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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

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Stand-Off
St. Louis, Missouri, Saturday 8.23pm, helicopters circle the Wakeman Oncological Research Center. Police are scattered out the front of the gates, a high-wire fence surrounds the large building. Two hours ago, an emergency call, placed by a Center employee was interrupted by an unidentified man - who claimed that any attempt by the police to storm the Center would result in the death of every staff member in the building. ‘Somebody get the Lieutenant a bullhorn on the double!’ a police officer orders, while another readies his rifle, remarking that if the terrorists inside refuse to talk then he is going to make sure they hear what he has to say. ‘They’re surrounded by St. Louis’s finest. They’ve got no way out’.
An officer suddenly alerts the Lieutenant to another problem, as a convoy of armored trucks arrive, ‘Lieutenant Genovese?’ a demanding voice shouts from the convoy. ‘That’s me’ the Lieutenant replies. ‘Who in the blazes are you?’ he asks a rather angry looking woman, dressed in black and dark pink. The woman introduces herself as Commander Ekatarina Gryaznova, and declares that this hostile crisis involves alpha-class mutants. ‘That means, from this moment on, Zero Tolerance has control of this operation!’
8.49pm, where, inside the facility, the luckless employees called into work this weekend are being held prisoners by the Mutant Liberation Front - a terrorist group of men and women born with extra-ordinary abilities. Disenfranchised by a society that hates then, the M.L.F. espouses a world in which mutant kind rules. Currently, they are led by the reality-warping Wildside a.k.a. Richard Gill.
‘Why are you doing this? We conduct cancer research here!’ a scientist exclaims as Wildside holds him up by his long hair. ‘LIAR!’ Wildside shouts, while his girlfriend Tamara “Dragoness” Kurtz backs him, ‘You tell him, honey!’. Wildside declares that the so-called cancer research is nothing but a sham that disguises the Center’s true purpose - the systematic extermination of every mutant on this planet. ‘You’re crazy!’ the scientist replies, to which Wildside angrily snaps back that he has been pushed, like every other mutant. ‘But guess what? Not anymore. Now, we push back!’ he exclaims.
Sitting nearby at a computer console, Heather Tucker a.k.a. Tempo, who once left the Mutant Liberation Front, has now returned due to the rising tide of intolerance toward her genetic brethren. Heather announces that all the records she has found so far appear to be genuine cancer studies, before suddenly revealing that they are some encrypted files she cannot open with a password. ‘You heard her, Doc’ Wildside exclaims as he slams the scientist hard against a wall. ‘And the password is…?’ Wildside asks, to which the wounded scientist replies ‘Francis Albert’.
‘A Sinatra fan, eh, Doc?’ Richard smirks, before remarking that he has always thought Dean Martin was smoother than “old Blue Eyes”. ‘dino never looked like he cared about anything or anyone. I can relate to that’ Wildside remarks, as he tosses the scientist to the ground alongside the other staff, most of who are bound. However, just around the corner, a member of the Center’s security staff holds his gun nervously, thinking that he tried to grab a few minutes sleep in the storage closet and now a bunch of super human freaks have taken over the Center. ‘Gotta play this cool, like Clint in “Magnum Force”, no, maybe I should be more like Bruce in the first “Die Hard”’ he wonders, referring to Bruce Willis.
Suddenly, ‘Uh…uh…alright you jokers - freeze!’ the security officer exclaims as he rounds the corner, pointing his gun at the M.L.F. Dragoness and Michael “Forearm” McCain just smile, while Wildside grins and extends his arms, ‘Oh, no, boys and girls, the six-dollar-an-hour cop’s got a gun! I’m sooo scared!’ he mocks. The security guard warns Wildside to step back or else he will shoot. ‘Go on, be a hero! I dare you. Give it your best shot, little man!’ Wildside taunts.
Suddenly though, from another part of the laboratory, an arrow unlike any other leaves a trail of energy as it slices through the air - and finds its target, the security officer, striking him hard in the back, he drops his weapon and screams. ‘Oh, my sweet Lord, they went and killed Stu!’ one of the Wakeman staff gasps. ‘You monsters!’ another shouts. ‘I wish you hadn’t done that’ mumbles Wildside, hands on hips as the bowman steps into view - Danielle “Dani” Moonstar! Moonstar, hair in braids and wearing some denim hot pants and a red vest tells everyone to quit whining, as the security guard is not dead, for her arrows are made of pure psionic energy and aren’t lethal unless she chooses to make them that way. ‘All the rent-a-cop experienced was a little shock to his nervous system!’ Dani adds.
At fifteen, Danielle Moonstar left her Colorado home to enroll at an exclusive school run by Professor Charles Xavier. There, she learned how to control her powers - and fought for Xavier’s dream of peaceful co-existence between man and mutant as part of the New Mutants. Months after that group disbanded, she unexpectedly resurfaced with the renegade Mutant Liberation Front. Unbeknownst to the MLF though, Danielle is actually an undercover agent for the government agency known as SHIELD, but has gradually convinced them of her commitment to their cause.
Wildside kicks the security guard and tells Moonstar that she shouldn’t have spared him, ‘After all, what’s one less flat-scan except a good start?’ he adds, as Dragoness, who commands a bio-electrical sting, comes up behind him and strokes his neck, ‘Besides, a little blood will make the world understand we will not be ignored’ she remarks. ‘So true, my sweet Dragoness’ Wildside grins, to which Moonstar, addressing the lovers as “Sid and Nancy”, tells them that they are not going to kill anyone, reminding them that they came here to shut down a secret government laboratory allegedly developing its own version of the Legacy Virus.
Forearm - an apt codename though it does not reflect the intellect behind his strength, steps in between the squabbling Moonstar and Wildside, remarking that they all got scared when they heard that the Legacy Virus is a disease that is fatal for mutants, but that they have yet to find any evidence to suggest this place is involved in biological weaponry. ‘You always take her side, Forearm!’ Wildside complains, to which Dani tells Richard that he thinks his sources were wrong.
Wildside approaches the hostages, one of them stomach pleads not to be hurt, claiming that she is only a lab assistant. ‘I haven’t even finished my grad school applications!’ he exclaims. ‘I think you’re being paranoid’ another hostage, tied up and lying on his stomach remarks, but another tells him not to provoke them, and tells Wildside that he has to believe them that their research is designed to help people - not kill them.
