr. Childs takes care of them, talks to them and buys them stuff. Kurt declares that he knows he does, before Seth says ‘at least he did when they were alive’. Seth tells Kurt that Dr. Childs is a good person, to which Kurt tells him that it may seem that way, and informs Seth that before he became an X-Man, he was part of a circus, lived with a family and had a sister and brother. The one day, without warning, his brother started killing the children in one of the towns they were visiting.
Kurt explains to Seth that that the children weren’t really children, but they looked like children, except they were demons, and his brother, Stefan, could see through their disguises. Seth tells Kurt again that Dr. Childs is not as demon, so Kurt asks Seth about his aunt, and asks if she is who she says she is. Seth replies that he doesn’t know, that she is nice, and took him to lunch, and they talked about leaving Metro hospital, but he is not sure.
Suddenly, Christine Palmer rushes into the room, shouting ‘It’s Dr. Childs!’ Kurt asks if Childs is here, but Christine informs him that Childs is out front, being attacked. She called the police and security, but no one can get to him, she thinks that he is being killed. Kurt asks who, to which Christine reveals, that it is Seth’s aunt. Kurt tells Seth to stay with Christine, while he teleports to the scene, despite Seth protesting that he wants to come too.
Kurt arrives outside, and sees a huge crowd gathered around. He teleports into the crowd and sees Meredith Walker attacking Dr. Childs. Childs calls to Kurt, telling him that he cannot cross the circle. Kurt wonders what circle Childs is talking about, but then he realizes that there is something blocking him. With a strange voice, Meredith tells Childs to undo the circle, then they will free their brother - the last of the fourteen.
Kurt doesn’t need to cross the circle, as he can teleport through it. He lands on Meredith, but finds her grip on Childs very tough. Kurt manages to pry her off Childs, and drags Meredith backwards, as she screams ‘Rip you apart tear out your heart!’ Kurt tells Childs to get away, as Meredith frees herself from him. She rushes back towards Childs, who is telling Kurt to get her into the church. Meredith screams that she will kill Childs for lying to them, but she doesn’t get that far, as Kurt teleports her into the church.
Inside the church, Meredith looks terrified, as frightened as Seth did when the two of them first met. Meredith looks horrified and screams ‘His house, his presence, NNOOOOOO!’ Suddenly, several demons fly out of Meredith’s body, she gaps and falls to the ground, Kurt catches her though. He wonders what happened, and looks up at a cross with Jesus on it.
In Limbo, Amanda Sefton tells Kurt that she was right to bring Meredith here, adding that whatever she has been through, her magics will make her feel better. Nightcrawler and Amanda walk over to the old woman. Kurt begins to introduce Mrs. Walker to Amanda - This is my…uhm…’ he wonders what to call Amanda, and decides to just introduce her as Amanda Sefton. He tells Meredith that he doesn’t want her to be afraid.
Meredith tells Kurt that they were inside her, like spiders and flies crawling across her soul. Kurt asks her what were, and she informs him that her name is Sandra Manning, not what he has been calling her. Kurt asks if she doesn’t have a nephew named Seth Walker, to which Sandra says ‘No, mister whoever you are. I don’t have anyone’. ‘Cue that haunting Twilight Zone theme music’ jokes Amanda.
Kurt tells Sandra that he doesn’t understand, and informs her that when Dr Childs introduced them - Sandra cuts him off, she seems to remember something, his name sounds familiar to her. Kurt doesn’t have to ask Amanda to use her magic, she just does, her eyes glaze over, and tells Sandra to ‘Remember. Remember everything’. Sandra exclaims that Childs was his name, that he found her at a shelter and took her to a hotel where he cleaned her up and brought her new clothes - but then he put them inside her, to control her body, to make her pretend she was Seth’s aunt. Sandra reveals that they were too strong, they almost broke free, attacking Childs, so he trapped them and her within a circle.
Amanda, also known as the new Magik, and formerly as Daytripper, informs Sandra that then their ever-zealous Crawler of the Night teleported her into a church forcing the demons from her body, like St. Patrick chasing the snakes from Ireland, or Jesus driving the thieves from the temple. Sandra Manning reveals that there were thirteen of them inside her, fighting to get out, fighting each other, biting and tearing. She thinks they were enraged because they were desperate for their brother.
‘The Fourteenth Demon’ declares Amanda, as Kurt realizes there are the same number of demons as there are children, and asks Amanda what she is talking about. Amanda begins a tale, informing Kurt that when the war in Heaven was fought, the Great War, fourteen angels stood by the Morning Star’s side. ‘The…?’ says Kurt puzzled. ‘The Morning Star, Kurt, the son of dawn, the bringer of light’. Lucifer. Kurt asks if that actually happened, before Amanda continues the tale, explaining that when the Morning Star was cast down, he fell into the pit, dragging fourteen lieutenants with him - and fourteen angels became fourteen demons.
Kurt jokes that for those of them who could not stomach sitting through the re-release of the Exorcist a few years ago, he asks Sandra if she thinks these demons possessed her. Sandra replies that they were inside her, making her do what Childs wanted her to. Kurt asks Amanda why it is these specific demons, why not other less high-profile ones. Amanda declares that it is these demons, and informs him that since his last visit, Brad and Roger have heard rumors that Satan’s most inner circle has been disrupted somehow, freed from Hell even. ‘Brad and Roger…your two gay pet snakes have heard rumors? About Satan’s most inner circle? Like his book club you mean?’
Amanda tells Kurt to joke all he wants, but she knows the real reason he is being funny is because he is scared. Kurt asks his sister if she means of the fourteen demons that were possessing Mrs. Manning, before Sandra declares ‘Thirteen!’ and tells Kurt that he hasn’t bee listening to her. She explains that Childs managed to free thirteen of the children, but that there is still one trapped. However, the first thirteen got out, the last one couldn’t and still can’t. He is not in Hell anymore, explains Sandra, but says that he is locked away somewhere. ‘Locked?’ thinks Kurt. The sultry Amanda sees Kurt’s worried expression and calls to him. Kurt reminds Amanda that Seth Walker is a lock, somehow either through magic or mutant ability, he seems to be able to lock things.
At the Metro hospital, Christine Palmer, sitting at the Nurses’ station sees Dr. Childs walk past her towards the Children’s Ward. Christine begins to ask him a question, but Childs cuts her off and tells her to have his car brought around back.
Back in Limbo, Kurt reminds Amanda how thirteen of Seth’s friends died at Metro-General. Sandra Manning exclaims that she was possessed by thirteen demons, which, as Amanda points out, leaves one unaccounted for. Nightcrawler declares that the fourteenth demon is not unaccounted, but trapped.
Seth Walker looks up as Dr. Childs enters his room. Childs tells Seth that there has been a change of plans, that his aunt will not be taking him from the hospital after all.
