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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

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Battle at the State Fair of Texas
All seems peaceful at Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Children on a bright, sunny day. But inside, Professor Charles Xavier sits in the Danger Room control center, with newcomer Kitty “Ariel” Pryde, as the five members of the X-Men - Scott “Cyclops” Summers, Ororo “Storm” Munroe, Piotr “Colossus” Rasputin, Kurt “Nightcrawler” Wagner and Wolverine a.k.a. Logan stand ready in the Danger Room proper. ‘All right, my X-Men - let the test begin - now!’ Xavier calls out from the control center, and as guns and other weapons emerge from the walls, Wolverine tells his teammates to look alive, as it is “circle of death” time.
Cyclops quickly takes command, and fires an optic blast at several missiles, he calls out to Storm, who unleashes a windstorm that disperses some paralzying gases. Colossus shifts into his steel form in a split-second as a powerful beam punches forth, slamming against him, while Wolverine ducks down to the floor, dodging a ray gun as he pops his claws, then dodges more ray guns as he moves across the room, and knocks two metal balls away, as Nightcrawler, sticking to the wall, asks why he should waste his time on acrobatics, when he can teleport himself right out of harm’s way - and does so, materializing in the control room. ‘Right, Herr Professor?’ he asks.
The Professor tells Nightcrawler that normally he would reprimand him for such antics, but not now, and telepathically instructs all X-Men to come to the control room. ‘What gives? Test over so soon?’ Wolverine asks, while Xavier telepathically repeats his instruction. ‘You “heard” the man, X-Men! Let’s move!’ Cyclops orders, and shortly, enters the control room with the others, while Kitty looks at them and thinks to herself ‘Wow, Cyclops and the others breezed through that one! They’re so fast and strong’. She tells herself ‘All I can do is phase through things. What kind of power is that compared to theirs? No wonder Professor Xavier wouldn’t let me take the test’. Professor X looks at the young mutant and tells her that she will get her chance when she has the experience that the other X-Men do. He adds that she should never denigrate the power she has been given.
‘Now - to the matter at hand’ Charles remarks, and tells the X-Men that, as they know, he has dedicated his life to finding gifted people - “mutants” - born with special powers, to bring them to this school, and train and to develop those powers. He motions to a computer and reports that Cerebro, his mutant tracking device, has located another such person. ‘We must find him and persuade him to join us - before Magneto the mutant arch-criminal can lure him into his band of Evil Mutants’ Xavier then informs the X-Men that the new mutant has been located in Dallas, specifically, the vicinity of the State Fair.
The State Fair of Texas is swarming with people, and a man in a wide-brimmed hat and long purple coat, his face hidden, approaches the horse barn. ‘Here is the place I want…’ he thinks to himself. He sees a blond boy fixing the horseshoe on a brown horse. ‘Come on, Danny! Hurry up with that horse!’ someone calls out further down the barn. The mysterious man sees Danny and knows that he is the one he seeks. ‘Daniel Wiley, why do you labor for ordinary mortals?’ the mysterious stranger asks. ‘What?’ Danny gasps, turning around.
Many beguiling lies later, Danny and the stranger are outside in the fair, sitting at a table, Danny is eating, and remarks ‘Gee, Mister, it’s nice to meet someone who finally understands and likes horses, too!’ to which the stranger replies that he knows what it is like to be misunderstood, and asks ‘Your father was a scientist?’ Danny explains that his father retired from government work after some accident that he never talked about, and started the horse ranch outside Dallas, which is where he was born.
Flashback images, narrated by Danny:
Danny would ride horses with his mother, while his father watched. He was the happiest kid alive, he loved horses, and dreamed of being one. Then, one night, he couldn’t sleep, and felt strange. He went to the barn to be with the horses, when he suddenly keeled over, and felt sick. His body began to change, his feet were replaced by hooves, his lower body replaced by that of a horse’s, and he grew wings - he had changed into a centaur. He let the horses loose, and he ran with them - then flew.
Present:
‘And then you found you could return to normal form at will! But you knew you cold never be happy again, as an ordinary human, correct?’ the mysterious stranger enquires. ‘Only I’m too scared to be what I really am’ Danny explains.
A short time later, at a sinister-look airship secreted outside Dallas, ‘Yes, he was scared. Scared of the ridicule and persecution heaped upon mutants by inferior ordinary mortals!’ Magneto, the Master of Magnetism, declares as he removes his hat and coat inside the ship. He uses his powers to levitate his helmet towards him and puts it on, deciding that he sensed great courage in young Daniel. ‘Courage I am helping him find’ he decides. Magneto shakes a fist and declares that soon, when he has won Daniel’s trust completely, he will join his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants - and they will rule the world.
In the meantime, the X-Men’s special strato-jet nears Dallas, ‘Ten minutes to landing, people!’ someone calls out. And, shortly, the X-Men have switched to civilian clothing so that they won’t attract undue attention, and their first stop at the State Fair is the music hall. Xavier looks around and decides that the fair is quite large, so they will have to split up into team. Storm and Cyclops are paired up, and sent to the Age of Steam exhibit, but find no one unusual there. Wolverine and Nightcrawler are sent to another exhibit, and although Nightcrawler finds it very interesting, they see no mutant. They look up at a large statue of a cowboy and Wolverine remarks ‘Wonder if ol’ Big Tex knows where our brother mutant is hiding?’
Colossus and Ariel remain with Xavier, and Colossus, in his human form, smiles at some cars and tells Xavier and Kitty that as long as it has been since he left his country, he is always awed by American automobiles. ‘Might I remind you, Colossus, that we are looking for a mutant… and not a new car?’ Xavier remarks as he examines a map of the State Fair of Texas.
The next day, Magneto is once again wearing his wide-brimmed hat and purple coat ‘Mister, it sure is swell of you to take me to the Cotton Bowl!’ Danny calls out a he walks alongside Magneto. They take their seat in the Cotton Bowl, where Piotr, Kitty and Charles are also seated. Magneto tells Daniel to consider it a gesture of friendship, from a fellow horse lover. ‘Whooee! If that’s what Texas has playing for them, we’re doomed!’ one of the crowd remarks to another as they watch the game. Charles telepathically informs Colossus and Ariel that he senses the mutant here, and turning, looks at Danny, who is walking up some stairs. Charles tells Colossus and Ariel that he is the mutant they seek, before senses a sinister presence beside him, disturbing the psychic force field.
Suddenly, Magneto turns around, ‘Just as I feared! Professor Xavier and two of his students!’ he thinks to himself, realizing that the X-Men are looking for Daniel, too. He tells Daniel that they have to leave. ‘Leave? But why?’ Danny asks, following Magneto, who tells him to trust him, as their lives are in danger even as he speaks. Charles alerts Kitty and Colossus to the fact that the mutant is leaving, and supposes that the older one must be Magneto. ‘If it is, we cannot fight him until we are all assembled as a team’ Charles adds, while Kitty races up the stairs of the stadium, telling the Professor that she will follow them and keep an eye on them until the group is ready. Charles telepathically alerts Cyclops and Nightcrawler, and Wolverine and Storm who are out searching, to report to the Cotton Bowl immediately.
Meanwhile, ‘You mean these other mutants - the X-Men - want to kidnap me?’ Danny asks Magneto, who adds that they will enslave him, that Professor Xavier and his gang are traitors to mutant kind. ‘Your only chance is to flee with me!’ Magneto adds. ‘Well, I don’t know…’ Danny replies, before Kitty phases through the wall of the Cotton Bowl, ‘Well here goes nothing, I lost them upstairs, so I thought my best chance would be just to phase right down - oh no’ she thinks to herself before she sees them. ‘It’s one of them! The X-Men!’ Magneto declares, before telling Danny to run, while he holds them off. The evil mutant uses his magnetic powers, and levitates a motorcycle right out from under the man driving it, and slams it against the wall, shattering it where Kitty phased through. ‘Wow! I don’t believe my eyes!’ Danny exclaims.
Quickly, Ariel phases back through the wall, ‘Phew! That was close! Mustn’t let surprise ruin my reflexes’ she thinks to herself. Kitty then phases up through the ground, and arriving outside, sees that Magneto is running away, he thinks to himself that he must not have a confrontation with the X-Men until Daniel is his. ‘Well, there he goes, too fast for me to catch, even if I wanted to’ Kitty thinks to herself. But, she sees the mutant boy and calls out to him: ‘Hey! Kid’, but Danny sees her and starts to run towards the horse barn. Kitty is surprised, she didn’t expect him to run away from her like that, she decides that she better follow at a safe distance and stay out of sight.
Later, in the horse barn, Magneto is dressed in his costume, and explains to Danny that he came to him disguised lest the evil X-Men discover him. Suddenly, ‘Couldn’t we speak to the boy first?’ a voice calls out, as Charles Xavier appears, with the X-Men, in their costumes, behind him. ‘All we want to do is talk’ Charles explains. But, the deceitful Magneto is quick with a ruse, and steps between the X-Men and Danny, ‘Look out, Daniel, they’re attacking!’ he lies, as he uses his power to hurl metal objects from all around the barn at himself and at Danny - horse shoes, nails, hammers and other tools, and he quickly creates a magnetic force field around himself and Danny to protect them from the impact. ‘Observe, Daniel, as I protect you from those criminals!’ Magneto calls out.
Suddenly, ‘You were right about them! I’m fighting beside you, Magneto!’ Danny calls out as he shifts to his winged centaur form. ‘The charge into battle - noble Eques!’ Magneto calls the young mutant. Eques flies towards the X-Men and kicks Wolverine backwards, while Xavier tells his team not to hurt the boy, as he is innocent. ‘Dupe, am I!?’ Eques exclaims as he moves onto his hind legs before Xavier. ‘He’s attacking the Professor!’ Kitty calls out, before Nightcrawler teleports onto Eques’s back. Charles tells Nightcrawler to be careful, and instructs the rest of the team to get Magneto. Eques reaches around and tries to pull Nightcrawler off of him, while Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm and Colossus rush towards Magneto. ‘We don’t want to hurt the kid - but we don’t have to spare you, Magnet-head!’ Wolverine snarls.
‘Primitive beast - your metal claws are useless against the mutant Master of Magnetism!’ Magneto declares as he takes control of Wolverine’s claws, and flings the feisty mutant up to the ceiling, causing Logan’s claws to stick into the ceiling, leaving him hanging. While Wolverine struggles to free himself, ‘Cyclops fires an optic blast at Magneto, who surrounds himself with a magnetic force field, deflecting the blasts. ‘Let me handle him -’ Colossus suggests as he marches forward, but Magneto calls him stupid and points out that he presents too tempting a target for a living magnet. Colossus falls under Magneto’s power, and he is hurled through the roof of the horse barn. Magneto starts to fly through the hole, with Colossus still under his magnetic control. Storm flies after them, while Magneto calls out to Eques, instructing him to follow also.