‘My source in the Department of Defense says otherwise!’ Wildside retorts, remarking that this institution is secretly funded by the Military as part of its secret war against mutant kind. ‘Wait - your source is in the military? And you trust him?’ Danielle asks. ‘Oh, man, have we been set up or what?!’ Forearm mumbles as he sits beside Dani. ‘We haven’t been set-up you multi-limbed moron!’ Dragoness shouts at her teammates, and calling Danielle “Pocahontas” suggests that perhaps the two of them didn’t search hard enough for the bio-agents.
Michael tells Tamara to get out of his face, when, suddenly, the air in the room sparks with electricity, as the space-bending mutant known as Locus enters through the dimensional teleportation rift that she has created. ‘I hate to tell you this, people, but we are royally screwed!’ the powerful young mutant exclaims, explaining that the local police have just been handed their walking papers, and now the place is surrounded by Zero Tolerance troops. ‘Zero Tolerance? They need to worry about us!’ Wildside boasts, to which Locus, sporting a nice tan, asks her leader if he has been paying attention to the news at all.
Locus remarks that, after Graydon Creed was assassinated and mutants were blamed, the “Nazis” as she calls Zero Tolerance, have grabbed more and more power to hunt mutants. She adds that they even have sympathy in some government circles. Moonstar backs Locus up, announcing that she has heard Zero Tolerance has got heavier firepower than SHIELD. Locus suggests that they cut their losses and split, that she can teleport them out of here in an instant. ‘Since when are you in charge? Nobody leaves until I say they do!’ Wildside shouts back, smacking Locus across the face. Locus wipes the blood away from her face, ‘That’s it!’ she exclaims, telling Wildside that ever since he took over the group’s leadership he has been losing it. ‘You want to stay and get killed? Fine. Not me, I’m outta here! Permanently!’ she announces, before teleporting away as quickly as she teleported in.
But as Locus vanishes into flickering nothingness, none of the would-be-revolutionaries notice as three hostages move seditiously closer to one another. ‘See that?’ one of them remarks. ‘The teleporter quit!’. ‘Couldn’t miss it - what a pleasant surprise!’ another exclaims. ‘It makes our job so much easier!’ the third points out.
Dragoness comforts her lover, telling him not to let Locus bring him down. ‘We’re better off without her and that stupid ponytail’ she adds. Wildside just grumbles, admitting that Tamara is right, but that if he ever sees Locus again, then she is dead. But, unimpressed, Forearms asks Wildside and Dragoness if they are out of their minds, pointing out that Locus was their ticket out of her. ‘Now tell me how we’re gonna get past all those storm-troopers!?’ he asks.
Moonstar is watching the news coverage of the situation, and a reporter explains to viewers that the Wakeman hostage crisis enters its fourth hour, and that a steady stream of network and independent news crews have been arriving on the scene. ‘Talk about filler’ Moonstar remarks. ‘When these reporters can’t find any genuine news to cover, they feed on each other’. Suddenly though, Dani goes wide-eyed as, in the background of a camera shot, she sees a trio of familiar looking faces.
The reporter remarks that everyone is no doubt hoping to capture the Zero Tolerance strike team in action. Moonstar sees X-Force members Sunspot, Siryn and Domino, with her eye tattoo covered, disguised as media crew. Dani hopes that the rest of X-Force will be nearby too. Dani reminds herself that none of the other MLF know about her recent journey to Asgard with X-Force, and decides that that adventure she had with them made her realize how desperately she needs to leave the MLF. ‘I can’t pretend to be somebody I’m not any longer…no matter the cause’ she tells herself.
Forearm puts his arms - err, two of them - on Dani’s shoulders, and watches the news coverage also, while Dani tells herself that X-Force is their best chance to get these hostages out of here before any blood is spilled - provided she can get them inside first. Danielle knows though that if her teammates become suspicious of her actions that it could mean the deaths of the innocent hostages, not to mention her death also. Michael remarks that they are at the center of what must be called a “Media Circus”, to which Dani suggests to him that they use this to their advantage - that they should get a camera crew in here.
Moonstar adds that getting a camera crew in here will buy them time and also keep the Zero Tolerance troops at bay. Richard ponders this for a moment, and decides that with national coverage, they can show the world the ugly truth behind the Wakeman Center. ‘They’ll have no choice but to listen to us!’ Wildside exclaims, before excitedly asking Danielle to make the call.
10.15pm, ‘Hey, miss, you should put me on TV. My wife says I’m very photogenic’ a police officer remarks as Theresa “Siryn” Rourke walks past him, ‘We’ll see about that later’ she replies, explaining that right now they have chat up the super-soldiers. Disguised as a reporter for the World-Wide News Network, Siryn follows her “cameraman” Bobby DaCosta a.k.a. Sunspot, and the enigmatic Domino who is posing as their producer, all under assumed names of course.
Domino quietly asks Sunspot how he is holding up, remarking that they can not risk him getting “hot under the collar” in front of Zero Tolerance. Bobby replies that it has been so long since he has powered down, that maintaining a normal appearance feels unnatural to him. However, he adds that since it is night time, maintaining his solar energy form is a lot easier. Siryn asks the others if they think Danielle is all right in there. ‘Who would’ve guessed she’s working for SHIELD?’ she adds. ‘I’m her friend - she could’ve told me!’ Sunspot adds, to which Domino points out that when you go undercover, the fewer people who know, the safer you are.
Domino remarks that if the MLF found out about her, Dani would be in as much danger from them as from Zero Tolerance. ‘What? She thought I couldn’t keep a secret? We’ve been through so much together!’ Bobby remarks, disappointed in his fellow founding New Mutant. Siryn explains to Sunspot that it is not that simple, as there is more than just Moonstar’s neck on the line - there are innocent bystanders, like the scientists inside - but Sunspot declares that he is still not convinced.
Domino approaches the Zero Tolerance troops and introduces herself as Priscilla Sutherland of World-Wide News, and holding out identification announces that she would like to speak their superior, explaining that they have just received a call from the Mutant Liberation Front. One of the operatives radios to the Commander, informing her that there is a news crew here that claims to have made contact with the terrorists. In an instant, Ekatarina Gryaznova appears, ordering the camera to be put down, otherwise it will be destroyed. ‘Zero Tolerance isn’t here for publicity’ she declares.