Amanda asks Nightcrawler what it is he is saying, to which Kurt responds by suggesting that fourteen children may have been sacrificed to set fourteen demons free from Hell, and thirteen burst out of the children’s souls and bodies, but one didn’t.
Dr. Childs informs Seth that he will be taking him from the hospital now. Seth asks
 ‘where?’
Kurt states that he thinks the fourteenth demon is trapped inside Seth.
Childs tells Seth that they are going to a private place nearby where they will be able to continue his treatment away from all distraction and interference. Holding a knife behind his back, Dr. Childs tells Seth that whatever he is keeping inside of him, will once and for all be cut free, while all of Seth’s clay figures, his “jars“ all have looks of alarm and shock on their faces.


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The Devil Inside conclusion: Exorcism
Seth has been taken away by Dr. Childs. Christine warns Nightcrawler about it, who fears the worst. He borrows Christine’s phone, and tells her that he needs her for something. Meanwhile, Seth is sitting in Dr. Child’s limo. Seth’s scared and asks Childs if he’s a good person, and if he’s going to hurt him. Seth explains that he isn’t a good man, and that Seth really is going to get hurt. Child explains to Seth that it’s not going to help to fight or hurt him, since the windows of his limo are soundproof, and his chauffeur isn’t someone who, well… will care about it. Seth takes a closer look at the chauffer, who’s revealed to be a demon.
Childs asks Seth if the demon Pazuzu really lies within him. A scared Seth says that he doesn’t know. Childs informs Seth that he has made a pact with the Prince of Lies, so it’s no time for fibbing. He explains that it’s about fourteen children, whose blood was needed to act as flesh tunnels for the demons to come through. That’s what killed Seth’s thirteen friends. But as long as Pazuzu lies within Seth, Childs can’t force anything to do beyond the so-called menial task. But that will change, once Seth will give up hope. The car stops.
They get out of the car, and enter the Dakota building. Childs explains to Seth that the building dates back to the early 1800’s, back when everything was more countryside. They go deeper inside the building, into an elevator. Childs tells the clerk to go all the way to the top floor. While waiting, Childs reveals that he learned about the fourteen demons from a book he found at Barnes & Noble, of all places, in their occult section. The book described the ritual to set the demons free. Childs finds it to be a real simple ceremony. All it required was fourteen victims and fourteen sponsors. They are needed to control the demons once they had been loosed upon the world.
Childs says that evil is a relative term. He tells Seth that he would be surprised if he knew how many of Child’s friends and neighbors were willing to sacrifice the life of a child to have a demon in their service. Seth isn’t interested and is certain that Nightcrawler will stop Childs. Childs isn’t so sure, as he knows about the infernal dimension Kurt teleports through. He tells Seth that, as soon as they arrived in the building, he disrupted it with a spell. It will only last for a little while, since that’s the longest Childs can manage it, but he’s confident that’s all it will take. They arrive at the top floor, and find all the transformed kids, who are now all demons.
Childs introduces Seth to his fellow demon worshippers, who salute Seth for having caused them so much trouble. Miles, one of the worshippers, asks Childs to stop stalling and just go through with it. A part of Childs feels sorry for Seth, he admits, but nonetheless he takes out a knife to kill the boy. Miles asks Childs to stop. Childs doesn’t see why. Childs stops talking. He knows that Miles isn’t his real self. Childs demands Miles to reveal himself. Miles steps forwards, and transforms into Nightcrawler! Kurt has used his image inducer to infiltrate the building, but apparently the masquerade is over now.
Childs doesn’t bother to ask Kurt how he managed to infiltrate or the building or what he has done with the real Miles, and just goes over to the confrontation. They fight, and Kurt immediately strikes out with a hard punch in Childs’s face! Kurt knows that he shouldn’t even think it, but that actually felt good. The other demons and worshippers surround Kurt, telling him to give up. “Never,” Kurt replies. He won’t let Childs cut the boy open. Childs smiles, and tells Kurt that he doesn’t need to cut Childs open to free Pazuzu. He takes out a knot, which was the one in Seth’s rope, the rope that helped him lock things, and cuts it through!
Seth suddenly feels bad. Kurt turns to the boy, and realizes what’s going on. The boy screams in pain. Kurt knows that Pazuzu is coming through. But he’s got a plan. Kurt has brought a friend with him. He calls out to Shadowcat, who finally reveals herself through the crowd. Kitty has been in the building for as long as Kurt has, disguised and hidden among the guests. Childs panics. Kitty phases through Seth, allowing the demon to come through the boy’s body without bursting his insides.
Finally, Pazuzu has arrived! And that’s not good news. Childs’ guests panic, since Pazuzu doesn’t stand in the circle where he was supposed to stand, and so the humans can’t control him. They run down the stairs, down to the lobby, where the X-Men were already awaiting them, and place them under arrest for questioning about the fourteen children.
While back upstairs, the trapped demons were clamoring for Pazuzu to break the circle. Pazuzu demands from Childs to set them free. Childs won’t do that and explains to Pazuzu that he belongs to him and is in his service. He says that the pact he made with the Morningstar binds Pazuzu to him. The demons know that isn’t true, and inform Pazuzu that the blood can be spilled, because Pazuzu’s escape was bloodless. The only thing Pazuzu has to do is kill Childs, and his blood will set the demons free.
Nightcrawler tries to protect Childs, who isn’t scared of Pazuzu. He doesn’t think that the demon will harm him after all he has done for him. Pazuzu smiles, telling the doctor that he has no idea. Pazuzu tears Childs to bits. Then, he stands before Kurt, Seth and Kitty, who can literally feel the magical circle begin to dissolve. Luckily for Kurt and friends, the cavalry arrives in the forms of the lovely Magik and Christine! Kurt notices how tightly Christine holds the fourteen clay statues Seth had been melding since his friends were killed.
Magik has discovered that the statues were actually locks the way the knots in Seth’s robe had been. And although her magic alone isn’t strong enough to command the demons back into the hollow figures, the combination of hers and Seth’s strength melds into those bits and prove to be amazingly potent! A big flash appears, and when the flash is gone, all of the demons, including Pazuzu, are gone and only Kurt, Kitty and Magik are left standing in the room.
Later, back at the Xavier Institute, Kurt tells his story to Storm. She asks Kurt if Magik trapped the demons back into the statues. Kurt confirms that. Ororo wants to know what happened to the statues themselves.
Elsewhere, in Limbo, Magik has returned to her castle, and has placed the fourteen statues above her fireplace, knowing that she can keep them safe.
Storm informs Kurt that the X-Men were able to put the rest of Child’s followers into jail, and that Christine Palmer has been transferred to St. Vincent’s. Ororo asks Kurt if he can teleport normal again. “Perfectually,” he answers. He explains that, after Christine had told him that Childs had taken Seth, he called Ororo and Amanda and then teleported to the Institute to get Kitty. Then, Kurt continues, he teleported both him and Kitty to the Dakota building. He guesses right before Childs had blocked his teleportation power, as well as his way into the building.