Eques knocks Nightcrawler off of his back, while Kitty and the Professor continue to watch the battle. ‘I follow where you lead, Magneto!’ Eques replies as he kicks Cyclops in the back, then heads for the hole in the ceiling. Kitty phases outside to see what is happening, while Magneto and Eques are in the air, and Magneto keeps Colossus floating above him, asking him if he misses his classmates. ‘Then join them!’ Magneto shouts as he frees Colossus from his magnetic grasp, letting him fall to the barn. ‘Wait! Don’t!’ Eques calls out. Storm hovers nearby, while Colossus tells himself that he must turn and brace in time.
In the horse barn, Nightcrawler goes to help the Professor, while Wolverine, who has dropped down from the roof, helps Cyclops. ‘Got to land on my feet’ Colossus thinks to himself as he slams through the roof, as Nightcrawler teleports himself and the Professor to safety. ‘Did it!’ Colossus calls out as he lands on his feet in the barn. Magneto drops his shield to admit Eques inside it, while Storm follows him. ‘How could you? You almost injured the horses in the horse barn!’ Eques calls out. ‘Horses? Who cares about the idiotic horses?’ Magneto asks. Eques grabs him by the throat and declares that the X-Men were right. ‘You are a deceiver!’ he exclaims. Magneto drops to the ground, and Storm fires a lightning bolt at him, and the statue of Big Tex that Magneto falls besides kicks him, knocking him out.
The next day, Professor X, Storm, Wolverine, Ariel, Cyclops, Nightcrawler and Colossus meet with Eques, and Xavier asks him if he won’t join them. Eques replies that it would be an honor to join the X-Men, but that their life seems too wild, and he prefers to stay in Dallas, in peace, with his horses. Xavier tells Eques that they understand and accept his invitation to see more of the wonderful State Fair. Eques smiles and tells the X-Men that he admires their style, adding that he likes the way Storm made Big Tex kick Magneto in the pants. Storm looks at the statue and announces that she didn’t do it, that she thought it must have been Cyclops’s optic blast. Big Tex just winks.


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
untitled
Framing story:
Westchester, New York, Xavier’s School:
And who knew our Mr. Summers was a closet scientist? Dr Moira MacTaggert jokes as she finds Scott Summers busy in a lab. With Hank gone, someone has to step up, he answers seriously. Luckily, he can ask Cerebro to run an analysis.
He wouldn’t think I should ask Doctor MacTaggert to do this? she remarks half-seriously. He replies that he should be able to rely on one of the X-Men. As it is, he’s lucky to even have this tiny sample… He wouldn’t be complaining about his new team, would he? Moira observes. Scott turns away. He doesn’t want to talk about it. Fair enough, she agrees, but Scott interrupts, clearly wanting to talk about it. So, he was trying to round up everyone for a training session, right?
Cyclops’s story:
He went to prep the Danger Room for a demo and saw it was already open for an unauthorized session… Within, he found Wolverine, Nightcrawler and Banshee already using the room. Wolverine was demonstrating the use of the room’s laser by having them demolish all kinds of foodstuff.
Hey, Summers, Wolverine ordered him, take out those cabbages with your eyebeam! Okay, Cyclops began to reply reflexively, before asking them what they are doing making a mess here? This is for tactical and combat training! He was just going to schedule a session!
Wolverine slices a part a watermelon with his claws and tells Scott to let them know next time. They thought he was out camping with Jean. She’s not camping; she’s at her family’s house recuperating from her ordeal on Krakoa. Scott presses a button, announcing he will send in the janitorbots, so clear the room out. And he’s resetting the access to answer only to his voice.
Is he the party, or what? Wolverine mutters. Or vat, Nightcrawler replies.
Banshee flies after Scott who is stalking off outside. Sean suggests Scott be open for a bit o’ the fun. He’s right, Scott replies sarcastically. He forgot about professor Xavier’s pledge for mutantkind “to have a bit o’ the fun…”
Well, it looks like Peter has the work ethics Scott is looking for, Sean suggests, looking ahead of them and Scott is in for his next shock as Colossus is busy plowing the campus. When Scott demands to know what he is doing Peter replies very sensibly that he’s plowing rows to grow crops. How are they to eat if they do not farm? Sean, agrees and suggests he plant some “p’taetas” while Scott just holds is head in despair.
Suddenly, thunder rumbles, threatening to ruin Colossus’ plan. He has not sown the seeds! he states anxiously. Sean recalls that in his homeland they’d say the fairy king as mourning the missing moon.
Scott looks up to find the cloud right above them. And a crying Storm. Is she causing this rain? Scott asks. Ororo sniffs and apologizes. She was thinking about her beloved Kenya and… she grew homesick… she will make it stop. The drenched Cyclops doesn’t reply.
He walks into the Cerebro chamber, addressing Cerebro and ordering it to find him a mutant anywhere. Scans result better with an advanced telepath such as Charles Xavier or Jean Grey, it reminds him. Just find one, Scott orders. Gotta be someone better out there, he mutters.
Cerebro locates someone and some time later, the Blackbird is on its way to Kentucky. Nightcrawler approves of that state. Its capital is called Frankfort.
The team argues on whether Cerebro said mutant or mutants as it kept alternating with no explanation. They descend. Wolverine announces that Cerebro is a piece of junk. Junk? Cyclops turns around angrily. Xavier designed it and it found most of them. He also designed this jet that just go them here and this visor that’s keeping his force beam from taking Wolverine’s head off! Could he keep at the landing then, Banshee suggests.
As they exit the jet, Storm diplomatically suggests that Wolverine meant to say it was unusual for Cerebro’s readings to change so drastically as it did. That’s what he said, Wolverine points out.
Cyclops wonders where the mutant or mutants is or are. The scanner says it or they should be right here. He sees nothing, Colossus announces, calling Cyclops leader. He doesn’t have to call him leader, Scott immediately corrects him. Da, Chief Director, then.
Kurt steps into something brown and moist. Yuck, watch out for spetzlemischmekt, he exclaims while Scott is still trying to explain to Colossus that “Cyclops” or “Scott” will do. High Authority Cyclops? Peter suggests.
Hey! Wolverine shouts. The junk is not just on the ground but falling from the trees! Cyclops’s scanner shows him the mutant is the mold. It’s some kind of mutated spore. A spore culture is multiple, yet still part of the same organism, Storm suggests. That is why Cerebro had trouble distinguishing it.
As the spores form into one huge body, Cyclops states he thinks Hank would have called it a conglomerate being… functions with a group mind.
It stands before the still-human Colossus and reaches out, then hits him. Wolverine instantly slashes at it and is also hit. Angrily, Peter transforms into Colossus. It may harm his Proletarian form, he announces, but it will not stop him as Colossus! He tries to hit it and breaks right through the body, creating a second one.
Banshee’s sonic scream shakes it apart as does Cyclops’ optic beam. He orders the others to stop so he can try to communicate with the mutant(s). It’s possible it doesn’t mean harm. In their first mission, the X-Men encountered a subterranean entity that projected…
He is summarily ignored by the team as they take the creature apart. Every one stop! Scott shouts.
They cease and look at him speechless. Around them is complete devastation, the being is destroyed. Wolverine hands Cyclops a small scrap of it with one claw. Here’s a bit of it he can examine, he suggests. Lucky, huh? Cyclops sighs and gives the order to get back.
Present:
Moira admits she understands Scott’s frustration at the way the X-Men have changed. But she’s been getting to know them a little better. While he analyzes that, she suggests he listen to her audio and get to know his team in their own words…
Storm’s story:
Cairo was alive with color and laughter when she was a child. She loved it. She was the star pupil of Achmed el-Gibar, the city’s greatest thief king. Her name was Snow-top…
That night, she was on a mission; her first solo mission. She was only eight years old. But her coordination and reflexes were far more advanced than Achmed’s other students’.
Proudly and happily, the girl swings across Cairo’s rooftops and picks the locks of a window in the museum of Set. She jumps inside to face two growling dogs.
Unsurprised, Snow-top blows dried mimosa leaves at them which makes the beasts fall asleep. Skillfully, she makes her way down corridors of cold shadows and gleaming metal. Finally, she comes to the main exhibit hall and beholds the prize she has been sent to steal. A statue of Set under a glass covering. She opens it to get the wooden box underneath the statue.
As she hesitates, wondering why she is to leave the far more valuable statue behind, black snakes are lowered from the ceiling. She jumps and somersaults out of the way and even escapes the human guard with a light grenade before smashing out of the window and getting back to the rooftops.
Retuning to Achmed’s lair, she hands him the prize. He replies that this is indeed the box he desired, the one he placed in the museum last night.
He orders her to open it. Inside is a picture of her with her parents. When they died the loss scarred her mind and heart. She has hidden from their memory ever since. But a great thief hides from others, never herself. She has been Snow-top long enough. He tells her to wear her true name now – Ororo.
No! she refuses angrily and crumples the photo. She doesn’t care about them! She hates them! They left her and she hates them and she hates Achmed! She doesn’t want to remember! She’s Snow-top!
Crying she ran, but in time came to understand her pain. In time, she was able to mourn her parents. And thank Achmed for the gift he gave her that night.
Banshee’s story:
So Moira wants a tale of his misspent youth? Well, where to begin? He thinks of one. He had a wee bit of a scrap when he was sixteen. A friend even wrote a song about it. Now then, how did it go?
From out of County Mayo’s heart
A fine young lad did ride—
His name was Sean, his hair was red
(a source of family pride)—
In all of Ireland you could search
but ne’er would you find –
A fellow with more grace and skill,
And love for all mankind—
One starry night out on the moors
Young Sean received a shock—
A young girl’s scream did echo out,
Near waltzing Minstrel Rock—
So Sean rode forth to find the lass
And maybe lend a hand
And soon discovered that the strife—
Came from a gruesome band.
(Namely a bunch of trolls)
The brothers Bogg had grabbed the girl,
Three trolls of hefty size—
The eldest was big Dougal Bogg,
He’d trouble with his eyes—
His brother Ardal was a brute
And smelled like mangy cats--
The youngest, Pat, had a dribbly nose,
and terrible taste in hats –
Away with ye! Big Dougal growled,
The wench belongs to us!—
That’s right! his brother Ardal scowled,
There’s no need for a fuss!—
But Sean could only see ahead
A dream in purest white—
And so at once his heart was claimed,
He squared up for a fight—
Now Sean, he had a secret,
Though I promised ne’er to tell—
When danger show its ugly head,
He’d give out quite a yell.