‘Those black chrome transporters aren’t exactly stealth vehicles’ Domino replies. Gryaznova ignores that comment and asks “Ms. Sutherland” which member of the MLF it was that she spoke to. ‘A woman named Moonstar’ Domino replies, informing Gryaznova that the Front is willing to talk to her reporter and no one else. ‘I don’t negotiate with criminals’ the Commander replies. ‘Look, if those hostages die because you’re too proud to consider a non-violent alternative - how do you think that’s going to play with Mr. And Mrs. America?’ Domino asks.
‘Remember the Waco Crisis?’ Domino asks, pointing out that it doesn’t take much to turn public opinion, and the next thing you know, Zero Tolerance will have lost its support - ‘And you’re out of a holy crusade’. The Commander frowns as she checks the identification, before raising her hand and shouting ‘Very well’, to which her operatives open the gates, and she tells the trio that if they insist on entering that viper’s nest then they can. ‘Understand that I won’t be responsible for your crew’s safety’ she declares. ‘Not a problem, we’re professionals’ Domino replies, but as they enter, Ekatarina adds that she wants “Ms. Sutherland” to warn the MLF that their time is rapidly running out. ‘I’ll tell them’ Domino replies. ‘Nice going, “Pris,”’ Sunspot jokes as the trio approach the complex.
One of the Zero Tolerance operatives quietly informs his Commander that he crosschecked the credentials of those WNN reporters. ‘They’re not -’ he begins to say, when Gryaznova smirks, interrupting him, she tells the lieutenant that she knows exactly who they are. ‘This is our lucky day!’ she exclaims.
Meanwhile, in Salem Center, New York, 11.25pm, EST. The Xavier Institute, which has long been a haven and place of learning for young mutants, including X-Force. However, tonight it is remarkably empty, except for the presence of Cable, X-Force’s founder, and the mysteriously ailing mutant-tracker known only as Caliban. The Morlock is watching cartoons, stuffed animals cover his bed, and he soon turns the television off. Entering the room Nathan Summers a.k.a. Cable turns the light off, but Caliban asks if they can keep it on.
Cable replies that he thought Caliban was asleep, to which Caliban remarks that he doesn’t want to go to sleep. Speaking in the third-person, Caliban declares that he has been having nightmares ever since he got sick. ‘Will Caliban ever get better?’ he asks. Cable replies that he has talked to Dr. Moira MacTaggert on Muir Island and informs Caliban that she is working up some tests to determine what is causing the seizures he has been having recently. ‘Caliban doesn’t like tests!’ the Morlock replies. Cable assures him that nobody does, but that they have to find out what is making him sick before they can help him to get better.
‘Is Caliban going to die? The Morlocks did!’ he exclaims, pulling the blankets up around him, adding that he was a Morlock. Cable assures Caliban that just because the other Morlocks died it doesn’t mean he will anytime soon, and suggests he tries not to think about it. Caliban remarks that he wishes he could be as smart as Cable, that sometimes he even feels smart - like when he was playing piano, and then all of a sudden, the smart things he knows go away. ‘Why is Caliban like that?’ he asks. Cable replies that they are going to find out, and promises Caliban, before asking him to close his eyes and go to sleep.
12.04am, Cable walks onto a balcony, annoyed with himself for ever putting Caliban in the field, as he let his need to utilize Caliban’s tracking abilities blind him to the truth - despite Caliban’s physical age, he has regressed emotionally. Suddenly, a voice calls out ‘How’s he doing?’ Cable looks up and sees Warren Worthington III a.k.a. Archangel, and replies that Caliban is scared, and he doesn’t blame him for that, as they simply don’t know what is going on.
Archangel reminds Cable that both he and Caliban were altered genetically by Apocalypse to serve as his Horseman. ‘After I lost my wings, that madman transformed me into the Archangel of Death, and Caliban was warped into Destruction personified’ Warren remarks. Cable points out that now Warren’s wings have mysteriously regenerated, at the same time Caliban is experiencing some sort of systemic trauma. Warren asks Cable if he thinks the two occurrences are related, to which Cable points out that Apocalypse has profoundly impacted all three of their lives. ‘And I think what you and Caliban have been enduring is only the start of something bad…’.
Back in St. Louis, 11.07pm EST, Domino strides ahead of Siryn, who speaks into the camera that Sunspot is holding. ‘Are we in focus?’ Theresa asks into the camera, which is being watched by the other three members of X-Force - Tabitha “Meltdown” Smith, Shatterstar and Julio “Rictor” Richter. Meltdown assures Siryn that they have crystal-clear picture, to which Domino tells the others that they need them to provide the fireworks that will cover their exit in exactly four minutes. ‘From my mark…five…four…three…two…’ but suddenly, the screen goes blank, and Rictor exclaims that they have lost the feed. ‘Nothing’s ever easy for us, is it?’ he mutters.
‘Time to move!’ Meltdown exclaims as she and her teammates exit the van, Shatterstar remarking that he looks forward to testing the mettle of the Zero Tolerance soldiers. Rictor agrees, but wishes Warpath was here with them instead of on some wild goose chase. ‘Hey, someone smashed our satellite dish!’ one of them remarks, to which Ekatarina, standing a few feet away, exclaims that she did, before telling the young heroes that they are under arrest, and advises them to come quietly. ‘Although you’re welcome to try to resist’ she smirks, a strange blue glow surrounding her.
Shatterstar points out to the Commander that she is outnumbered, while Meltdown tells her that she admires her never, but that she better step aside, as they have more important things to do. ‘You’ll do absolutely nothing, mutants. You belong to me now!’ the Commander retorts, before firing bolts of energy from her fingers, rendering the three X-Force members unconscious.
11.10pm, inside the Wakeman complex, Domino calls out to her teammates, none of whom respond, to which Siryn whispers that they have more pressing concerns now, motioning to the approaching MLF. ‘You’re the news crew? Who’s the producer?’ Wildside asks. ‘You could call me that’ the disguised Domino replies. ‘Flanked by Dragoness and Forearm, Wildside spouts off the rules, ‘You’ll interrupt every affiliate’s regularly scheduled programming. Everything I say will be broadcast live and unedited’.