Ororo asks Kurt if he means his physical body, since Kitty told her that once she had made Kurt intangible, they both fairly strolled right in. Kurt confirms that they did that. He reveals that he recognized two of Child’s accomplices in the building’s lobby. Kitty and he incapacitated them and then used image-inducers to take their place in the ceremony.
Storm smiles, and asks Kurt if he knows that, mostly of all this event, he improvised on the solutions. Of course, Kurt smilingly answers back. And, Storm adds, the only reason Seth is alive at the moment and is able to learn to control his powers with Emma, is all thanks to him. Kurt knows that. Ororo asks Kurt to follow her, and invites him to come see how Seth is doing with the “ice queen.” Nightcrawler will soon follow her, he says, but first… he wants to stay in the light a while longer.


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Ghosts On The Tracks: part 1: And Kurt Hopped The A-Train…
Nightcrawler, Storm and Wolverine have just taken some downtime and, along with Nurse Palmer, they’ve went to see the Phantom of the Opera. Kurt jokes about it, but admits that it was the very first show he came to see when he moved to New York 10 years ago.
Storm wonders why she and Logan agreed to come along this night. Logan says because Kurt wanted to make it clear to Christine that he’s only keeping their relationship friendly like, and since the producer of the show gave Kurt four free tickets, Logan saw no reason as for not to come. Storm doesn’t see why they don’t take the X-plane back home. Logan answer that’s because Christine apparently gets airsick.
Suddenly, a woman near them screams. The X-Men look down, and see hundreds of rats sitting on the train tracks! Kurt notices that the rats seem to be panicking, like they are being chased by something. Suddenly, a train shows up, but it moves too fast. Everyone realizes that something’s wrong. But none of them see that the conductor is in a bad condition. Everyone moves back, but not Kurt. Storm orders the other people to stay back, as they’ll handle things. Logan notices Kurt staring at the train and pulls him back before the elf gets hit. Kurt’s confused, but thanks his friend for the rescue. Kurt teleports everyone inside the train, hoping to find out what’s wrong.
Chrstine asks Kurt to take her to the conductor, because she thinks that, if something happened to him, she might be able to help him. Logan stays behind and tells the passengers to move to the last station of the train, since this is an emergency situation. At first, the crowd ignores him and ask him why they should do that. Logan smiles, and snikts his claws open, telling the crowd that he doesn’t want to see them hurt.
Meanwhile, Christine tells Kurt that the conductor is dead. Kurt hopes that he’ll be able to teleport two or maybe three people out at the same time, but fears that he won’t be able to rescue anyone. Suddenly, the train seems to slow down. They look out the window, and see Storm short-circuiting the subway’s third rail with bolts of lightning, thereby cutting its power. Logan managed to get the crowd to the last station and jokes around. Christine thinks that the conductor has been frightened to death. Kurt notices a worker standing on the train tracks.
He teleports to the man, asking to move. But, the man is all see-through. The man says “seventeen of us” and strikes out at Nightcrawler! Kurt dodges, and the man phases right through Kurt; and then the man’s gone. Vanished. With the train now stopped, Storm, Wolverine and Christine walk out of it to Kurt. He’s startled and doesn’t know what to make of it. But none of his friends have seen the man, which Kurt believes to have been a ghost or something.
Storm asks Logan to take Kurt back to his place, so that he can relax and shower. But Logan has a better idea. Some time later, Kurt and Christine share a cab and ride to her apartment, where he showers. Kurt thanks her, and Christine flirts a bit. Kurt asks Christine to make sure that they’re just friends. Christine jokes that they’re not going to have a “talk” are they? Christine knows that Kurt has commitment issues, since she saw it on VHI’s “Behind the Heroes” special on TV, but she thought that they both liked each other.
Kurt admits that he does like Christine, but just as a friend. Christine asks Kurt if this is about Storm, because she noticed him starting at her the entire evening. Kurt’s X-link beeper goes off, so he wants to go answer it. Christine finds that okay but, before he goes, she tells Kurt that, if they both like each other, they can be just that for right now. Storm asks Kurt if he can go to city hall, and meet with the mayor’s people. They want to meet one of the X-Men and talk about the disturbances that happened recently on the train tracks. Kurt doesn’t find that a problem since he always looks for an excuse to stay in the city, but he wants to hear one thing again: did Storm just say “disturbances?” Plural?
Some time later, Kurt has made it to the Mayor’s office. The mayor tells Kurt that there have been almost two dozen incidents on the stations, at least that are the ones they are aware of. He explains that the first one happened on October in 2003, when a man waiting for a train at the west 4th street station claimed to have seen what Kurt claims to have seen tonight. The mayor informs Kurt that there has been an article about it in the Daily Bugle, but Kurt hasn’t read that. The mayor further explains that the article described that the sightings, or encounters or whatever, have increased in frequency and, which is even more troublesome, in threat, these last few months. Currently there are four deaths, including the train conductor’s earlier tonight, and they have been linked to the “ghosts.”
Kurt thinks that it really was a ghost, but the mayor just can’t believe it and actually say the words. But Kurt knows what he saw tonight. He knows that what he felt in the subway tunnel. Kurt noticed how the air around him was getting cold and the hair on his hands standing up. Kurt says that if there have ever been other incidents, if they are getting worse and if people really are dying because of them, the mayor really has to call in some help. The mayor doesn’t know who, and thought that Kurt and his  kind would want to help, after they destroyed the city for the most part. And the mayor knows that Kurt is skilled enough, since he has been informed that Kurt stopped the demon cult. Kurt wants to say that it was just dumb luck, and that he isn’t Dr. Strange or Brother Voodoo.
The mayor asks Kurt if he knows that the city is celebrating New York’s subway system centennial. Hearing the mayor saying those words, Kurt suddenly understands everything, but keeps his thoughts for himself at the moment. Kurt realizes that the Mayor wants the X-Men to help him, instead of say the Fantastic Four, because the X-Men are used to work “under the radar.” The mayor further reveals that the oldest underground transportation system is in the country, running continuously since October 4, 1904. Kurt tells the Mayor that he realizes he doesn’t want any bad publicity, but the mayor claims that his primary concern is the safety of his citizens.
The mayor gives Kurt some information his aides found about the victim’s surviving relatives. Kurt walks out of city hall, and contacts the first woman on the list: Mrs. Warren. Kurt goes so see her, who thanks him for trying to save her husband’s life. The police have told her all about it. Mrs. Warren sadly tells Kurt that her husband had been talking about the ghosts for months, claiming to first only see them in his peripheral vision. He said that they were hovering in the gaps between the train cars. But her husband also told her that the ghosts only appeared when he was alone in the train, and weren’t threatening at all. Not until recently, at least.