His cry could lift him in the air,
Like a bird his body soars
And if the Boggs had spoken French.
They would’ ve cried Alors!—
The sound that young Sean made that night
hit like a great big hammer –
The boy’s bewitched!
Pat yelled out loud
with just a little stammer—
The brothers Bogg were tossed around
like leaves caught on the breeze—
Big Dougal fell into the mud,
Pat landed in the trees—
(Sean scoops up the girl.)
Sean Cassidy’s the name, dear miss,
he said, his eyes all wide—
If yonder pigs have harmed ye
then their Skulls I will divide—
My name is Cadhla, she replied.
 I feel I must rejoice—
I’ve never met a boy before
with such a lovely voice—
Poor Sean was lost for words just then,
He couldn’t really choose—
He didn’t notice Ardal had
Awoken from his snooze—
The troll took aim and fired his sling
Made from a demon cow—
Sean’s head exploded into lights,
He fell back, shoutin’ Ow!—
Now Waltzing Minstrel Rock, y’see,
Is hallowed ground indeed—
A stairway ‘tween the daylight
And the shadows we must heed—
(The trolls grab the girl and head off.)
The trolls descended with their prize,
Their laughter mixed with jeers—
But Sean arose in time to see
Young Cadhla’s face in tears.
(He follows them into the cave, down a stairway)
The youth flew down into the pit
Where monsters there do dwell—
An underworld of fiends and freaks,
Sean prepped his voice to yell
Big Dougal Bogg saw Sean and so
He gave a strangled cry—
Rise up! he yelled, a boy-witch comes,
So kindly make him die!—
The scrap that followed was the kind
That none could e’ver forget—
The trolls and wraiths and darks elves came,
Sean fought with no regret—
He vanquished demons with one punch,
And giants with a kick—
He flattened all the werewolves
And a goblin-king named Dick—
The Brothers Bogg were last in line
(they’d cowered in the dark)—
Young Pat went down protestin’
It was really just a lark!
Then Ardal hit the ground face-down
All broke and bent and smelly—
Sean saved big Dougal for the end,
He got it in the belly.
And so the Irish underworld
Lay silent for a while—
Sean Cassidy stood proud and tall,
The victor by a mile—
A legend new was born that night,
Spawned by the boy above—
The monsters had been beaten
her face all flushed and bright—
They wanted me to sing for them
They chained me up so tight.
Sean grinned and said: I’ll have ye free
‘tis only a small matter—
A single cry sprang from his lips
And Cadhla’s chains did shatter
Thank ye so! the fair girl cried
And danced across the floor—
And in a heartbeat she and Sean
Stood once more ‘pon the moor—
The lad was shocked, His mouth gaped wide
At last he saw the truth—
The vision was a faerie child
And not a human youth—
Cadhla laughed and leapt into Sean’s arms
She hugged him tight—
Their lips met seconds later
And it was a splendid sight—
This was a first love for the pair
Their hearts were beatin’ strong
But both of them knew all too well
It couldn’t last for long
I am a banshee, Cadhla said
Her voice now just a sigh—
I sing when human men pass on,
And guide their spirits high.
I feared as much, Sean whispered low.
This means that we are done,
We’re from two different worlds
And we can never be as one
Fair Cadhla rose into the sky
Her tears became the rain
I must leave my love, she said
Although it brings me pain—
But know this well, my darlin’ Sean
When your time comes around—
I’ll be there and I’ll sing for ye
And take ye from the ground.
Sean Cassidy stood there all night
His soul left dull and achin’
But come the morn he walked off fine.
His heart in no way breakin’
For even if his life may end
With sins he must atone
He knows that when he breathes his last
He will not die alone.
Nightcrawler’s story:
It is his first night in the big top as a trapeze artist. Kurt Wagner performs his tricks: dancing across a rope, tricks on the trapeze and finally he teleports to the audience to give a lady a rose. The audience loves it.
It is his first time in the spotlight, the first cheer he hears when his name is spoken. It is a night to remember. Kurt Wagner is fifteen, eager to prove himself, hungry foe acclaim and the crowd’s roar is all he has hoped it would be.
His foster Mother Margali Szardos on the other hand is far from cheering. She has tried to dissuade Kurt from performing. He knew she would be furious with him for teleporting in public, but suddenly that becomes the least of their worries as a group of masked, armed thieves make their way into the tent to rob the people.
As the girl he gave the rose to is threatened at gunpoint Kurt has to act. If there is one thing he could never resist it is a damsel in distress. He jumps at the armed man, taking him out. It is as if he has lit a fuse. His people explode with rage.
Amidst the chaos, the gang leader tries to slip away. Kurt gets him down, asking if this makes him strong – scaring people? The man reacts frightened, believing Kurt to be a demon, as he realizes his looks are real. Horrified, he allows the police to lead him away.
Kurt looks after him pensive. He didn’t mean for that to happen. He will dance across that man’s dreams for the rest of his life, Margali observes. Who knows, perhaps it will make him a better man.
And what kind of man will he become? Kurt wonders. Must he hide in the shadows his entire life? No, comes the reply. Play in the light if you must, but let the world believe you are a lie, a man in a mask. It is the only way you will survive.
Kurt stayed on the trapeze. He still loved the crowd’s applause. But he knew it came at a cost. They were cheering the Nightcrawler, not him.
Colossus’ story:
Peter Rasputin recalls his youth. He was thirteen. His brother Mikhail, his hero, had died in an accident a month earlier. Peter felt so lost and angry. He was also scared. He had discovered his mutant power but kept it hidden.
His friends Sergei, Viktor and Khristina wanted to cheer him up. One rare day off the quartet drove to a favorite meeting space of theirs, an old zinc mine near their farm.
Sergei jokes around, claiming the land in the name Czar Sergei the first while prancing around. Unfortunately suddenly the ground gives way beneath them and he falls. Due to recent rainfalls, the ground had weakened.
The other three gather around the hole but he doesn’t reply to them. Khristina and Viktor suggest getting help at the farm, but Peter decides Sergei needs them now. There’s rope in the car.
And so soon the three of them descend into the dark. They find him lying there and call his name worried. Weakly he corrects them it’s czar Sergei to them. They are relieved, however that moment an iron girder comes loose and is about to hit them with the wall caving in.
Peter cries out in rage and then his friends stare at him in wonder as he transforms into Colossus and holds up the ceiling. Peter manages to smash a way to the surface for them eventually.
He worries that his friends will reject him. Khristina asks him if he will be like that forever. He explains he can change back and asks her not to be afraid. She hugs him, telling him it’s the most wonderful thing she’s ever seen. Peter Rasputin, farmer of steel, Viktor adds. He’s gonna be famous now, Sergei adds.
Peter asks them to keep his secret. It was the first time he used his strength to help others and his bitterness died that day. Mikhail had pledged to use his strength to create a better world for others. And Peter now knew he wanted to do the same. He wanted to make him proud!
Wolverine’s story:
He doesn’t usually brag about his past, but for Moira he will make an exception. He was a dull kid growing up in a dull town (yet always wearing his mask). But one day he went to a science exhibition (motto: “radiation is our friend”) and everything changed, as he was bitten by a radioactive Wolverine.
The next day he sprouted some hair… and muscles… and claws. Time went by. He tried a lot of jobs like children’s book author…
Bouncy Bear went to visit his friend Walter Weasel. “Where’s the money you owe me, Walter?” Bouncy asked as he pulled out his favorite mallet…
…Theater actor…
This is one salesman who ain’t dyin’, bub!
… folk singer…
How many roads must a man walk down… before he gives up and steals a car…
But nothing seemed to work out though… but then he saw an ad:
Do you…
a)	enjoy punching creeps?
b)	Like blowing things up
c)	Really enjoy punching creeps?
Then SNIKT wants you.
Before he knew it, he was the top agent of SNIKT, fighting menaces like the zombie clowns of Budapest (with an ankle-clinging gypsy girl), the moon monarch (with an ankle-clinging female astronaut)… And the biggest threat: BIMBO (Bastion of International Models for Benevolent Obliteration), the terrorist group composed entirely of hot babes.
Yay Bimbo! Groovy BIMBO! We shall never be destroyed. Break off one nail and two false ones will take its place!
One day, the Supreme Diva gathered her forces, telling her agents that she texted them all to come to their secret base in fashionable Monaco for a truly awesome reason. Using the mental powers of their captive, they can, like, carry out their organization’s ultimate goal and humanely wipe out all of the world’s ugly people.
That moment, Wolverine crashes though the skylight only to be attacked by BIMBO’s designer droids. Wolverine flattens then and then threatens the rest of BIMBO by pointing out that he just put a big hole in their U.V. filter skylight. That’s heavy duty solar radiation coming down at them. What’s that gonna do to their precious complexions?
Afraid for their beautiful skin, the agents of BIMBO run for their lives. The Supreme Diva shouts that she hates him, but as long as fashion dominates the lives of insecure young women, BIMBO will survive.
Soon, it was just him and the guy in the chair whom he freed. Professor Xavier thanked him and then begged him to join his X-Men. Well, Wolverine was undecided. He’s go a good thing going with SNIKT…. But he hates to see a bald man cry  and so he hooked up with the X-Men just out of the kindness of his heart (and seeing Jean Grey had nothing to do with it)
Framing story:
Moira breaks Cyclops out of it, telling him he has visitors. It’s the entire team. Banshee begins, they’ve been tossing the blarney… and they want to say something. Storm continues. Mainly… they were wrong, Wolverine admits. They should have followed Cyclops’ lead; the fight was his call to make. As supreme leader, Colossus adds helpfully. They apologize.
Cyclops replies he appreciates that very much but… they were all right to go full blast on the spores. The sample Cerebro analyzed shows that it was reproducing exponentially. If they hadn’t wiped it out, it would have covered three states within the week.
Maybe spores aren’t the only thing with a working group mind. Instincts like that are a good sign for a team. If he had a glass, he would make a toast, Nightcrawler announces. Let’s toast like X-Men! Scott suggests. Everyone to the Danger Room for an hour of destroying things? Yes! the others shout
And the session begins. In the observation booth, Moira asks Cyclops if she detects a note of hope towards this version two. Yeah, he admit, he thinks … it may take some adjustment on his part, but he thinks there is real promise there. But would it kill them to wear the same uniforms?


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

[Assistant]
Refuge
Happily, Kurt Wagner aka Nightcrawer leaps across the roofs of New York City, shouting exuberantly: Guten Morgen, New York, I love you!