Domino asks about the hostages, to which Wildside replies they will be fine so long as he sees himself on TV. Pensive, Dragoness suddenly remarks that the producer looks familiar. ‘I get that a lot’ “Priscilla” replies. Dragoness finds the accent interesting, and suddenly announces that these are not reporters, but X-Force! Forearm agrees, to which Dragoness reminds everyone that these are Moonstar’s friends, so she has set them up.
‘Have you sold out to the government now?’ Wildside asks, calling X-Force traitors to their race, before he puts his powers into use, ‘The room’s spinning!’ Sunspot exclaims, while Domino asks what the buzzing noise is, soon identified as a plague of insects. Siryn tries to use her sonic scream, but every time she opens her mouth, she gets a mouthful of flies. Sunspot powers up but finds that his solar power is doing nothing to stop the insects either, and wonders what Wildside has unleashed. Domino however, finds herself covered in maggots. She tells herself to chill out, as no matter how much it feels like there are maggots crawling over her body, Wildside only affects other people’s perceptions of reality.
Domino calls out to Bobby and Terry, telling them that this is not real, just an illusion. ‘My Lord! They’re all mutants and they’ve all gone crazy!’ gasps one of the hostages, while the trio of scientists who moved closer together whisper that they have waited long enough.
Forearm and Sunspot have a punch-up, with Forearm remarking that Sunspot should be on their side. ‘If you want to commit suicide, Forearm, I don’t care - but I’m not gonna let you drag a friend of mine down with you!’ Bobby replies, while Dragoness attacks Domino, asking where the traitorous Moonstar is. ‘Right here!’ Dani replies as she fires an arrow, warning everyone that if they don’t stop fighting then her next arrow will not be a warning shot. Danielle tells everyone that without Locus here they are running out of options, and explains that when she saw the forces surrounding them outside, she thought getting X-Force in here was the best way of getting out in one piece.
Domino wraps a hand around Tamara’s neck and exclaims that Moonstar is right. ‘Can’t you see this whole fiasco has been one big sting?’ she asks. Wildside disagrees, ‘My sources -’ he begins, looking at the hostages, but Sunspot tells him to get real, asking him how he thinks the Zero Tolerance troops arrived so quickly. ‘They knew you were coming! Capture the most wanted criminal organization in the country and pull off a public relations coup all at once!’ Sunspot remarks.
‘Then I suppose we’ll just have to start killing the hostages!’ Wildside grins, ‘Dibs on this one!’ he adds, picking an elderly man up. ‘No. The madness ends here and now!’ Danielle exclaims, firing an arrow which strikes Wildside hard. ‘You shot my baby! I’ll eviscerate you for that, Moonstar!’ Dragoness snarls, but before she can strike, Forearm grabs her and holds her down, telling her to shut up. Tempo declares that with Wildside out of commission, it would seem Dani is calling the shots, and asks her how they are getting out of here.
Moonstar replies that, first they must release the hostages, then she is going to place a call to SHIELD and they will surrender to them. ‘SHIELD? What makes you think we can trust them any more than we can trust Zero Tolerance?’ Forearm asks. Dani hesitantly replies that she doesn’t know how to tell him this, but that she was recruited by SHIELD to infiltrate the MLF, and apologizes to Forearm for lying to him.
Suddenly, the three hostages who were close together get to their feet, tearing their ropes off with ease, they begin removing their disguises, ‘An interesting story, but I’m afraid you won’t be contacting anyone, let alone any law-enforcement agencies’. ‘You’ll be subdued and imprisoned with the rest of the mutant garbage’. ‘You see, you’re not the only one working undercover!’. One of them explains that the MLF’s informant in the Department of Defense was discovered months ago, and he had no choice but to give the MLF information they instructed him to. ‘Information that brought you here - where we’ve been patiently waiting for the moment when we could take you muties down!’.
Clad now in black with purple trim outfits, one of them exclaims ‘We are the new generation of Sentinels, mutant’. ‘Lethal force has been fully authorized’. ‘We will end the mutant threat once and for all!’. X-Force and the MLF just look on as if things couldn’t get any worse. ‘Great’, mumbles Moonstar sarcastically.
2.45m, EST, back at the Xavier Institute, Caliban lies sleeping, while the enigmatic Ozymandias stands over him. ‘You were always a gentle soul, Caliban’ the stone-man remarks, adding that it is a bitter irony that his master transformed one with such a kind heart into a savage engine of destruction. Ozymandias remarks that he envies the friends of Caliban who liberated him from the Dark Lord’s servitude. ‘In the centuries since En-Sabah-Nur cursed me with immortality, I’ve known few as selfless as these mutants. However, mark the words of Ozymandias. Who has served Apocalypse for centuries…the Dark Lord does not relinquish his chosen so easily’.
Ozymandias touches Caliban on the forehead, remarking that when his pain becomes too great, he will have no choice but to return to Apocalypse. ‘I am sorry’. he declares, before vanishing…. This will be the last night Caliban sleeps in this mansion, for outside, a storm gathers - and no one is safe….


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

[Assistant]
The Last Valkyrie
MontanaNighttime. Dani Moonstar, simply known as Moonstar, sits on some sheaves of corn, right outside a farmhouse. Dani is silent, her eyes shut, her arms crossed over her shoulders. A four-armed man approaches her, asking her if she’s okay. The man is Michael McCain, often referred to as Forearm. Both he and Dani belong to the Mutant Liberation Front, a team the U.S. government sees as terrorists whereas they see themselves as guerrilla fighters in the escalating conflict between mutants and normal human beings.
Forearm urges Dani to talk; he can tell something is eating her up inside. He reminds her she’s her friend and urges her to talk to him. “Look at us,” Moonstar replies. They’re fugitives hiding in the middle of nowhere. This isn’t how she pictured her life, living underground, constantly on the run. If something doesn’t change soon she thinks she’s gonna…
Forearm is sorry to interrupt her but he thinks she should better duck! Indeed, at that moment, a huge flaming beam, akin to a small constellation crash-lands at their feet! Dizzy and disoriented by this sudden crash, Forearm gets up, asking Dani if they just got sideswiped by a meteor. Dani can’t believe her eyes: “Sweet spirit, it can’t be… but it is… Brunnhilda and Aragorn!”