Kurt asks Mrs. Warren if she has any idea why the ghosts would have killed her husband Scott. The woman asks Kurt how much he knows about ghosts. She asks if he knows that ghosts are bound dead people. That they are people who can’t let go, or don’t want to after their death? Mrs. Warren thinks that maybe, the ghosts are holding on for revenge, maybe, or something. Or because they’ve left something undone, something unfinished. Or because… she hesitates. Mrs. Warren tells Kurt that, the week before her Scott died, he told her that he thought that the ghosts maybe needed help. But Scott couldn’t explain why. Scott just sensed it, he said. And now, Mrs. Warren thinks that the ghosts wanted Scott’s help and he couldn’t give it, and maybe that’s the reason why they killed him.
Nightcrawler leaves the Warren’s apartment and heads back underground. He reads, according to the mayor’s file, that all of the ghostly sightings have occurred on the subway’s A-line, running up and down New York’s west side. Kurt spends two hours teleporting between subway cars and trains, looking for… anything. He gets some dirty looks from the people waiting for a train because of his blue fur. But not as many as you’d think. Kurt gets three phone numbers, too. From woman who are attractive but not as attractive as Christine.
Kurt recalls that the ghost he met said something like “seventeen of us.” He wonders what it means, and what’s next. Twelve zombies, maybe? Kurt goes deeper into the tunnels ahead of them, which get only darker. Kurt knows that in New York, the subway system never shuts down. But this late, three or four in the morning or something, trains are few and far between. Kurt decides to cover more ground on foot. He follows the tracks and bamfs out of the way in case a train does show up.
As the minutes tick off, and he walks and walks, Kurt thinks of the Mayor. He wonders if the man is as concerned as he claims he is, and if that’s so why he doesn’t postpone the centennial celebration. Kurt also thinks of Mrs. Warren. He thinks of her sitting awake in that cold, dark apartment, and it occurs to him that there are all kinds of hauntings in the world, and that Mrs. Warren is going to be haunted by loneliness, and grief and uncertainty for a very long time. Kurt thinks of… he stops walking.
His flashlight goes out! Now, it’s completely dark in the tunnels. Kurt isn’t afraid of the dark, since he can see better than other people thanks to his special yellow eyes. But Kurt has brought extra batteries, so he tries to replace them. Suddenly, he hears a sound. Whistling? Kurt manages to get the batteries right, and turns the flashlight back on. But, as he does that, Kurt freaks out. In front of him, he literally sees twelve zombies!


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Ghosts On The Tracks: part 2: Voices Of The Dead
Nightcrawler tells his story to Beast. He explains that, 100 years ago this week, New York’s landscape changed forever when Mayor George McClellan pulled the lever that set the city’s first subway train in motion. With McClellan at the controls and people celebrating both above and below ground, the train shot up from city hall to 145th street, then back down again. Kurt discovered that it took four years to build the 9-mile long tunnel and 26 stations that made up the first subway line. And those early rides only cost a nickel.
Beast jokes that it now also only costs two dollars, which isn’t that much either. Kurt agrees, but asks Hank to consider there are now 722 miles of tunnels and over 450 stations to pay and maintain. And that the single longest subway line, the “A” express route from 207th street in Northern Manhattan to the Rockaways in Queens, is 32 miles long. Kurt explains that the city’s original, historical subway line, on which McClellan took his ride, was absorbed into the “A” express route, many decades ago. Kurt believes that maybe this explains why now, on the eve of the subway’s centennial, that the “A” is the subway line that’s being haunted. Beast doesn’t see the point. Kurt explains what happened when he found the ghosts in the dark tunnel.
Kurt remembers how one of the ghosts tried to kill him with a big hammer. Luckily, Kurt could just barely jump away before the impact. More and more zombies seemed to appear, and outnumbered Kurt. He teleported away from them, until he found one zombie standing on the sidelines. Kurt grabbed the zombie by his throat and demanded to know what was going on. From the moment he grabbed the zombie, Kurt could sense that they really were in the need of help, like Mrs. Warren had told him earlier.
At that point, Kurt simply asked the zombies if they really needed help. They transformed back into their human forms, and all pointed Kurt in the right direction, which leaded even deeper down in the tunnels. Kurt laughs, because it really looked like something from the movie “The Grudge.” Nightcrawler explains that he followed the ghosts for what felt like miles, until he ended up in a room with deserted bones and bodies. He heard that whistling again. When exploring, Kurt found a hole in a wall and saw that he was in the 145th station.
Nightcrawler searched deeper and, in some cement, found what looks like several pins. He wanted to ask the zombies and ghosts what it was, but they vanished. And that’s why he came to Beast, to ask him to run a few tests on the pin. Kurt would have asked Christine, but they are not on the best of terms at the moment. Beast is a bit jealous at Kurt, because Hank too is blue and furry and can’t get a single date, while Kurt is blue and furry and even manages to get multiple dates!
But despite the jealousy, Hank runs the test and just by looking at the pin can conclude that he has a human bone in his hands, probably the pin is from someone’s jaw or skull. Kurt is surprised that Hank actually knows this by just looking at it, but Hank remembers his teammates that he is a trained pathologist, and has seen plenty when he tried to put Emma Frost’s diamond body back together a while ago.
Kurt asks Hank how old the bones are, and wants to know how many years that they have been down in the tunnels. Beast thinks, from the looks of it, maybe fifty or sixty years. He’ll run some tests on it. Kurt asks if he can take one of the bones for someone else to research. Hank permits that, but wouldn’t know, besides Reed Richards’, which lab or research sources would be more advanced than his. Kurt knows exactly whose.
He teleports back to Limbo, where he’s greeted by a surprised Brad and Roger. Magik’s a bit surprised too to see Kurt again, and asks him if he’s going to come visit on a regular basis now. If so, she wants to prepare some things and they can even share their toiletries. Kurt changes the subject and asks Amanda if she can help him with the bone. She’s confident that she can, as the bone itself will reveal everything there is to know about it. Kurt’s confused. Magik reveals that the only thing they need is a little magic called necromancy. She shows Kurt her table, which has all kinds of necromancy signs on it.
Amanda further explains to Kurt that necromancy magic is actually talking to the dead. Amanda claims to be trained medium with acute ESP, so she sees herself as the most skilful occultist currently living, with the exception of Dr. Strange. Amanda concentrates and soon discovers that the bone used to belong of a man. All of the zombies Kurt saw were men when they were alive, and that they spent most of their lives in the dark. Kurt asks, "Underground." Amanda tells Kurt that the bone tells her that they whistled to pass the time. The man the bone belongs to tried to warn their foreman that they were working too fast and that the men were all tired. Kurt asks if the “men” Amanda refers to are the man’s co-workers. Not just that, she says, they were his family!