He somersaults from a high roof to a lower one. As he pauses, he notes that nearby a construction worker on a scaffolding, who cries in alarm as he a sees a rope snap, dumping cinder blocks to the street below. Worse, two young girls stand on the ground.
Instantly, Kurt teleports down to the girls, grabs them and pulls them aside, moments before the bricks hit the pavement. Nightcrawler’s the name, saving beautiful damsels is the game, he announces, trying to introduce himself.
The reaction is not quite what he envisioned. The girls’ mother calls Julie and Charlotte to her. Panicked, the girls run away from Kurt. He tries to assure their mother that they are perfectly safe but, before he can finish his sentence, she hits him with her purse, calls him a freak and orders him to get his hands off her children.
A hostile crowd has gathered, blaming Kurt of attacking those girls. Ignoring his assurances that he was helping, they become violent. He only has one option and teleports away to a nearby alleyway.
He can still hear the mob discussing him, calling him a monster and demon. Dejected, he turns on his image inducer to give him the appearance of the Errol Flynn lookalike he favors.
Meanwhile at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, his fellow X-Men are going through a training session in the Danger Room. They’re fighting a huge robot. Cyclops tells his team they know this level. Are they gonna let “G.I. Joebot” kick their mutated behinds again?
His “behind” is staying untouched today, Colossus vows seriously while Wolverine remarks this sucker is going down.
Storm attacks with lightning bolts. The robot is shielded against that, Cyclops tells her. Find another way! She follows up with a miniature blizzard to make the metal more brittle. Cyclops praises her and tells Banshee he is up next. He uses his sonic scream. However, the robot pushes Storm into Banshee. Stay awake up there! Cyclops shouts, causing Wolverine to snarls they are doing fine. He and Colossus deliver the coup de grace.
Not bad, Cyclops admits grudgingly, thirty-two seconds, but… Lemme guess, Wolverine moans, The old X-Men used to do it in four! Try three, comes the reply. Oh, and when they see Nightcrawler, tell him Danger Room sessions aren’t an optional extra around here. He’d better have a great reason for ducking it out.
Colossus finds Nightcrawler in the garden, sitting atop a tree and musing. What is he doing up there? Piotr asks. Thinking, comes the reply. Piotr asks what has happened. It was just like Winzeldorf when the professor found him, Kurt explains. They were a group of ordinary people going about their day and then they saw him and became a mob. In the circus, he hid inside a costume and a fanciful name. He let the crowd believe he was an acrobat in a mask.
He switches on his image inducer. It gives him a human face but it’s just another lie, a trick of the light. Shake his hand and you’ll still feel three fingers… He is so sick of hiding! He turns it off again.
Peter ventures that the word isn’t ready for them yet. They must be patient. He has been patient all his life, Kurt replies. What he saw today, what he felt, makes him wonder if there is any point to this place. They wanted him dead! What hope is there for him when the mere sight of his face causes such hatred? What hope is there for any of them?
Inside the building, Cyclops is phoning his girlfriend Jean Grey aka Phoenix, who is currently sharing a Greenwich Village apartment with PI Misty Knight and trying to make it outside the X-Men.
Scott reminds her that as Phoenix her powers are dialed up to eleven and she needs to learn how to control them. Impatiently, Jean tells him she has got a life in New York now. She never planned to orbit Planet Xavier forever. She quit the X-Men, he didn’t. She’s not sweet little “Marvel Girl” anymore. She’s Phoenix and she’s handling her powers perfectly.
She grabs a portfolio. She tells Scott she has to run. She has a job interview. They’ll talk later. She loves him.
That moment, Xavier telepathically calls the team to the main dining room.
The team enters. Wolverine asks what’s with the telepathic dinner gong. They don’t usually get together for lunch. This is a special occasion, Xavier informs them. A rare opportunity for a cultural exchange. They are about to met some very important visitors…
And that moment, the Royal Family of the Inhumans (Black Bolt, Medusa, Karnak, Gorgon and Triton) are teleported in by the loyal dog, Lockjaw.
Medusa, who as usual speaks for her husband, the king, thanks them for the invitation. How was the United Nations meeting? Xavier asks her. Taxing, she admits smiling. She’d sooner face Doctor Doom than another gaggle of diplomats. But they are slowly achieving official status for their people.
Xavier introduces their house guests. Dr. Moira MacTaggert and Princess Lilandra. After lunch, the teams talk. Xavier agrees with Medusa and Black Bolt that it’s an evolutionary imperative to fear the unfamiliar.
Gorgon tries his charm on Storm, admitting she is beautiful for a Non-Inhuman, while Wolverine informs Karnak that not only did he also tangle with the Hulk, but that he let him live.
Nightcrawler and Colossus talk with Triton. Nightcrawler is astonished to learn that there is a full city of Inhumans. Home to many thousands of his kind, Triton informs Kurt. They are an infinitely diverse people. No two are alike and all are treated equally. Its name is Attilan. But it’s also known as the Great Refuge… Kurt listens attentively.
After lunch, Banshee takes Gorgon and Karnak for a tour and shows them the Danger Room where Wolverine is already waiting. Gorgon doesn’t seem impressed by the room and Wolverine calls him on it. Care to give it a try? he suggests. With pleasure, Gorgon shoots back, while Banshee tries to mediate this isn’t a good idea. Wolverine tells him to can it. Let’s see what Billy Goat Gruff can do.
A door opens to let combat droids enter.  Gorgon smashes them apart with his feet or by creating shockwaves. Is this their idea of danger? he mocks. He’s had rougher times paying Xenoball with his nieces. Is Karnak going to let him hog all the fun? he asks his cousin who proceeds to use his martial arts and ability to see any flaw to take apart another robot. He refers to this as a little light exercise.
The exercise over, Gorgon laughs dismissively. Their weapons belong into an Attilan nursery, he announces. Worked up a little sweat there? Wolverine asks and presses a button. Let’s wash it all off! A stream of water hits Gorgon in the face. Furious, he announces that was a mistake.
Banshee steps between him and Wolverine, asking them to remember they are all friends here. Wolverine unsheathes his claws and grins. If Gorgonzola gets his kick playing with toys, he’s got some shiny ones right here he might like… Little man, Gorgon replies, let him show him how he gets his “kicks”…
Moments later, a powerful blow sends Wolverine literally straight through the roof. Seeing him fly by, Medusa apologizes to Cyclops for Gorgon’s temper. Nonplussed, Cyclops assures her it’s okay. Wolverine probably started it. He survived being punched into orbit once. He’ll be fine. Wow, look at that… still going…
Soon, Medusa reads Gorgon the riot act while Triton apologizes to the Professor on Black Bolt’s behalf and announces Lockjaw will now teleport them home.
Nightcrawler interferes. If the Inhumans permitted it, he would very much like to see their city. May he accompany them for a visit?
Colossus feels uncomfortable with this and quickly announces he too would like to see Attilan. Triton smiles and invites them.
Soon they are teleported into the middle of the city, an elevated platform surrounded by fantastic buildings. Flying Inhumans see them and happily announce the return of the Royal Family. Unglaublich! Kurt exclaims. He has never seen such a beautiful sight. Triton agrees that Attilan is priceless jewel. He explains that they are sheltered within the Himalayas far removed from the human race. Their climate is preserved by technology, their safety by vigilance.
They walk inside over a dais. Triton claims that the Inhumans have dwelled within Attilan’s walls for millennia. Their ancestors were once part of the greater world but they were drives into seclusion by the fury of a jealous humanity.
The king and queen are greeted by enthusiastic subjects and wave back. Nightcrawler notes they are well-loved. The people know that they would lay down their lives for their well-being.
A servants presents Medusa’s sister and her husband, Crystalia Amaquelin, better known as Crystal, and the mutant Pietro Frank aka Quicksilver. Smiling, Crystal too welcomes the mutants to Attilan.
Pietro strictly looks at Nightcrawler. So, they are part of Xavier’s latest brood then? He’d heard he’s been recruiting again. He expects Xavier told them of him? Ah, no, Herr Frank, Nightcrawler replies. He does not recall the Professor mentioning him. Indulgently Crystal suggests they need to find him a press agent. Coolly, Pietro informs the X-Men that in his youth he served Magneto. He’s sure they’ve heard of him. He clashed with their teammates many times as Quicksilver. And, while he no longer has reason to make any X-Man fear his name, he would suggest they do not give him one. With that sour statement, he makes his exit.
Crystal apologizes for her husband. She’s afraid Pietro’s mutant power is superspeed, not supercharm. Addressing her as “Lady Crystalia,” Peter assures her there is no need to apologize. She asks them to call her Crystal. Triton takes the two X-Men away for the Grand tour of Attilan.
And as promised, Attilan is an inspiring metropolis of shining towers and natural wonder. It is a carnival of unique, exotic beings, each more amazing than the last. For the first time in his life, Kurt Wagner walks freely. His appearance attracts no hate, no revulsion, no horror. He loves it. And, always, Peter Rasputin watches his friend.
Later, he joins him on a balcony. Kurt states that Triton has gone to fetch them some transport. He says the helix pools in the north sector are a breathtaking sight… Peter interrupts him. Strictly, he announces that Kurt cannot stay here. Excuse me? Nightcrawler replies. Peter continues that he knows Kurt. The thing that happened to him has hurt him deeply. And on the same day, he is shown all this. He must see it as a sign. But he thinks it is a test. Kurt would be surrendering. If he remained in Attilan, he would be agreeing with the X-Men’s enemies, the ones who say that mutants have no place in society.
He got a taste of society today, Kurt reminds him. He was lucky to escape with his life. He is not an Inhuman, Peter insists. Neither is Quicksilver, Kurt retorts, and they have welcomed him. Peter can shed his metal skin without a single though. He can join any crowd and not be noticed. All the X-Men enjoy this freedom! He is the only one who was marked from birth to be different! The demon! The freak! The monster!
Peter reminds him hat Kurt told him he was tired of hiding. Will he live on a mountain for the rest of his life? He could be accepted in Attilan, Kurt insist! Only by denying his world… Shut up! Kurt tells him and turns away. Stupid Russian farm boy. What does he know of the world?
He steps outside to hear a bell. The crowd is happily following it. Triton enters, announcing the Helix pools will have to wait. Where is Peter? he asks. He’ll join them later, Kurt claims. Why all this excitement? The bell of terrigenesis has been sounded, comes the reply. It is their most sacred ritual. Come, the temple of Randac awaits!
Soon the two of them are in the crowd around a round dais on which stand several normal-looking children, a priest and a chamber.  The priest begins: all their love to them, children of Attilan, for they are their spirit and promise. The fruit of Randac’s labor are passed to them. All that they were will be washed away. All that they will become shall be decided. Come forward and be forever new!