Indeed, as the dust clears, it is not spaceborn debris that lies in the impact crater but a gravely wounded warrior and her winged mount: a white horse of miraculous wings. As Dani approaches the woman, Forearm asks her if she knows her. Moonstar explains that Brunnhilda is one of the Valkyrior, the Sisterhood entrusted to carry the souls of Asgardian warriors slain in battle to Valhalla. “Asgard? Valhalla? Are we talking about North mythology?” Forearm wonders. Dani insists that myths have a basis in truth: Asgard exists. Dani herself has been there and once, she was a Valkyrie.
Weak and barely conscious, still lying on the ground, Brunnhilda thanks Odin for having found her sister, Danielle Moonstar. Dani urges her to not to talk since she needs a doctor. Brunnhilda insists there’s no time. Moonstar must listen: the Valkyrior have fallen and Asgard and the Nine Realms are in great peril. Dani is their last hope. Generating some sort of energy in her hand, she passes the energy into Dani, urging her to protect the heart of the Valkyrior.
Before Dani can question the injured Valkyrie further, the sky is rent asunder as a dimensional portal opens through which a trio of enormous Demon Dogs leaps toward the posse. A reasonably freaked Forearm asks Dani what’s going on here. She replies there’s no time to explain and pleads him to run interference while she gets Brunnhilda to safety. While Aragorn, the winged horse is grabbed by the mouth of one of the Dogs, Forearm promises he’ll do what he can even though he remarks that these mutts are looking at them like they’re Scooby snacks! Moonstar’s plan fails, though: while Forearm punches one of the three Dogs’ face, another of the Dogs grabs Brunnhilda by her arm. Dani screams to the Dog to let go of her. Brunnhilda tells her to remember and protect the heart. Next to them, Forearm is facing his own problems, covered by one Dog’s saliva, complaining that dealing with dog breath was bad enough but now this is just plain disgusting!
Dani tries to stop these hellhounds before they get away with Brunnhilda and unleashes her psychic arrows against the Dogs. Once, Dani could psionically project her opponents’ worst fear. However, now, she has learned to focus her psionic energy in a different way, through bones and arrows given form and weight by the power of her mind.
She tries in vain, however. The three Dogs depart through the dimensional portal. Forearm tells Dani to give it up: unless she knows how to fly, they’re long gone. Forearm and Moonstar were nothing but a minor annoyance for them. However, Dani declares it’s not over yet. She tells Forearm to inform the others she’s leaving: this doesn’t concern the M.L.F. Dani is determined to find Brunnhilda and the other Valkyries even if she has to tear apart every inch of Asgard.
Twelve hours and one phone call laterA high-tech transport called the PACRAT (Personnel Assault Carrier Reconnaissance And Transport) touches down on the cracked asphalt of a drive-in theater. As Dani watches it landing she thinks that if Michael knew who she was meeting here he’d never understand. Dani tries to brace herself knowing this is bound to be uncomfortable.
The passengers of the PACRAT exit their transport. They are the unique group of mutants collectively known as X-Force: Sunspot, Caliban, Warpath, Siryn, Rictor, Shatterstar and Meltdown. Sunspot apologizes to Dani for taking them so long to come. They had to refuel before they left the mansion. He hopes she doesn’t mind he brought the whole crew along. Rictor jokes that this is practically a New Mutants reunion. “Enough small talk” Tabitha states. She asks Dani for clarification about her “911” call.
Responding to Bobby’s statement, Moonstar admits that the body count’s a lot higher than she would have guessed. She didn’t really expect anyone but Bobby would be inclined to help her out considering her current affiliation. Sunspot admits that he still doesn’t know why Dani signed on with that bunch of psychos – meaning the M.L.F. – but they’ve been through so much together for him to ever turn his back on Dani. Moonstar reminds him that the New Mutants are history: time passes; people move on.
“Yeah, but not to the other side, Dani,” Tabitha retorts. She takes the rest of the former New Mutants as an example. Sam is a full fledged X-Man now; Rahne returned to Scotland and joined Excalibur and as for Karma, they don’t know where she is these days but it’s definitely not with the M.L.F. Dani will understand if Tabitha doesn’t want to help her. Who is she to ask any of them to risk their lives for her?
Cable suddenly appears, ensuring Moonstar they stand by their friends – even those who’ve lost their way. Dani asks Bobby what he is doing here. She asks him if he was worried she was setting his precious team up. Sunspot assures her it’s not like that: Cable actually asked to come with them. Dani doesn’t want Cable to do her any favors. Caliban whispers to his teammates the obvious, namely, that Dani Moonstar doesn’t like Cable much.
Cable points to the fact that Moonstar herself called X-Force for help; that tells him she trusts them more than she trust the M.L.F. Moonstar explains that no one in the M.L.F. has ever encountered the perils in Asgard. But Bobby, Tabitha and Rictor have. Tabitha is not happy to hear Dani mention Asgard. “You know I hate that place” she tells her.
Moonstar briefly recapitulates what has transpired. She explains that when Loki transported the New Mutants to Asgard a few years ago, she became a Valkyrie for a time. Now, the Valkyrior have been captured by forces unknown and if she has a chance of rescuing them, it will be with the help of X-Force.
(elsewhere)In a dark corner of Asgard, the captured Brunnhilda, bound onto a wall, is approached by her captor. The mysterious villain invites her to struggle all she will. He explains she’s bound with the same unbreakable fabric that fetters the Wolf Fenris in Hela’s realm. The Valkyrie asks him why he is doing this. The evil being recalls how Odin gave them, the Valkyrior, the ability to traverse the Nine Realms unhindered by physical boundary, in order that they might ferry the noblest warriors fallen in battle to the halls of Valhalla. This act would move entire armies across the Nine Realms but to do so requires the power Odin bestowed upon the Valkyrior.
Holding Brunnilda’s bruised and bloody face, her captor asks her to relinquish that power and promises her and her sisters a quick death. Brunnhilda tells him to do with her what he will. He asks for that which she cannot give. Her heart is empty.