Kurt goes back to the mayor’s office and searches through his books and files, and after hours finds a suspicious date: October 25, 1903. He finds the article in the archive, and the headline reads “18 believed dead!” A hole widens inside Kurt’s stomach as he reads on. He phones the Mayor that he has found something and will come to him, but first needs to make a quick stop. Kurt goes back to the tunnels, and speaks. Nobody’s there, but Kurt hopes that the zombies are listening and promises them that he will set things right.
Kurt returns to the mayor and hands him over the information he found. The mayor finds it distressing. Kurt asks the mayor what he means: the accident itself or that no reparations have been made to the victim’s surviving relatives. Because, Kurt adds, that’s the only article he could find about the men’s deaths. There were no follow-ups. Nothing. And that makes Kurt think that there was some sort of cover-up. The mayor wonders why nothing has ever been done to it, and why it just now comes to light. Kurt smiles that perhaps it’s easier to let sleeping dogs lie. The mayor says, whatever the reason, he knows about it now. He takes out his cell phone and wants to see if he can do some more digging, and pay off some long-standing debts.
Those next few days, leading up to the centennial’s kick-off party at City Hall, the tunnels along the A-line were mercifully quiet. The X-Men are present at the party as well, and well prepared, should anything happen. Both Cyclops and Kurt notice the zombies, and Kurt says that they started materializing a few minutes ago, waiting to see if Kurt would keep his word. The mayor begins his speech and later on tells the gathered crowd to memorialize the people who sacrificed their lives to build the lines all those many years ago, admitting the town’s mistake and to amend with the surviving relatives. The zombies started vaporizing and, smiling, wave Kurt goodbye.
Later, Kurt goes to tell his story against Christine. She wants to know how Kurt and the mayor came up with the idea to talk about the mistake publicly. He admits that it was Amanda who gave him the idea when he visited her. Christine hopes that the mayor means what he said, or otherwise she fears that the ghosts might come back, angrier than ever before.
Kurt thinks how easily some deaths could have been avoided, like the train conductor, should he have thought faster. Christine tells Kurt not to beat himself up, as she knows he did everything he could. Kurt thanks Christine for the kind words, and calls her a good friend. This upset Christine a bit, that she can’t be more, but she claims to be okay with it. Kurt wants to explain, but Christine tells him not to, as she’s fine.


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[Assistant]
The Winding Way, part 1: Underbelly
February in New York. Everything is in a deep-freeze. But as he huddles into a jacket and walks along a less-than-respectable street, long time X-Man Kurt “Nightcrawler” Wagner wonders why it feels like he is burning up. ‘Help an old altar boy, Father?’ a scruffy homeless man asks, extending his hand in front of Kurt. Kurt looks at the man and is about to tell him that he isn’t a priest, when suddenly he remembers wearing a collar at some points - when was that? He cannot quite remember. Does that mean he was - or is - a priest?
Kurt remembers a man called Father Whitney (The Devil is your father), and decides that he would know if he is or was a priest. Arriving at a church, Kurt decides that he needs to (Confess your sins…) get warm (…to pray for forgiveness) - that he needs help. He wonders that if this time of day someone is even hearing people’s confessions. Kurt turns to a nun and asks her if he can go in. The nun reveals that the priest has been waiting for him.
Entering the confessional booth, Kurt wonders why he can’t stop shaking - ‘May God, who has enlightened every heart, help you to know your sins and trust in his mercy’ says the priest as Kurt takes his seat. ‘Amen’ Kurt remarks, before asking the Father to forgive him, as he has sinned, and admits that he doesn’t know how long it has been since his last confession. He can’t remember (Anything), like how he got here.
The priest suggests to Kurt that if it is easier, he may start from when he felt he was furthest from God. Beads of sweat being to form on Nightcrawler’s face. ‘Furthest from…?’ (When you were) Kurt remembers the children. (When they died). He wonders if it was when he let the children die - when he didn’t protect them. But he protests, claiming that he did - he saved Seth from Doctor Childs and his cult, stopped them from hurting other children.
But the priest tells Kurt that he doesn’t mean those children - but the ones that his brother murdered. Kurt goes wide-eyed, wondering how the priest could know, even more so when the priest adds ‘Before you murdered him!’ Kurt begins to protests, before realizing that the voice does not belong to Father Whitney. Kurt rushes from his side of the confession booth and, believing he knows who the voice belongs to, he opens the door to the other side of the booth - only it is empty. (Because Whitney’s dead. He’s been dead for - ) ‘Who was it?’ Kurt exclaims. (The Devil)
Nightcrawler touches his forehead and wonders what is happening to him. (The Devil is playing with you). Kurt supposes that it is the fever (Driving you insane…) The nun informs Kurt that it is just beginning. ‘What is?’ he asks. (Your torment). The nun pauses, before telling Kurt that she is sorry, but Kurt asks her what “beginning” she is talking about. ‘I haven’t said anything’ the nun replies. Kurt begins to protest, before telling himself to forget it, that he needs to go.
Rushing out of the church, Kurt is bathed in sunlight, and decides that this is better. ‘Hey freak’ a bunch of punks shout at Kurt. Kurt wonders who they are (They hate you) ‘Who let you outta your cage, freak?’ one of them shouts. Kurt is about to reply ‘I’m not a freak’ before remembering a time when he was…but when was that, and why? Kurt remembers huddling in a cage. (Because you’re a - ) ‘I’m talking to you, freak!’ the punk shouts back.
Kurt looks back at them and sees the young men rushing towards him, thinking that they are not seriously going to do it. (Run) Kurt invokes God, wondering who these boys are. Suddenly in his mind he sees an angry mob carrying pitchforks and flaming sticks. ‘Gonna kill you, freak!’ they shout. Kurt turns a corner, (Keep running, mutant, the way you’ve been running your entire - ), but finds a dead end.
Nightcrawler tells himself to turn around, to not let them - but they’re not there. Then there is a thud, and Kurt is whacked over the head by some piping. The punks surround Kurt as he lies on the ground, they are all around him - he screams. Did one of his ribs just break? He tells himself to think, that he needs to get help????????? Confusion spreads through Kurt as he sees a bald man in a wheelchair with a shinning light behind him. ‘Hello young man. My name is Charles Xavier and I’d like to make you an offer’.
As a foot is about to stomp on his face, Kurt cries ‘Professor?’ then sees someone else - ‘You’re letting those monkey’s kill you? When you could tear them to shreds with your bare, three-fingered hands?’ Mystique exclaims. Kurt calls to his mother - one of them - ‘They’re killing me, mother’. (Let them) Mystique tells Kurt that seems as how he is so sensitive, he could save himself by teleporting. ‘You’re good for that at least’.
‘I’m…a teleporter?’ Xavier appears in place of Mystique, offering to teach Kurt how to use his special talents and perfect them, revealing that he runs a school for gifted youngsters such as Kurt, where he will be able to ‘Imagine a place and go there’ Kurt vanishes in a bright cloud and stench of brimstone, the thugs are left kicking and punching the air.