One girl introduces herself as Seyrenn, gene-caste of Morrith. She is asked to step into the chamber, where the Mists of Terrigen will embrace her, purify her and make her perfect.
They witness the girl turning into a huge black shape. The audience cheers. Only Kurt Wagner is horrified. The girl was mutated. What is this madness? he exclaims.
Triton exclaims it is an ancient rite of passage. They unlock the genetic potential of their young. But he thought they were born this way, Kurt stammers. They experiment on their children!This is obscene!
He jumps onto the dais and orders them to stop. How dare he defile this sacred place? the priest shouts. Kurt tries to drag away the other kids. What about their rights? he shouts. The priest orders the guards to get that lunatic off the dais. Kurt attacks the guard, claiming he is the only sane man here. They are so blinded by tradition, they can’t see the crime they are committing!
His kick makes the guard’s weapon misfire and hit the chamber. The crowd’s mood turns ugly, they demand Kurt be destroyed.  Furious, the priest takes an energy lance and strikes Kurt in the back with it.


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

[Assistant]
To Err is Inhuman…
Colossus races through a crowd of Inhumans, shouting the name of his friend: Kurt!!!
Nightcrawler lies unconscious on a dais at the temple of Randac. Colossus reaches him. What have they done to him? he shouts. The priest Oboroth replies that he struck him down. He desecrated their most sacred ritual. The time of Terrigenesis.
A mob eggs him on to finish the defiler. Standing protectively over Kurt, Colossus threatens, if the priest has killed him… Oboroth remarks that the endo-staff merely phases through a body, disrupting the biofunctions. He lives. He will awaken in pain. But he deserves far worse. The alien will face judgment, but it is only formality. There is but one penalty for his crime… death.
No! Peter shouts. If he must fight every Inhuman in this city, then he shall! They will not harm him!
Triton tries to calm him. More violence will not save his friend. He thought Kurt was Triton’s friend also, Colossus shoots back. Was he wrong. They will find a way to help him, Triton replies.
No! his cousin Gorgon shouts and stamps his hoof. With his own eyes he saw the mutant defile the Terrigenesis. How many times has Attilan been attacked by Outworlders?! Enough of this madness! He must pay!
Triton chides his cousin that his rage has ever been his downfall. He orders him to control it. Do not test him, Gorgon threatens.
Silence! comes another voice. On a hover platform are Black Bolt and his queen, Medusa. Will they now see members of the Royal House brawling in public? she chides her cousins. This temple is the house of Randac, the greatest mind in Inhuman history. They will not abuse his legacy!
The priest Oboroth demands the alien be punished. It is sacred law. Coolly, Medusa orders him to hold his tongue. He forgets to whom he is speaking. Black Bolt is king and his word is law.
Black Bolt raises his hand. He declares there will be a trial, Medusa interprets. The still unconscious Nightcrawler is dragged away. Peter wants to join him but Triton holds him back, telling him the trial will commence at dawn and they must prepare.
Kurt needs his friends at his side, Peter explains, all of them. Help him contact the X-Men! Bring more outworlders to Attilan? Triton asks. That would only aggravate the situation. They must try to placate the population.
Has he ever been trapped in a world of strangers… cut off from his loved ones? Peter asks him. Yes, Triton replies slowly. Then he understands what Kurt is feeling, Peter insists. Let the people who know him best speak on his behalf. It is his right… Triton is silent, then agrees. His idea is to get the X-Men via Lockjaw, the teleporting dog.
But the dog is slumbering happily (under a picture of his mistress Crystal). Triton explains that Lockjaw sometimes rests for several days after a series of teleportation journeys. Colossus wants to wake him. Triton informs him that would not be wise. Disturbing Lockjaw can have serious consequences. He once fouled Gorgon’s bedchamber and left him stranded in Antarctica. They will have to contact the X-Men by more conventional means…
And so they use a commlink to call Xavier (flanked by Cyclops and Storm) in Westchester. Triton explains what Nightcrawler did.
Triton’s narration:
Nightcrawler witnessed the ritual of Terrigenesis when Inhuman children are transformed by the Terrigen mists and gain new abilities. For some reason that angered him. He invaded the ritual and caused the destruction of the mist chamber. This tradition lies at the heart of Inhuman culture. To see it destroyed by an alien has enraged all of Attilan…
Present:
What he‘d give for a dull moment or two, Scott Summers sighs, then asks Storm to find Banshee while he warms up the Blackbird. Looks like they are heading for the Himalayas….
Xavier announces he will be accompanying them. Black Bolt and he are colleagues. He will listen to him… And if he doesn’t? Scott shoots back. They’ll be in a city filled  with thousands of superhumans. Xavier can’t be risked in that environment.
He is the leader of the X-Men, Xavier reminds him sharply. Undeterred, Scott stands up to him, informing Xavier that he is head of the school. Out in the field, Cyclops is the leader. He decides who goes into combat situations and that’s final. Sir.
With a smile, Xavier observes he really isn’t that skinny teenager anymore, is he? No, Scott smiles back, thanks to him.
And so soon, the three X-Men are en route to Attilan.
So, Banshee summarizes, somewhat doubtful, the plan is to puff up their chests, stick out their chins and stare down the whole Inhuman nation… all three of them. Cyclops admits he’s not too crazy about the odds himself. Ororo muses that Kurt acted with the best of intentions. Surely the Inhumans can be made to see that.
Cyclops suddenly announces the radar is noting something heading their way fast. There is a thrumping nose and the plane shakes somewhat. The mystery is solved a moment later when a telepathic voice asks if they have space for one more.
It’s Phoenix, flying outside and telekinetically holding back the plane. Jean apologizes for the bump. So how about it, can she come in? She adds that Professor Xavier gave her a telepathic heads up on the situation and asked her to tag along and provide some back up.
Sean is relieved and tells her she is a welcome sight. Storm agrees. How about him? Jean asks as she sits down next to Scott. Happy to see her?
She knows he is, Scott replies smiling. He just wishes it was on a more permanent basis. Okay, let’s not start that again, she warns him. Looking around, she notices Wolverine isn’t there. Scott informs her he started a fight with Gorgon and got kicked over the horizon. But they are on a diplomatic mission, so he kind of doubts Wolverine would have been an asset anyway. He’s sure he’ll turn up eventually.
Kicked over the horizon? Jean repeats. Uh-huh. He’s smiling, she tells her boyfriend indulgently. He’s not, he replies, grinning broadly.
Interlude:
Starcore One floats high above the world. It is a United Nations research station built for one purpose: to study the activity of the sun. It is the brainchild of Dr. Peter Corbeau, a brilliant and today very worried man.
One of his scientists, a Russian named Nadia, informs him that they are heading into a new solar storm cycle, even stronger than the one a few weeks ago. The flares are all in the one hundred million degrees Kelvin range. Looks like old Sol is getting restless again, an Indian scientist named Hadeep jokes. Corbeau chides him this is not a joke. The radiation fields will endanger all spaceflights and could devastate communications networks on Earth. But with the new sensors they can at least get a good look at the storm this time.
They try to scan closer and the next moment all three scientists gape open-mouthed, for on the surface of the sun, at the epicenter of the latest flare there seem to be human shapes…
Dawn in Attilan. Nightcrawler stands handcuffed in a forum. On a dais in a semicircle before him sit the members of the Royal Family (Quicksilver standing next to Crystal). The population of Attilan are in the seat surrounding the center.
An Inhuman reads that Nightcrawler is charged with the willful desecration of Terrigenesis and cultural assault on the Inhuman people. How does he plead?
He pleads… Kurt hesitates. He pleads for a chance to speak freely. He has known hatred in his life. He understands what it is like to be singled out for being different. He can see why they would wish to live here, far away from humanity… When he came to their city, it seemed to be his dearest dream made real. A place where he could be accepted for who he truly is. It felt like a world where appearance meant nothing. But then he saw their ritual and he knew that he was wrong. He is appalled at the belief that their children require improving. They are perfect from birth. How can they force them into a chamber, manipulate their genes, transform their bodies? How can they make such a decision for them at such an early age? What gives them the right to take that choice away from them?
Clearly moved, Medusa looks at her husband Black Bolt who seems to be lost in thought.
Kurt continues that to see people as genetically inferior goes against everything he believes in. There was another society that held the same view. The plunged the world into the darkest war in history.
Gorgon has had enough. Infuriated, he jumps up and shouts enough! Nightcrawler is the one on trial here. The Inhumans are an ancient and proud race. And he knows nothing of their ways. His species had split the atom when Nightcrawler’s was still crawling in the mud! Who is he to judge them?!
He knows their traditions span centuries, Kurt replies, but a healthy society should always have the capacity for change. He finds it tragic that in a culture where no two beings are alike they should demand such conformity.
So, Karnak asks, he offers no regret for his actions? None, Kurt replies. What he does regret… is rejecting the words of a good friend – a man far wiser than he. He looks at Colossus who sits in the audience. He cared enough to make him face a truth. That he belongs in the world, even if it never welcomes him. But he refused to listen to him. He insulted him. Kurt apologizes to Peter. Whatever happens, he’s glad he had this chance to tell him… Kurt breaks off, hearing the sound of the landing Blackbird.
Impossible! Karnak shouts. Their sentries would have alerted them long before the strangers reached the city walls! Yeah, they would, Phoenix agrees, as the X-Men exit the craft, unless, of course, a top-rank telepath managed to tweak their perceptions a little.
Cyclops asks Black Bolt to hear him out. The X-Men are not here to fight the Inhumans. Amen to that, Banshee mutters, as he looks at the crowd of Inhumans.
All the members of the Royal Family jump up save for Black Bolt who remains calm. This is his doing! Gorgon accuses his cousin Triton who stays calm as he asks Black Bolt to listen to the X-Men.
Cyclops offers to talk. He doubts the Inhumans want this situation any more than the X-Men do. Nightcrawler’s one of them. They’ll follow Black Bolt’s lead as long as it insures Kurt’s safety…
The audience protests: The defiler must face justice! No more outwolders! Phoenix’ psi-defenses crumble under the onslaught of rage and hatred. She shouts at the crowd to shut up. Everywhere they go, it’s the same. Stupid, ugly mobs! Ororo nervously addresses her best friend but Jean has had enough. She telekinetically lifts Nightcrawler away, intending for all of them to just leave.
That moment, the Inhuman crowd attacks. Among them is Gorgon, furious at the disrespect the X-Men are showing their culture. He stamps his hoof and a faultline appears beneath the X-Men, causing Jean to lose concentration.