Ungava Bay, CanadaMoonstar and X-Force walk amidst a huge snowy deserted expanse. Everyone’s dressed in raincoats – save for Sunspot, thanks to his powers. The others aren’t so lucky: Tabitha, in particular, is freezing. In her usual humorous style, she asks Dani if there is a more tropical route to Asgard. She feels like a human Popsicle out here! Sunspot wittingly replies they’re looking for an ancient Viking village and you don’t usually find those in the South Pacific.
Caliban remarks that he doesn’t see a village: only snow. Cable states that, according to the coordinates, they should be right on top of it. Dani points ahead of them: the village is there, under a mountain of snow. Rictor wonders how they will get inside. “Bobby…” Dani simply says.
She doesn’t need to speak further. Sunspot understands: they need an early thaw. Given that he is a living solar energy, able to absorb and rechannel energy from the sun, Bobby acts as a miniature sun – held aloft by thermal currents – melting a winter’s worth of snow from the remarkably well preserved village. The beautiful village now revealed before their eyes, the team congratulates Bobby on a job well done.
As they enter a passageway in the caves underneath the village that will lead them to the gates of Asgard, Warpath asks Dani to explain to him again how they will reach Asgard from this place. He thought that Asgard existed somewhere in space. Dani corrects him: it’s not exactly like that. Each of the Nine Realms connected by the Yaggdrasil, the World Tree, exists in separate dimensions and this village was built on a transdimensional nexus point. Siryn asks Dani if she finds it ironic that a full-blooded Cheyenne like her finds herself so entangled in the affairs of the Norse gods. All the time, Moonstar admits.
As the team advances through the path, Dani gives them a history lesson, informing them that this is the place where the trickster god, Loki, played games with the X-Men and Alpha Flight, creating a fountain of magic that gave some of them god-like powers while leaving others near death. One of the team asks her if she thinks Loki’s behind the Valkyrior disappearance. She does not. She believes Loki, like all the Aesir, is currently living on Earth, unaware of their true identities.
Bobby asks Dani how she knows all these. She’s not really sure: when Brunnhilda touched her, it was as if she passed part of herself to her. It’s almost as if she’s a Valkyrie again. Meanwhile, Cable notices his compass is going haywire. Rictor, on the other hand, is a little put off by the spooky caves. Tabitha remarks it’s a good thing her time-bombs make good torches.
Finally, they reach the gates of Asgard at the end of this cave passage. Dani warns them there is no turning back now. Stepping across the rune-carved threshold, Dani and the members of X-Force are catapulted across the dimensional gulf which separates the humans’ world from that of Asgard, the golden realm – a world upon which few humans have ever set foot.
The team materializes in front of Odin’s hall. Caliban confesses he feels funny. Moonstar tells him not to worry: it’s an after-effect of the transdimensional shunt and will soon pass. Cable claims that Asgard looks nothing like he had pictured it. Tabitha admits that she didn’t think much of this place the first time she came here but now, it really looks like they let the place go. Bobby agrees: it’s as if, without the Aesir, the city appears to have fallen into ruin. Another thing worries Dani, though: even though they are in Odin’s hall, Valaskjalf, the symbol on the door ahead of them is not the All-Father’s.
Unbeknownst to the team, some Rock Trolls watch the team from above. “More intruders… Heads will roll! Bones will rock!” the Trolls exclaim and start jumping down, some of them wielding axes and maces.
It is Warpath’s heightened senses that alert him first to the Trolls’ aerial assault. As he screams “Incoming!” the battle commences. One of the Trolls proudly proclaims they are the loyal soldiers of King Geirrodur. Asgard belongs to the Rock Trolls: the intruders don’t belong here! Rictor jokes that if this is the Asgardian welcome wagon, no wonder there’s so little tourism.
Tabitha believes the “grody little gargoyles” have asked for it! Bobby corrects her: they’re Trolls, not gargoyles – Rock Trolls, old enemies of Asgard who occupied the city after the Aesir vanished, as Dani informs them. Tabitha doesn’t care how they’re called: they’ve ticked her off. In rapid succession, she detonates a volley of her time-bombs putting the Trolls on the run. James congratulates her on her recently-improved aim.
Still, the team has captured one of the Trolls and Dani aims him with her arrow, asking “Poppa Smurf,” as she derogatorily calls him, to look at her, asking him if he knows who she is. The Troll begs her not to kill him: he hadn’t realized she was a Valkyrie! Moonstar questions the reason of their attack. The Troll explains they thought they were more of Malekith’s accursed minions! Asgard was in the hands of the Trolls until Malekith drove them out with his weirdling soldiers and Demon Dogs. When Dani asks him where she can find this Malekith, the Troll informs her that Malekith the Accursed, spawn of Svartalfheim, sits upon Hildskjalf, the high-throne of Odin, and from that royal vantage, he is said to look upon each of the Nine Realms with an unquenchable hunger for conquest.
Indeed, at that very moment, Malekith – captor of the Valkyrios – sits on Odin’s throne, looking rather broody as his underling, Wormwood, notices. Wormwood proposes to bring some Trolls for his lord to torture: a good dismemberment always cheers him. Malekith insists that it will take more than mere cruelty to lift his spirit this day. Even though he captured all nine of the Valkyrior, they have hidden their power from him and refuse to divulge its location.
Wormwood is confident it’s only a matter of time before his lord breaks these Asgardian cows. His lord should savor his current victory instead: does he not sit upon the throne of his most hated enemy’s father? Malekith advises him never to speak of the Thunder God in his presence. His defeat at Thor’s hands still weighs heavy on his soul.
Suddenly, Malekith pauses, spotting Dani’s face in one of the spheres that surround Odin’s throne. He sees the presence of humans in Asgard as blasphemy. He remembers there was a time once when mundane creatures knew their place; when they cowered as Eri kings stole their whelps and hunted them for sport. Malekith is determined to reawaken the fear of the wildhuntsman in the children of Midgard. Now enthused, he orders Wormwood to bring him his armor; sound the horns; assemble the hunting party! Mortal blood will flow this day!
At the gates of Valaskjalf, the two elves guarding it are having a chat. One of them boasts about the time he impaled a Frost Giant with his trusty blade and turned it ever so slowly that even the Giant whimpered for mercy. Rather amused, the other guard accuses his interlocutor, Thorngrip, of being a grand liar as he could never impale anything but a Frost Giant’s big toe!