Kurt arrives at his destination, a lush landscape in beautiful Germany. (Clever Devil, you - ) Sun streams through the dense forest, as Kurt realizes that he knows this place. (The Dark Country) Germany, ‘Where I was…’ (Where you will…die!) A black horse runs out in front of Kurt, and heads to a clearing in the forest. Kurt follows the horse, and confirms to himself that this is indeed Winzeldorf. Kurt sees a sword stuck into a stone. ‘Take it, brother!’ comes a voice. Kurt turns and is shocked to see his foster brother, Stefan Szardos standing before him. However Stefan is long dead. Stefan tells Kurt to pull the sword out of the stone, if he can.
Nightcrawler looks at the sword and remembers that in his first year at the Xavier Institute, then called “Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters”, the Professor made the X-Men read “The Once and Future King” by T.H. White - about King Arthur and his sword…Excalibur! Kurt, now dressed in one of his super hero costumes, turns again, his brother is gone, but in his place are six others, four of whom have had a major impacts on his life - Captain Britain, Shadowcat, Meggan, Rachel Summers, Lockheed and Widget - and in the back ground is their first base, the Lighthouse that served as a trans-dimensional gateway.
Captain Britain smiles, ‘It’s your turn, Kurt’ he says. But Kurt knows that Excalibur disbanded a long time ago - none of this makes sense. He reaches for the sword. The horse runs by again. Is Kurt dreaming all of this? He grabs the sword and pulls it from the stone. It gleans in the sunlight, and Kurt feels like it is an extension of his body - and he has felt this particular swords weight before.
‘Yoo-hoo! Over here, lover!’ calls a woman’s voice. Kurt turns, knowing that it must be Christine Palmer - or Storm - or Amanda Sefton, but it is all three of them. The three women stand near each on a pirate ship. Dressed in her nurse’s uniform, Christine tells Kurt that she knows he wants to keep things platonic between the two of them, but can she convince him to play “doctor” just once? The confident Storm folds her arms across her chest and tells Kurt that as two of the most senior X-Men, they really shouldn’t be sneaking around in the middle of the night like smitten school children.
Amanda “Magik” Sefton smiles and says to Kurt: ‘Well, which is it? Am I your sister or your girlfriend? Or both?’ before telling Kurt that considering what he is wearing, making fun of other’s peoples costumes is no longer an option. Kurt is confused by Amanda’s comment, until he looks at what he is now dressed in - a pirate outfit. ‘Shiver me timbers and all that - ladies?’ Kurt no longer stands before three beautiful young women, but three ugly legends with snakes for hair.
‘One spins the thread of life, one decides its length, one cuts the strands’. Kurt, now dressed in a more recent costume, looks at the red thread the Fates hold in their hands. ‘Is that my…’ his voice trails off. (Now do you feel it? It’s hot breath on your neck). The Fates grin, ‘Your overdue death’ ‘No reprieve this time’ ‘Behind you’ Spin. Decide. Snip. The thread is cut, and Kurt quickly turns around - ‘My…Lord!’ he exclaims as a Sentinel rises from the ocean, and smashes fist down onto the ship, breaking it apart and sending Kurt plummeting to the depths of the ocean.
‘Henry?’ asks Emma Frost a.k.a. the White Queen to her teammate Dr. Henry “the Beast” McCoy, both members of the X-Men. Emma is able to read Beasts’ thoughts when he thinks to himself that he has stopped the bleeding, but Nightcrawler’s pulse is racing, his temperature is 107 and his vitals…’. Bobby “Iceman” Drake and Nurse Christine Palmer stand by in the operating theatre at the Xavier Institute also.
Swimming towards the sinking ship so he can grab onto something, Kurt realizes that the ocean should be cold - but it’s not - it’s boiling!
The Beast informs Emma that Vermin’s claws were filled with a poisonous toxin, when Christine speaks to him. Beast informs the nurse that Kurt’s brain is seizing.
Suddenly, Kurt screams under water, shoving his hands to his ears, he screams for God, for it feels like there is a hot iron being stamped into him.
Somewhere, someone holds a voodoo doll of Nightcrawler over a cluster of burning candles.
Emma turns to Iceman, hinting for him to so something, but Bobby explains that if he lowers Nightcrawler’s body temperature too fast, then he will go into shock. Emma suggests that Bobby be careful then. ’Start thinking cool thoughts, buddy’ Bobby says to his friend as he places his frozen hands beside him.
Kurt is able to continue swimming, the deeper he goes, the cooler the water. But suddenly, he spies something.
Beast congratulates Bobby for stabilizing Kurt’s temperature, when he begins to explain the status if Kurt’s brain, Emma offers to try something.
Kurt swims towards what he had spied - a trunk. (Don’t open it) Nightcrawler remembers the trunk from when he was part of the circus. (Your Pandora’s Box)
Beast calls to Emma, checking if she is all right. Emma replies that this is like pulling apart a thicket of thorns.
Kurt arrives at the trunk - it is locked. (Your deepest, deepest secret…the only thing that might save you) Kurt grabs the padlock, thinking he will be able to open this. ‘Even if none of this is real’. (Oh, it is). Kurt clenches his hand into a fist, supposing that he can imagine a key, then have it appear in his hand - which is just what happens. (And the Devil was given the keys to the kingdom) Kurt is ready to put the key in the lock, ‘Whatever I’m meant to find, I’ll just -’
Nightcrawler is cut off, as Emma appears behind him, telling him that it is enough. Kurt is surprised to see Emma, who informs him that she has come to bring him back from whatever dark corner of his subconscious he has retreated to. Kurt moves away from the trunk, claiming that he doesn’t understand. The White Queen informs him that he was attacked by ‘that thing’ called Vermin, and reveals that Henry has been operating on him, but that he has succumbed to a coma.
Emma tells Kurt that she is reaching into his mind and dragging him back. Kurt agrees, but points out the trunk. Emma informs Kurt that he has to leave the trunk, for if he doesn’t wake up now, then he may never wake up. Kurt looks worried, but exclaims that he just needs a quick look inside. Emma grabs Kurt by the shoulders, ‘Kurt, darling, I’m trying to save you life here and you’re annoying me!’ Kurt is pulled away from the trunk, much to his protests. Emma tells him that they can finish this discussion once he is conscious. Emma asks Kurt to calm down, explaining that she is going to ease him back to life. Kurt screams ‘No!’
Emma asks Henry what Kurt’s status is, before remarking that it was a mess in there. The Beast replies that Kurt is stabilizing, to which Emma declares that she should hope so. ‘Can you imagine how furious Storm would’ve been had her little pet expired under my supervision?’ As Emma begins to leave the room, Christine rushes up to her, asking her if she is a telepath. Emma looks at Christine and replies that she is, to which Christine asks her what she saw.