The crowd attacks and Phoenix keeps them off – barely – with a telekinetic wall around the court. That doesn’t account for potential dangers inside the court though as Quicksilver quickly beats down Nightcrawler, Storm and Banshee, remarking that the new X-Men are even more self-righteous than the old ones. They are going to regret invading his home.
Cyclops fires at the running Quicksilver and of course misses. He curses himself for not training the X-Men against superspeed attacks, but he never expected to face Quicksilver again. The team’s getting hammered because of his mistake.
Gorgon praises Pietro. Colossus angrily intervenes, reminding Gorgon what he told him would happen if he threatened his friend, and Colossus always keeps his promises. He hits Gorgon hard.
Karnak intends to help Gorgon over his brother Triton’s protest. Nightcrawler kicks Karnak in the face.
Cyclops in the meantime helps up the groggy Storm, telling her she is their best chance of taking out Quicksilver who is about to attack again. He could never dodge Iceman, Scott explains. Ororo understands and hurls Quicksilver into a blizzard.
A moment later, the wind turns against the X-Men as Quicksilver’s wife Crystal, controller of the elements, has entered the fray. As a friend of hers used to say: It’s clobberin’ time!
Karnak kicks Nightcrawler in the face, telling him that he fights well, but Karnak was trained from infancy in the martial arts by the priests of the weeping tower. He may be a superior fighter, Kurt admits, but did his priests teach him how to teleport? He teleports behind Karnak and hits him from behind.
Karnak strikes, a blow which Kurt dodges. They did not, Karnak continues calmly. He has no enhanced power, only skill. He was never subjected to the Terrigen Mists, but he is still an Inhuman and considered in no way “genetically inferior.” Could it be that Nightcrawler has judged his people too quick?
Triton asks Black Bolt to stop this battle, but the King merely watches and the conflict continues as weatherwitch fights elemental. Considering that Ororo is still aching from Quicksilver’s blow, she is weakening, but Banshee takes out Crystal with a quick sonic blast. The next moment, red hair clamps over his mouth. Medusa had no desire to enter the fight, until Banshee attacked her sister. She slams him to the ground.
Cyclops zaps her in the back, realizing this is insane. Why did Jean have to set them off like that?
Gorgon gets more and more enraged as he hits Colossus. He knows his kind well! Colossus tells him. He sees forgiveness as weakness and mistakes vengeance for justice. He may feel strong but he will always fall in the end! Never! Gorgon shouts and stamps the ground without any caution. He generates a seismic force far greater than any he has ever before created. The shockwave cuts like a scythe through the bedrock. It topples towers, spreading past Attilan’s boundaries. Until it reaches the mountain range towering over the city.
What has he done?! Medusa exclaims horrified. The mountain that shelters the Inhumans’ home shudders, splits and shatters. An avalanche begins, boulders black the sky, raining down with terrifying finality, held only back by Phoenix’ telekinetic shield.
Okay, just so they are clear on this, she’s holding a billion tons of rock back and she can feel very ounce. She can’t do this for long… ideas please…
Cyclops orders her to turn her shield into a funnel. They’ll use it to channel the only power capable of destroying the avalanche, Black Bolt’s voice. The Inhuman monarch nods. A primal force stirs within his body. He raises his head high… and speaks.
Black Bolt has been silent since infancy. Now the X-Men learn why. The awesome power contained within his voice is put through the funnel, atomizing everything in its path. A mountain vanishes. The Himalayas tremble. And the danger is over.
Medusa cheers. Phoenix is almost wiped out and Banshee mumbles that his lungs are feeling a bit teeny now.
Black Bolt gestures and Medusa translates that he is giving the sign of truce. The battle is over. Kurt Wagner is free to depart.
What of the law? Gorgon protests. Angrily, Medusa shouts that the law was written for Inhumans, not outworlders. The X-Man acted in ignorance and will be shown mercy. And she would suggest he shut his gaping mouth. His stupidity today nearly brought Attilan’s doom! Gorgon is properly cowed.
While Kurt shakes Triton’s hand Cyclops thanks Black Bolt. They’ve all had a taste of the nightmare that comes when they stop listening to one another. Their people have so much in common, they should never forget that.
Later aboard the Blackbird, Jean announces that she’s ready for a long soak and a king-size tub of Chunky Money tonight. Care to join her? she asks Cyclops. He isn’t in the mood, comes the reply. What the heck was going on in her head? The fight was entirely down to her. If she hadn’t exploded like some lunatic… Hey! she shouts. She saved the day, remember? Attilan would be a parking lot without her!
It wouldn’t have been threatened in the first place if she had just listened to him, Scott retorts. She had no right to break ranks like that. He didn’t feel their hatred, Jean insists. She could see what they wanted to do to the X-Men. He isn’t a telepath! He doesn’t understand! He doesn’t understand her anymore, he retorts. Maybe he never did, she replies coldly.
In the back of the plane, the mood is more relaxed as the rest o the X-Men are just happy to have Nightcrawler back. If a man’s fortune is measured in friendship, he announces, then he is the wealthiest mutant alive. He thanks them all, especially Peter. By the way, where is Wolverine?
A barn. Suddenly, there is a loud noise as something crashes inside it. The farmer runs inside to find the aching Wolverine. Hey, farmer Joe, he demands, where is he? In Georgia, the man stutters. He’s kiddin’, Wolverine exclaims. That big ape kicked him clean across five states? No, the farmer continues, he doesn’t understand. He’s in the other Georgia, the one next to Russia!


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
The Next Life
The woodland of Westchester, New York, morning as some of the X-Men are training. The flying Banshee’s cry pierces the air when suddenly his teammate, Nightcrawler, teleports in and lands on his back. Thought he slipped past him? Think again! Grinning he holds his hands in front of Sean’s eyes, suggesting he land before he crashes.
However, the more experienced X-Man can actually fly blind. Using his sonic scream as a sonar, he is able to “see” the trees in front of him. He goes low, then high, losing Kurt in the crest of a tree.
A moment later, he is hit by a dust cloud coming out of nowhere, courtesy of Storm. Wolverine orders a fastball special from his teammate, Colossus, and unsheathes his claws. Storm cries out in protest.
However, Banshee is well prepared as Wolverine’s hyper-senses make him especially vulnerable to Banshee’s sonic scream. He then aims another blast at the tree. Colossus is busy protecting Storm from the tree. Banshee has almost reached the finishing line, the flag, grabs it and dodges Cyclops’ optic blast.
Triumphantly, he lands. Cyclops claps impressed, praising his work. Pinpoint accuracy and first-class adaptive strategy. Wolverine moans about his head. Sean thanks Scott and jokingly tells the others to let this be a lesson. They might think Sean Cassidy is looking long in the tooth but this old dog’s learned every new trick in the book.
Sean’s mood remains high as he travels to Salem Center, a small town near the X-Men’s home. He has a lunch date with the woman who has recently won his heart, Moira Mactaggert, a good friend of the X-Men.
Very soon, they are embroiled in an argument over musical tastes. Hank Williams? Moira asks disbelievingly. Merle Haggard? Johnny Cash?! Where is his national pride? He should be listening to the Pogues or Van Morrison! Is he going to be sewing rhinestones onto that costume of his next?
His pride is alive and well, he assures her. His heart will always lie in Ireland, but his soul belongs to Nashville. He can’t wait to take her to the Grand Ol’ Opry this summer. Oh, is that so? she asks. She was counting on Barbados or Greece, not rodeo and square dancing. Any reason why they can’t do both? he asks and takes her hand. They’ve got plenty of time for all of it. Their whole lives are ahead of them. They are going to see the world together…
Moira hesitates, then asks him not to spoil things. She gets up. What does she mean? he asks. She reminds him it’s still early for them. She’s happy where they are but she’s not comfortable with him planning their retirement just yet. Maybe they’ll make a go of it and maybe they won’t…. They will if they try, he assures her, that’s all he’s asking. He knows she feels the same way he does. Moira turns away. There are no guarantees in life. Lord knows she’s been certain of her heart before and been wrong…
The past is in the past, he assures her. It’s what happens next that matters. He whispers that he knows what would put a smile on her lovely face. Let him fly her back to mansion. No way! she whispers back agitated. And why not? he asks. She never lets him fly her anywhere. That’s because she prefers to keep her feet firmly planted on the ground, thank you very much, she replies tartly. Oh, g’wan lass, he urges her.
Speaking loud again, Moira orders him to stop calling her “lass.” She’s a woman with a whole mess of years under her belt. She won’t be swept off her feet like a silly little school girl. She’ll see him back at the mansion! She leave.
Saints alive, he thinks as he walks out as well. If he lives to be a hundred, he will never understand… He bumps into a handsome black man with long dreadlocks. Sean apologizes. No problem, the stranger assures him in a French accent. He smirks as he watches Sean walk on. No problem at all…
It is late afternoon at Xavier’s School when Xavier calls Banshee to the reception area; he has a visitor. Xavier points to an old man who only said Sean’s name, little else. Surprised, Sean bursts out he doesn’t believe it. Patrick Rourke? Sean Cassidy, the old man mutter, seemingly still out of it. Sean Cassidy, that’s who ye are. Found ye… I found ye. What is he doing here? Sean demands. It’s been fifteen years. The old man falls against him. It’s his little girl, he gasps.
Later, Sean sits brooding outside and Moira joins him, having just gotten back and learned what’s going on. Patrick Rourke is resting. She notices Sean is white as a sheet. Who is this man? He’s someone he never thought he’d lay eyes on again, Sean admits. He’s the father of his wife…
Flashback:
Maeve Rourke came into his life like a lightning bolt. She challenged him, cared for him, made him a man. She loved the scent of jasmine and the feel of rain on her face. Her laugh was like a warm breeze. Their wedding was the happiest day of his life. Maeve was proud when he made inspector at Interpol. But that’s when it all started going sour. He was sent away on a special mission. Deep cover. He was gone for months. There was no way to contact her. She’d never say good-bye when they parted. It was always “be seein’ ya, boyo. And then the Troubles flared up again. Dark times for Ireland. So much hate in the air. Maeve went to visit her family in Armagh and one day she was out shopping and there was a bomb. He came back too late. Too late even for her funeral.
Present:
Moira tries to console him. Crying Sean states that Patrick never forgave him for not protecting Maeve and why should he? Sean never forgave himself! He’s kept a photo of Maeve in his wallet. He reaches for his wallet to show Moira, to find it’s gone.
Elsewhere, the man who bumped into Sean, now wearing a strange tribal outfit sits in a cellar, staring at Maeve’s picture. A love so strong… a love so true. He kisses the picture. He can feel her breath, smell her hair. He can hear her voice singing a slow sweet tune. She’s so close now. Rise, darlin’, he commands. Rise up!