Bored and hungry, Thorngrip admits he could so with a mid-watch snack. He urges his colleague to watch him hit with his bow a mouse scurrying across a rafter beam! However, the other elf pauses, asking him if he heard something. The next moment, both guards are taken out by Dani’s psi-arrows. Cable argues there was no need to use deadly force. Moonstar explains that her psi-arrows are only fatal if she chooses them to be. Cable decides to telepathically notify the others that they’re inside.
“Not for long, mortal,” Malekith’s voice is heard, “let the hunt begin!” Sitting on a giant Demon Dog, flaunting a runespear and grinning evilly, Malekith starts hunting them like a hunter does his prey with an army of Rock Trolls following him, prepared for battle. “So much for stealth, eh, Cable?” Dani remarks as both she and Nathan break into a rout. Nathan telepathically informs his team they’ve been found out and urges them to cover their exit.
Concealed in a dark alley and watching the army of Rock Trolls marching by are Caliban and Shatterstar. Prepared to hurl Shatterstar in “fastball special” fashion, Caliban confesses those pointy-eared men remind him of the Marauders that killed most of his Morlock friends and now they want to hurt his current friends. Shatterstar assures him they won’t let that happen and then urges him to aim for the rider on the big Demon Dog: they will see what threat these goblins pose without their leader.
Indeed, Caliban hurls Shatterstar to the Demon Dog. Malekith easily pushes Shatterstar’s body away with his runespear, impressed by seeing a flying mortal: miracles never cease! He begins to see why the Thunderguard is so infatuated with the denizens of Midgard. They offer great sport and amusement!
Siryn recalls that when she was growing in Scotland, the local bluebloods would run an innocent fox ragged and then let their dogs tear the poor beast apart. Thus, when her mutant power developed, she learned she could spoil their so-called sport by driving their hounds crazy with a scream pitched so high only a dog could hear. She decides that this Dog is not so different that those hounds – only much bigger – and unleashes her hypersonic scream on the creature, causing it to collapse.
Shatterstar lands on James, apologizing for that and explaining this place is disorienting. Warpath feels it’s like in higher elevations: the air is rarified. They need time to adjust. Nearby, as the battle continues, Rictor tries to avoid the Trolls’ attacks, admitting it’s a lot easier to adjust when no one’s trying to flatten you with a mace. Fortunately, he’s keeping these Lord of the Rings rejects off balance with a little seismic shock wave. The Trolls are shocked to see them all have powers and wonder if all mortals are enchanted as these!
One of the Trolls throws a mace at the flying Theresa. As the mace hits her and she starts falling down, Warpath jumps upwards to grab her, thinking that he can’t let anything happen to her, since she’s too dazed to land on her feet, thus, James’ own strength will cushion her fall. Maybe they haven’t been so close since he’s been seeing Risque but she’s still his best friend.
Nearby, as Malekith approaches Moonstar and Cable the former reminds the latter that the Dark Elves are vulnerable to iron and pure metals. Cable laments leaving all his silver bullets home. Malekith admits they fight admirably for mortals. He thinks maybe casting a glamour upon the lot and making them his thralls. Suddenly, though, he senses an Asgardian enchantment radiating from Moonstar. Can this mortal girl hold the power the Valkyries denied him?
Malekith tells Dani to look into his eyes… Feel the world disappear around her until only he stands before her… The unearthly power she carries is too heavy a weight for one fragile mortal to bear… She should let Malekith ease her burden! As Malekith says this, an eerie glamour appears in his face.
Cable orders Dani to snap out of it as he realizes Malekith is trying to hypnotize her. The runespear flies from Malekith’s hand screaming through the air; only Cable’s intervention prevents it from reaching its intended target, Dani. The runespear tears through Cable’s techno-organic flesh and bone, barely missing his heart. As Tabitha screams at what he has done, Malekith remarks that apparently he missed. He never understood this mortal tendency to sacrifice oneself for another.
An agonizing Cable feels like a thousand spikes are exploding throughout his body. Dani explains he’s been poisoned by Elven magic. His body has no natural defense for it. Cable realizes Malekith’s army got them outnumbered and outflanked. They should better retreat and not jeopardize their safety for him. “Understood” Moonstar complies. Hearing this, though, Tabitha refuses leaving Cable behind. Moonstar insists she heard the man and should fall back.
Tabitha reluctantly complies but makes it clear to Dani that she doesn’t like abandoning the man one bit. Dani may resent Cable for breaking up the New Mutants but he stood by them, which is more than Tabitha can say for Dani. She admits, though, this may not be the appropriate moment to get into that. Generating some of her time-bombs, she throws them against that mammoth door the Trolls just bolted. A huge explosion rips the door into shreds.
Descending the stairs leading outside of Odin’s palace, Dani urges the team to head to the forest so that they can lose Malekith’s army there; once they find cover, they’ll return for Cable. She tells Bobby they need him to clear a path ahead of them. Sunspot complies. Turning to Rictor, she orders him to block the road behind them with his seismic waves; they shouldn’t make it easy for Malekith and his boys to follow them.
Hearing Dani giving orders, Siryn laments having a headache from that blow in her head. She is getting fed up with Miss Moonstar acting like they’re the bloody New Mutants. She is Deputy Leader! She should be giving orders! Still carrying the dizzy Theresa in his arms, Warpath assures her he understands how she feels but they can’t let their bruised feeling get in the way. Dani knows Asgard better than they do.
Shatterstar points at something moving at the trees: they’re being watched! With remarkable speed, a diminutive figure clambers down the oak to the forest floor. It’s a female dwarf. She tells Shatterstar to sheathe his blade: they’ve no reason to fear her. Shatterstar is still hesitant, though. Even though this woman seems to pose no threat, the elves and goblins of folk tales are known for their deceptions. Moonstar tells him to ease down: the woman is Kindra, one of the dwarves of Nidavellir who nursed Cannonball back to health when Loki scattered the New Mutants across the Nine Realms.
Kindra remarks that idle conversations will only delay their journey, so she’ll be brief. She tells them there’re tunnels known to the dwarves through which Malekith’s minions cannot follow. If they wish to elude this infernal hunting party, they should follow her now.