‘The usual flotsam and jetsam…confusion, anxiety, fear, distress’ Emma replies. ‘Oh, Kurt…’ whispers Christine. Emma tells Christine not to worry, as she kept him from getting too close to any one particular piece of psychological baggage, and explains that by the time poor Kurt recovers, he probably won’t remember there was anything to fret about. But there is still the mysterious trunk….


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

[Assistant]
The Winding Way, part 2: Dark Carnival
The Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, Westchester County, New York. Two of X-Men’s most senior members - Ororo Munroe, appropriately named Storm, and Hank McCoy, a.k.a. the Beast sit across from a shivering creature known as Vermin, staring him down. Ororo breaks the silence, informing Vermin that he is sedated now, but pointing out that she knows he can hear her, so she will ask him her question once more: ‘Why did you attack Nightcrawler that way? Why were you trying to kill him?’ ‘Because I wanted to taste his blood’ Vermin hisses in reply. The Beast lunges across the table, grabbing Vermin by the neck he calls him the sickest most aptly named monster he knows.
Watching the interrogation from a two-way mirror are, Scott “Cyclops” Summers, Emma “the White Queen” Frost and Bobby “Iceman” Drake, three more X-Men. They listen as the Beast declares that Vermin is beneath human, adding that if he gutted him here, he doesn’t think it would even count as murder. ‘Oh, the melodrama’ Emma mutters as she turns away. Scott asks who knew that Hank was such a good actor, and likens him to Christopher Walken in The Deer Hunter. Bobby remarks that he was thinking more like Gene Hackman in French Connection, the first one.
Emma informs her teammates that at any rate, Storm is wasting her time, as she has read Vermin’s mind - what little there is - and in fact, Vermin has no idea he even attacked Kurt. Bobby asks Emma to explain, so Emma declares that it is a mess inside Vermin - like a teeming mass of cockroaches, but Vermin barely remembers being in New York, ‘Let alone ambushing Kurt and his little girl friend‘. Scott informs Emma that technically Kurt and Christine Palmer are not dating.
Emma continues, revealing that there are what seem to be psychic fingerprints all over Vermin’s ganglia and synapses - traces of another presence. ’You’re sating…what, mind control?’ asks Bobby. Emma states that Nightcrawler’s suspicions that darker forces were behind Vermin’s assault may not be entirely unfounded….
Germany, where the X-Man Kurt “Nightcrawler” Wagner stands on a cliff side, the sun rising behind him. His troubled thoughts are disturbed by his friend and teammate Wolverine a.k.a. Logan and Nurse Christine Palmer who he recently befriended coming up behind him and calling to him. Kurt turns to his friends, his thoughts drifting across the years, memories dislodging like balloons and floating up. The handsome Logan asks Kurt if being here “takes him back”. Christine agrees, pointing out that they are in Bavaria. Nightcrawler replies that it does, and exclaims that even the air tastes different here in Winzeldorf - where he was born and where he was raised.
(flashback)
Kurt remembers the time, where the oft-misguided Margali Szardos, his powerful foster mother, taught him to walk. Margali encouraged Kurt one step at a time. Picking him up she tells young Kurt that first he learns to walk, then to fly - on the trapeze that is, becoming the greatest acrobat of them all! Margali holds Kurt up in the air, asking him how that sounds. ‘My most special boy!’ However, watching from behind a caravan is Margali’s biological son, Stefan - and he doesn’t look impressed.
(present)
Nightcrawler smiles after remembering the memory, before explaining to Logan and Christine that the circus where he grew up is in the Black Forest, and suggests that they get as far as they can before nightfall then set up camp. Christine begins to ask Kurt a question, but Logan just agrees with Kurt’s plan.
Nightfall, Kurt, Logan and Christine huddle around a campfire in silence. Nightcrawler tells Logan and Christine that he appreciates them coming with him, but the truth is that he isn’t sure what he is looking for. Kurt reminds them that since Vermin’s attack he has been having dreams, like visions and echoes of his past. Christine replies that they know, to which Kurt declares that he has the unshakable feeling that what is happening now is somehow linked to where he came from, adding that Cyclops would say it doesn’t make rational sense.
Wolverine tells Kurt that it actually does make sense, and claiming that he doesn’t know much, but what he does know is that there is nothing more rational than wanting to go back to where you came from every now and again. Wolverine adds that it is not something everyone can do. Kurt is about to say something to Logan, but Logan gets up, announcing that he is tired, he heads towards his tent, pointing out that they have a lot of walking to get done tomorrow.
Christine tells Kurt that she knows she made him bring her along, and asks if he would rather be alone. Kurt’s eyes just trail off down memory lane, where a teenage Stefan Szardos asks Kurt what it is he is doing out in the woods alone at night. Kurt claimed that he was doing nothing. The present day Kurt and Christine walk towards their tent as Kurt explains that he and Stefan used to play in the woods, and this is where he showed him he could first teleport.
(Flashback)
Kurt informs Stefan that there is something he wants to show him, something that he can do. Kurt explains that when he concentrates and imagines himself going to another place - bamf - he goes there. With the smell of brimstone, Kurt disappears from where he was standing in front of Stefan and re-appears above him in a tree. ‘Gott in himmel…’ exclaims the astonished Stefan. As Kurt drops to the ground, Stefan asks him how he does it, but Kurt replies that he doesn’t know, it’s just something he can do. ‘Tricks of the Devil…but how - why?’ asks Stefan, somewhat frightened of his brother. Kurt begins to say that he isn’t so sure, when Stefan pushes him up against a tree and asks him who else knows about this.
‘Not my mother? My Sister?’ Stefan asks, Kurt replies no one. Stefan tells Kurt to listen to him, and declares that his mother can do things too. ‘Teleport, you mean?’ asks Kurt. A wide-eyed Stefan replies that she can things with magic, that she does them in her caravan when everyone else is asleep. That night, Kurt and Stefan stayed up late, and as Kurt peers into the caravan belonging to the women who will become the Sorceress Supreme, Stefan asks him if he sees her.
An awestruck Kurt looks through the window and sees Margali in levitation, her crystal ball glowing and spirits floating around her. During the day, Margali was the circus’ resident fortune-teller - for a dollar she would tell you that your future was bright and full of joy. At night though, Margali Szardos practiced other, darker arts. As Kurt jumps back to the ground, Stefan tells him that it is real, but Kurt replies that he doesn’t understand.
The boys walk away from their mothers caravan, and Stefan explains that their mother taught herself and is still teaching herself, just as Jimaine trains to become a trapeze artist, their mother trains to become a sorcerer! Stefan adds that Margali says it is in all of their family’s blood, that it is their destiny and birthright. ‘Yours and Jimaine’s?’ asks Kurt. Stefan replies yes, before revealing that he is afraid.