Night at Xavier’s. Insomniac Sean tries to clear his head as he takes a walk along Breakstone Lake. He wonders why Patrick has come now. He always hated Sean, wouldn’t come to the wedding, said Sean wasn’t worthy of Marve. He was such a strong man, wealthy, powerful but he’s turned so frail. He looks like he’s seen--
That moment, something rises from the lake; it’s Maeve in her wedding gown, carrying flowers, a bemused look on her face. She gazes at Sean sadly, then rises up into the air.
Sean flies after her, but loses her in the clouds. Where are you, darlin´? he cries out and begs her to say something. In the clouds the word Belfast takes shape.
Later, Sean shakes Patrick Rourke awake, demanding answers. Why is he here? He knows it’s about Maeve! Tell him everything! Has he seen her too? Patrick asks in a weak voice. His little girl came to him on the anniversary of her death. She said nothing at first. But she kept coming again and again, so sad and alone. She told him to find Sean. It’s taken him months. He hugs Sean, begging him to help him, help her…
In the morning, Sean has packed his things. As he packs his cases into the car, Moira pleads with him to stop and give this some thought. His head was filled with memories last night. Maeve was all he was thinking about. He spotted something in the mist and his mind filled in the gaps, she rationalizes his sight.
So maybe it was just a hallucinations, is that her diagnosis? He demands. Ol’ Sean’s going a bit doollally. Of course not, she hurries. He was overtired. He’s seen sights in his life she could never explain, he tells her. The spirit world is as real as the ground they are standing on. Maeve was real and she needs him. In Belfast? Moira asks. Not the one in Ireland, Sean informs her. There is a town on the coast of Maine with the same name. Maeve and he went there on their one trip abroad. It’s where he proposed.
Patrck pleads with Moira, telling her this is hard to accept. Moira gives him condolences for his loss but still believes they are making a mistake. The only thing they will find on this trip is heartache. Shouldn’t she come with them then? Patrick suggests carefully. If she truly cares for Sean, then she knows he’s going to need her. Moira thinks for a moment, then tells Sean to leave some space for her hiking boots. She’s riding shotgun.
Interlude:
The United Nations Satellite Starcore One has been monitoring solar flare activity for the last few days. It has now found something else. Peter Corbeau orders his colleague Nadia to focus on the scan. This is the first clear signal they’ve had in days. She is trying but the flares keep wiping the entire spectrum. They are building in strength.
The next moment, they are again shocked to see their suspicion confirmed – there are people on the surface of the sun. In the heat of the flares. And they are wearing armor.
This is madness! one of the scientists exclaims. The gravity, the radiation, the heat – nothing could survive there! Corbeau orders them to get as much data as the can while the signal lasts, then he becomes unsure. One of the shapes seems to be looking at them…
Sean, Moira and Patrick have finally reached Belfast on Penoboscot Bay in Waldo County. A quiet town, at ease with its surroundings. Sean remembers walking with Maeve along the shoreline. A ring clutched tight in his trembling hand. He breathes the sea air and sighs. He asks Mora to take the wheel and find them a place to stay. He feels like a walk. Moira agrees but knows he is just slipping away so he can ghost hunt by air. Well, she decides, she’ll protect his secret, but she can’t protect his heart. She silently wishes him luck.
Out of sight, Sean slips into his costume and takes to the air, vowing to find Maeve and make sure she will rest in peace. He won’t fail her again.
In the car, Moira talks to Rourke, suggesting they find a hotel. And the seafood is supposed to be excellent. What does he say? With an evil grin, he asks her to call him “Patrick” while pressing a wad with chloroform over her mouth.
Sean has flown over an hour when finally he sees Maeve’s ghostly shape floating in the air. Banshee instinctively shifts his sonic scream to a sub-harmonic frequency, allowing him to speak, but his voice is choked with years of grief.
She looks so beautiful, he tells her, not a day older than when he left her on that platform in Dublin. What does she need from him? She needs to know why he left her to die, she replies. Tears in his eyes, he pleads with her to forgive him. He knows he let her down. He was supposed to be her man, he should have saved her. He’s carried that weight with him every day since. There were times when he thought it would crush him. He loved her from the moment they met…
Liar! she snarls as her face transforms into a feral monster’s. She attacks and tears at him with claws shouting he abandoned her. He owes her a blood debt and tonight he pays in full.
Elsewhere, Moira awakes, chained in the dark. Just a mild sedative, Patrick Rourke informs her. They haven’t come far. She was right, by the way. The seafood in Belfast is excellent but she won’t be getting the chance to sample it.
He introduces her to the man sitting opposite her – Julius Dupree – the same man that stole Sean’s wallet. Now though instead of a suit he is wearing loincloth and a fancy tribal necklace. Rourke continues that he is currently employing Dupree who is a man with a singular talent. He’s dealing Rourke some overdue justice.
Then this is all a trap, Moira realizes. His coming to the mansion, playing the confused old man, begging Sean for help. He just wanted to lure him here. Why? What did Sean ever do to him? He stole his little girl! Rourke shouts. Maeve was all the family he had. She belonged to him! He ordered her not to marry that jumped-up fool Cassidy and she disobeyed her father. And then he just pranced off and left her to die!
She knows his type well, Moira replies condescendingly. Violent, jealous, controloing. She married someone like him and barely survived the experience. And she’s had a hard time trusting any man since. But why attack Sean now after all these years?
Because it had to be done come the reply. On the anniversary of Maeve’s death, he learned two things. He had terminal cancer – less than a year to live – and Sean Cassidy had found a new love: her. The thought of that cur starting a happy new life when his was ending was too much to bear.
With a grin, he confides he never lost track of Cassidy. As long as he was miserable, he let him live. And, yes, he knows he’s a mutant. Part of a group, his sources say. That’s why he brought him here where his friends can’t help him… here’s where it all ends.
In the air, Maeve still savagely tears at Sean, sarcastically ordering him to tell her he missed her… how much he cares! Unwilling to fight her, Sean tries to flee. Running again? she asks. She doesn’t think so. She claws right through his back. All his lies, all his crimes, they burn inside her. He falls towards the water. It’s all he deserves! she shouts after him.
Down in the hideout, energy swirls around Dupree as he announces that Maeve is coming. His spell has made her sing an angry tune to poor Mr. Cassidy.
“Spell” my eye, Moira scoffs. He can play the voodoo priest all he likes, but she knows psionic energy when she sees it. He’s a mutant. If she says so, he replies with a broad grin. Power is power, no matter what name you give it. He takes memories and gives them form. He shapes them and sculpts them and gifts them with a voice and they obey him. Back in Haiti, strong men cry when they hear his name. They call him the Graverobber.
Meave comes flying in, bringing a tied up and gagged Banshee. Patrick thanks her. She’s become a dutiful daughter, at last. He had to see him one last time, he tells Sean. How does it feel, knowing he is about to fail another love? He takes out a detonator and presses the time button. A hundred pounds of TNT are wired up all over this factory. The clock’s ticking with five minutes to go. Soon Sean and his new lady friend won’t even be dust. Sean kicks his face, but Patrick just laughs.
Maeve threatens Sean. She shouts at him not to hurt her father, but then she is overcome by his memories of her, the way he saw and loved her.
Patrick hysterically shouts at her to strike, but instead she returns to the Maeve Sean knew. Mouthing his name, she takes of Banshee’s gag.
Instantly, Sean uses the chance and screeches at the two villains. C’est l’amour Graverobber comments. It’s been fun but it’s time he’s leaving. Fire flares around him as he teleports away and the building begins to burn.
Moira shouts a warning to Sean. They need to get out before the fire reaches the explosives. A girder is about to fall on her and Sean shoves her to safety. Frantically, he tries to look for Maeve. Moira cups his face and asks him to let her go.
In the flames stand Patrick and a collected, calm Maeve. It doesn’t end like this! he shouts in disbelief. It can’t! Get off me, you thing! he orders Maeve. Father, our time is over, she replies. With a smile she tells Sean: Be seein’ ya, boyo. And Sean gets himself and Moira out only just in time before the explosives detonate.
Soon they watch the conflagration from a safe distance. Moira summarizes that Dupree was a psionic sculptor. He took Rourke’s twisted memories of Maeve and created a psychic construct – a deadly puppet. But she thinks he started using Sean’s memories to strengthen it and that was his mistake, His love for Maeve must have influenced that construct.
Is she sure about that? he asks. At the end, when he stared into her eyes, that was the real Maeve looking back. But he won’t live in the past. That’s what finished Rourke. Maeve’s sprit is finally at rest and he’s got a future to plan. He tells Moira he loves her. She loves him too, Moira replies. Now there’s something he can do for her. They kiss. Take me flying, Moira orders and Sean happily complies.


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Sisters of the Dragon
Present:
Storm is flying across the Manhattan night sky, chased by a SHIELD avian Squad, who are ordered to bring her down. As she swoops down, she realizes that those men are well trained. It is taking all her skill to avoid their fire. She descends, for if she tried the stunt she does now at a higher altitude, her foes would stand no chance. She creates turbulence, traps them in a downdraft and they land in the Hudson River, bruised but unharmed.
flashback:
Two hours earlier, she arrived at the apartment of her friend, Jean Grey, more nevous at the prospect of a night out than she would be at fighting a supervillain. Inside the apartment, Jean Grey, her flatmate Misty Knight and Misty’s parner Colleen Wing, all three of them dressed up, are already waiting. The goddess has landed, Jean announces and introduces the others.
Referring to Ororo’s costume, Misty remarks she thought the X-Men operated strictly undercover. Does she want to step out tonight in her super-threads? Storm re-polarizes the clothes with an electric charge, changing it into a dress. Wow, she’s gotta show her where she shops! Misty exclaims.
Jean announces the plan for the night: She’s booked a private room at the Silver Lotus in Chinatown for dinner. Then they’re going to hit a couple of clubs over in Soho. They are having for a legendary night!
However, they are unaware that they are being eavesdropped upon by a sinister lady, who promises that the night is going to be legendary but not the way they think.
Soon the four heroines share dinner. Colleen recommends some food to Ororo who admits that this is her first Chinese meal. She’s kidding, Misty exclaims. She’s handing the chopsticks like a native! That’s Ororo for you, Jean remarks. Poetry in motion. Everything comes easy to her.
If only that were so, Ororo thinks silently, then asks Jean if she has talked to Scott lately. Jean makes a face. Not since that fiasco in Attilan. Can she believe the way Scott blew up at her? When he’s ready to apologize she’ll be waiting.