Stefan asks what if that part of his family that pulls them towards magic makes him, or Jimaine, evil - corrupts them? ‘Not your sister, Stefan. Not her. Not ever’. Kurt declares. ‘Me, then’ states Stefan. As they enter Stefan’s caravan, Kurt asks him why he would turn evil. Hanging his head as he leans on his bed, Stefan asks Kurt if he is ever afraid that he has been chosen for something terrible but that you don’t even know why? And that you don’t even know if you’ll be able to stop yourself when the moment comes?
Kurt declares that he never thinks about that, when Stefan suddenly pushes Kurt against a wall, and angrily asking him to promise that if he ever starts to change, starts to hurt people, to promise him that he will stop him - no matter what it takes. Afraid, Kurt replies that he can’t - ‘Promise me, brother!’ exclaims Stefan, his eyes burning into Kurt. Confused and frightened, Kurt replies ‘I…all right, I promise. No matter what, I’ll stop you’. With that, Stefan holds his head in his hands.
(Present)
Lying side by side, in their tent, Kurt concludes that part of his story, informing Christine that Stefan was adamant - like he knew. Slightly puzzled, Christine asks Kurt why he called his sister “Jimaine” and not Amanda. ‘Because that’s her real name. What we called her…when we were teenagers’. Kurt begins another trip down memory lane….
(Flashback)
Kurt stands by his beautiful sister’s dressing table, the mirror surrounded by lights. Jimaine Szardos, the only daughter of Margali, ties up her blonde tresses and asks Kurt if he will be watching her in the stands. Kurt frowns as he reminds his sister that she knows he cannot be out in the open like everyone else, not looking the way he does. However a grin spreads across his face as he tells Jimaine to believe him when he says that he will be nearby watching very, very closely.
In the big top’s ring, a clown exits stage left as a fat Ring Master greets the ladies and gentlemen in the audience, beckoning them to look skywards and be amazed by the death-defying feats of Jimaine Szardos…the flying maiden of the trapeze! As Jimaine takes hold of the trapeze, Stefan and Kurt watch her from the shadows, and soon, Stefan asks Kurt if he thinks Jimaine is beautiful. Jimaine begins her leap as Kurt admits that he does, to which Stefan says to him ‘More’s the pity, then, Kurt’.
Teenage Kurt is confused by that statement, so Stefan says to him ‘If you think Jimaine would ever do anything with you…look at yourself - you’re a monster!’ Kurt is shocked by his brother’s cruel comment, but Stefan says ‘Well…aren’t you? Isn’t that why my mother’s so kind to you? Because she pities you?’ Jimaine leaps for the second trapeze as Kurt asks Stefan why he is saying these things.
Suddenly, someone in the audience screams ‘Oh, God - look! The girl!’ ‘The ropes!’ someone else screams, ‘They’ve snapped!’ Jimaine begins to fall to the ground as her brothers both watch in horror. ‘HELLLLLP!’ screams Jimaine, before Kurt leaps into action, ‘Hold on!’ he shouts as he leaps up in the air, catching the surprised Jimaine in his arms, Kurt tells his sister to hold onto her breath, before they disappear in a cloud of red smoke and a bamf.
The simple people in the crowd watch in fear and astonishment. ‘What happened?’ ‘Where did they…’ ‘What was that blue…?’ ‘A monster? A Demon?’ A second bamf sounds the reappearance of Kurt as he wearily sets Jimaine on the ground. Jimaine asks Kurt if he is all right, to which Kurt replies that he is fine, explaining that it hurts a bit whenever he teleports more than just himself. ‘Teleport?’ asks Jimaine.
Jimaine gets to her feet and looks at Kurt in his eyes, placing her hands on his chest she says his name, but Kurt interrupts, claiming that he doesn’t know how or why he can do it, but that he thinks he was born with it, that there is something inside him. Jimaine tries to say what she was going to say once more, but Kurt cuts in again, asking his sister not to be scared, as it doesn’t mean he is a monster or a demon. Their lips draw closer together as Jimaine tells Kurt to listen - but Kurt just tells Jimaine that he has been meaning to tell her, but he told Stefan.
Jimaine interrupts Kurt this time, ‘Please, Kurt, can I just…’ Kurt wraps his arms around Jimaine, who leans into him, lifting one of her legs up as the kiss - to the shock of the Ring Master and the crowd. They break the kiss, and Jimaine begins to say ’Kurt, I -’ but  Kurt interrupts and asks Jimaine if she has been wanting to do that for a while now, cause he has. Jimaine smiles, ‘No, that’s not - I mean, I have, yes, but I was going to say “Kurt I think something’s wrong”’.
Kurt asks what could be wrong with - ‘Nothing with us, Kurt, but look around, Nightcrawler - everyone’s dead!’ Indeed, Kurt turns from Jimaine and gazes around the big top, which has large holes in the top of it and the entire audience are now corpses.
(Present)
Christine sits straight up in the tent, gasping from the nightmare she just witnessed. The good nurse looks over to where Kurt was supposed to be sleeping, but sees him through the tent, standing outside where he is watching the sun rise through the trees. Christine rushes out and begins to ask Kurt if he is all right, to which he replies that he is. Christine asks him if he is sure, pointing out that he looks exhausted, like he hasn’t slept.
Christine puts her arms on Kurt’s shoulders and asks him if he has been out here all night, pointing out that his sleeping bag wasn’t unfurled, and he is sweating. Wolverine approaches them and asks Christine and Kurt if there is a problem. Kurt looks at his friend and replies that there isn’t, to which Logan declares that they can pack up and get going now, because he is smelling something that is making him think they need to get to the circus pronto.
‘You’re smelling -? Oh, right, you’re Wolverine, I forgot,’ mutters Christine. Kurt asks Wolverine what is going on, to which the rugged X-Man reveals that he can smell blood, fire and rot. ‘Nothing good at any rate’ remarks Logan as he motions the other two to get packing.
Kurt, Logan and Christine press further into the woods, Logan’s words echoing in Kurt’s head, while his stomach twists into a hangman’s noose. Above them, the sun blazes, burning up the morning fog. But down on the ground where they are, Wolverine reveals that they are getting real close now. Kurt knows Logan is right, and old memories, old patterns, old instincts all surface now, like muck-dwelling fish coming back to life with the Spring thaw.
Kurt almost believes that he could close his eyes and pick his way through the trees just by remembering what their bark felt like beneath his fingertips. These paths are trampled and travelled by circus folk for decades - longer than decades - are the veins and arteries that wind their… ‘Wait - I remember - The Winding Way!’
Suddenly, Wolverine stops, a look of shock on his face which spreads to Kurt and Christine as they see what awaits them beyond the ridge. Wolverine declares that the bad dreams Kurt has been having that made them come here are about to get worse. For beyond the ridge, Nightcrawler’s former circus home is ablaze.