Does she have these kinds of bust-ups with Danny? she asks Misty. Nah, Misty scoffs, he’s just too darn calm. He’s all “relax, Misty, focus your chi” and she’s all “I left my chi in Shanghai, fool!” He drives her nuts sometimes, but what can you do? He’s her man. How about her, she asks Ororo. There a guy, making her all crazy with love right now?
Ororo stammers, revealing there was someone when she was younger. They parted in anger… Waiiit a minute! Misty announces disgusted and agitated. Is she telling her a supremely fine sister like her hasn’t had a date since she was a kid? It is a crime, a federal felony! They are gonna find Ororo a guy!
She can think of one who’d apply for the job like a shot, Colleen remarks calmly. Who, Luke Cage? Ha, Misty snorts that’d be like Mr. T dating Nina Simone!
Ororo is uncomfortable at the topic of her love life. The others speak of men like they are food on a table, something to simply sample and discard. It is all so alien to her. She hates this and wishes this night would end now…
She’s in luck, as all women suddenly feel woozy. The food’s drugged, they realize moments before they pass out.
Ororo awakes to an African-American woman with a unique afro-hairstyle, dressed in tight skimpy clothing standing over her and the other three in what looks like a warehouse. Glad she liked the shrimp, the stranger comments. She was worrying the chloral hydrate would ruin it. Pleased to meet her. The name’s Nightshade. Misty and she go back some, but she wasn’t hurt when she didn’t get an invited tonight. Misty probably thought she was still in the prison she stuck her in. She’s had her apartment bugged for a week. Imagine her surprise when she heard Misty was hanging with two genuine mutant superheroes. Now they got themselves a party!
Jean still feels woozy from the sedative but tries to reach out and stun Nightshade with a psionic blast. Ah-ah, Nightshade tuts. Their collars will detect even a tiny increase in bioelectric energy, so if they use their powers, the collars will fry them with enough voltage to light up Times Square.
Misty attacks, shouting she’s forgotten about her bionic arm. Oh, she’s got total recall, Nightshade retorts, that’s why she rigged up this little override model. That fancy prosthetic arm of Misty’s is super-strong, sophisticated… Why it’d take a genius to hack into its software and take control of it.
Misty loses control as Nightshade takes control of the arm and slaps Misty’s face with it. A worried Colleen runs to her side. With Nightshade still controlling the arm, it goes for Colleen’s throat. Friendships can be so fragile, Nightshade comments. Kinda like necks.She warns the four not to give her any grief or Misty starts playing volleyball with Colleen’s head. Now she’s got a job that needs doing and the two super chicks are perfect for it. Stormy is up first. Is she ready to fly for Nightshade? It appears she has no choice, Ororo admits grimly.
Soon she is flying in the night sky. Her power is turned on again, but still monitored by Nightshade who orders her to hold that bearing for another twelve minutes. It will put her right on top of the SHIELD helicarrier. Nightshade informs she is too small to register on the radar. Storm is to enter through an exhaust vent in the starboard section. She guides her around. Nice going she comments. Jean wasn’t lying when she called Storm a hotshot lockpick. Storm silently vows Nightshade will learn to her cost that she is far more than that.
She freezes the tertiary monitor system enabling her to move into the corridors. Nightshade is impressed and admits Storm could be player with her skill, power and looks. Why is she wasting her time, saving the world, when she could be getting rich? She chooses to use her abilities for the benefit of others, Storm informs her. The reward that provides dwarfs any material gain. Don’t jazz her, Nightshade snorts. Storm didn’t get that kinda training out of a cereal box. She’s a born thief! She’s busting into the tightest joint in the world and doing it in style. She’s loving it, admit it! She stole to survive when she was a child, Storm replies. She was proud of her skills but learned it was a life without honor. Why does Nightshade do this?
She was born uptown, the other woman replies. Dirt-poor. Dad skipped out early. Mama was dead weight. She was alone. Everyone said she was heading for the gutter. But she had brains and used them to claw her way out. Whatever she needed she took. Guess they ain’t so different? Hmm?
If she believes that, she hasn’t been listening to a word! Storm begins to hiss, when suddenly she is discovered by two SHIELD agents. She silently curses Nightshade for bringing her to this, then blasts the two men. They are unconscious but they’ll live, she announces. Great, Nightshade comments. Perhaps she can bring them some chicken soup in the sick bay.
Storm enters the room – the cybernetics lab. Nightshade informs her what she wants is dead ahead – a helmet. What is this device? Storm asks. Later, she is told, but it’s a weapon.
As Storm lifts the helmet, a motion sensor goes off. Nightshade orders her to shake her tail-feather, and she is chased by SHIELD agents.
present:
It’s a long hard chase but finally she returns alone to Nightshade’s dockside warehouse. A cold rain begins to fall. Storm reluctantly hands Nightshade the helmet. Nightshade tells her she is the business and warns her the control collar is on again, so no more super, dig?
She turns to Jean, ordering her to listen carefully. This helmet is a mnemonic adaptive transmitter. SHIELD scans memory patterns from their agents and uploads them into the Life Model Decoy robots. This gives the IMD’s years of experience in a heartbeat. Clever, huh?
She puts the helmet on Jean’s head. She’s gonna scan Misty and Colleen’s memories. Skip the high school traumas – all she wants is the years they spent learning how to fight. She is one piece of… Jean begins. Nightshade tells her to stow it. And if she tries to psi-stun her when her collar is off, Misty flexes her finger…
Slowly, carefully Jean swims through the myriad streams of consciousness that form the pasts of Misty Knight and Colleen Wing. She witnesses the long years of dedication to the martial arts. The sacrifices made, the pain endured… the sweat, the bruises, the triumphs. She sees them all. And when she does, Nightshade transfers the data from the helmet into her “babies” which break out of their boxes, her new generation of cybernauts.
Their older brother had plenty of muscle, Nightshade explains, but that didn’t help them against superheroes. Then she realized what they were missing. Skill. Now these boys have all the fighting experience of two martial arts experts in their heads, and ladies, they are open for business! Time for a field test. Thanks for volunteering, girls! She’ll give Misty her arm back to make this a fair fight. She wouldn’t know fair, if it walked up and kicked her in the butt, Misty snarls.
Suddenly they hear lightning. What was that? Nightshade asks. That was her, Storm smirks. Lighting hits the roof. Storm explains that as she returned she started a very small thunderstorm only above this building. SHIELD is searching for a woman who can control the weather. She thinks this should draw their attention.
Well, ain’t she the smart cookie, Nightshade grudgingly admits. But all they’re gonna find is one broken warehouse and four dead women. Waste ‘em, boys, she commands her cybernaut and bolts.
Jean orders Storm to get after her. They’ll cover her back. Colleen warns Jean that, without her powers she is no match for those creeps. Guess again, Jean replies as she kicks a Cybernaut’s head off, ‘cause starting tonight she is a Daughter of the Dragon! She absorbed their fighting skills like the Cybernauts and she plans to use them.
As the women begin to fight, Colleen wishes Danny and Luke were here. She hears that, Misty agrees, but she has an Iron Fist all of her own! Jean discovers that scrapping on the physical level is a rush.
Nightshade runs to her escape boat, figuring that she still  has the helmet and can start over any time she wants and when she does Storm is gonna regret the day she ever crossed--
That moment, a very angry Storm tackles her from behind, telling her she better pray her friends survive the night or she will make her suffer! In the attack, Nightshade loses the helmet which tumbles into the water. Ticked off, Nightshade begins to fight Storm. She has some moves, she tells the mutant, but shame, she can’t see the truth. She tries a dropkick, telling Storm they are both outlaws marked from the day they were born. They are sisters with powers. They don’t like that.
Storm kicks Nightshade’s gun out of her hand. If the world sees Nightshade as a threat it’s because she has given it good reason and she is not her sister!
True that, Nightshade retorts as Storm hits her. In Harlem they learn how to take a punch. She kcks back. Storm thinks she’s something, huh? Big shot African goddess, slumming it with the common folk. Bet they look real crude to Storm!
Storm fends her off as she snarls she grew up in the alleys of Cairo. She knows what a slum looks like. She was taught how to lie and steal and fight. She walked the same path Nigtshade has taken but was shown a better path. Her strike hits home. A young man of great honor entered her life. She strikes again. His sense of duty inspired her, even though it finally pulled them apart. He also taught her this. With this blow Nightshade stays down. Whoo, she mutters, maybe Storm got some Harlem in her after all. True that, Storm replies.
Back in the warehouse, things are getting dangerous. The cybernauts have the ladies’ fighting skills and unlike them they don’t get tired. Colleen successfully decapitates one but is hit in the back of the head by another and goes down. It’s only Misty and Jean against all the cybernauts who surround them.
Jean figures she could send a telekinetic pulse to destroy the cybernauts. The control collar will kill her, but at least Misty and Colleen will be saved. She wishes Scott goodbye but before she has to do it Storm flies in, having finally removed the collar with her lockpicks. She uses her control over the winds to hurl the robots into the water.
Soon the ladies are freed. Jean cannot find any telepathic trail of Nightshade. Too bad, Colleen was looking forward to slicing off her Minnie Mouse hairdo. SHIELD will be here soon, Misty states and promises they’ll explain why Ororo invaded the Helicarrier. Storm refuses. That would raise too many questions about the X-Men and expose Jean’s identity to the authorities. They mustn’t tell them.
Forget her identity! Jean protests. Storm is in serious trouble here! She has made her decision, the weather goddess insists. She does not want to end up on SHIELD’s most wanted list, Jean warns her. She means she will be branded as a thief? Chased by the police? Storm asks with a sad smile. It will hardly be the first time.
On Starcore One its designer Dr Peter Corbeau is running for his life and the life of his world. He tries to send a warning but his foes laugh cruelly and shake Starcore One like a toy. He tries to keep moving to reach his cabin. In there, he has created a makeshift Cerebro helmet based on Xavier’s design though he never tried it out. Praying for it to work, he puts it on and tries to call Charles Xavier. They need him! The whole world needs him! They’re coming!
They are not coming, a voice behind him corrects him. They are here!
In the X-Men’s home professor X supervises a Danger Room session with only the male members present. Wolverine asks Cyclops how come Storm got to go partying with Jean tonight. She flew the space mountain run in twelve seconds without a scratch, Scott replies. Xavier said she earned a day off. He’s sure though she’ll bring Wolverine a doggie bag…
That moment, Corbeau’s message overwhelms Xavier. He cancels the session and announces they have a crisis.
And on Starcore One, three strange metallic beings are holding the crew prisoner, marveling at how easily humans break. The tallest one announces that Corbeau is the best. It made this place. He’s peeked into its little head and there is something even better. A big busy world not far away, but the right size for the Knights of Hykon!