In the throne room, Malekith is not pleased. The girl called Moonstar escaped his grasp. Still, there is no place in the Nine Realms where she can hide from him. Malekith orders Wormwood to see if the prisoner will trade his female comrade for his life. Cable tells Malekith his mind games don’t work with him and he should get out of his head. Wormwood realizes this mortal resists his lord’s glamour and attributes it to the metallic sinew lying beneath his flesh – sinew that counters the runespear’s magic. The prisoner leaves them no choice but to persuade him with pain.
Wormwood slowly pulls the runespear from Cable’s body, delighting in his prisoner’s discomfort. He asks Cable to tell them where the “archer” is. Though the pain is excruciating, Cable steels himself, refusing to show his sadistic captor any sign of weakness. Looking in one of his spheres, Malekith tells Wormwood that the prisoner’s cooperation no longer matters: he now knows where the girl and her companions are.
Indeed, after following Kindra through a maze of subterranean tunnels, X-Force emerges in the snowy mountains of Jotunheim. Kindra informs them that the dwarves and the Frost Giants have forged an alliance against Malekith: they are safe here. Caliban is glad to be finally able to stand up. Warpath agrees: apparently, the dwarves didn’t carve those tunnels for a human’s size. Bobby had forgotten how exhilarating it’s here. The energy he’s absorbing from the Asgardian sun makes him stronger somehow. He then pauses, realizing Kindra just mentioned “Giants!”
The mountain starts shaking in a way that reminds Caliban of when Julio uses his power. Rictor’s not responsible for this, though: a beautiful female giant of white hair emerges! She introduces herself as Skadi, mistress of the mountain lodges. Curious by Sunspot’s appearance, she admits never having met genuine mortals before and asks Bobby if they all burn like a small sun. Bobby jokes that only a handful of genuine mortals can turn on the heat like this! Kindra explains to Skadi that her friends are warriors of true heart and noble resolve and each possesses an ability that gives them great advantage in combat. She introduces Dani Moonstar to the Giant, explaining that the Valkyries have entrusted their lifeforce to her keeping. It’s imperative Moonstar finds her Valkyrior sisters before Malekith does any more harm, to them and to Asgard.
Skadi reveals the awful truth: Malekith has imprisoned the Valkyries in Valhalla. And not even with an army of Frost Giants could they gain entrance to that hallowed hall. Shatterstar points to the fact they’ve reached this far. What prevents them from reaching this Valhalla? Rictor explains to his friend that Valhalla is the Hall of dead warriors. Tabitha parallels it with a club with a strict dress code, thus, unless someone kicks off in the next couple of minutes, they don’t have the cover charge!
Dani admits she can enter the gates of Valhalla as long as she carries their spirit. After all, she’s the last Valkyrie. But she has no means to get there. If Illyana were still alive, maybe…
Skadi interrupts her, telling her she has the means. She points her to the sight of Aragorn, the stallion, whom they found lying in the snow nursing wounds inflicted by Malekith’s Demon Dogs. Skadi believes she’s been waiting for Dani.
Later, the winged horse and its rider, Moonstar, approach the misty heights of Valhalla. Dani is lost in her thoughts, pondering on how she thought she has put her time as a Valkyrie behind her. It was so hard looking into people’s faces and seeing the moments of their deaths and now, here she is, charging Death’s doorstep once again.
“Dani, wait up!” Sunspot is heard shouting. Indeed, he catches up with her, flying next to Aragorn. He thought he’d lost her in those weird clouds back there. Dani asks him if he’s crazy. Those “weird clouds” were the ethereal veil that separates the living and the dead. She rigidly informs him he’s not supposed to be here. Sunspot jokes that being in Asgard fires him up and tells her he’ll be okay. Dani hopes so.
Finally walking through the gates of Valhalla, they see some sort of green ethereal energy all around them. Bobby asks if these are warrior’s ghosts or if they are like reanimated corpses. Dani scolds him not to mock the dead. These warriors await the day when they will join Odin’s army in the final battle of Ragnarok – when it is fated that the immortal realm will fall and all gods will die. “I’m telling you this as a friend, Dani” Sunspot confides in her: she is scary when she talks like that.
Freezing, Bobby asks her why it is cold in there. He hasn’t felt cold since his powers really kicked in and he became a solar generator. Dani points him to the fact this is the Hall of the Dead. It’s not the absence of heat that chills him but the absence of life. Dani senses her sisters are here: she can feel their presence up ahead. Indeed, they find all nine Valkyries bound together by Malekith with his dark magic. With her Valkyrie power, Dani senses they’re so weak and even sees death hanging over them like a gathering storm.
Hela, Goddess of Death, Queen of the Underworld, appears behind them, informing Dani the Valkyries are now hers. They have surrendered their life essence: without it they will not survive to draw another breath. Seeing Sunspot, she asks Moonstar if she has brought her a living soul as a tribute to atone for her previous transgressions against her. “My transgression?” Dani protests. It was Hela who tried to corrupt her… turn her into a monster. As Hela grabs Sunspot’s face, Moonstar asks her to leave Bobby alone: he’s not hers to take.
As Bobby momentarily passes out from her touch, Hela marvels at how brightly these mortals burn and how quickly their flames extinguish. Dani insists it’s not Bobby’s time, nor is the Valkyrior’s. Hela asks her who is she to tell her her duty. Death answers to no authority, especially to a little girl too frightened of her own mortality to accept that death claims all things. Not today, Moonstar argues. She won’t let Malekith win. Hela urges her to let him have Asgard. In the end, she will claim his life as surely as she claims these warrior-maidens.
Dani releases one of her arrows, which Hela easily avoids, asking Dani if she truly thought she can wound death. Has she learned nothing from her time as a Valkyrie? Dani explains she wasn’t aiming at her: indeed, her arrow breaches the magic that binds the Valkyries together and the energy of the arrows is channeled into the warrior-maidens. Dani explains to Hela that her arrows are the way she gives physical form to her psychic energy. As such, she determines the damage they do to their targets. They can cause pain, unconsciousness, even death if she chooses. But they are not only weapons of destruction: they can also be vessels of healing. That arrow just returned to her sisters the lifeforce Brunnhilda gave her to safeguard. Moonstar tells Hela to return to her dark netherworld: Malekith’s spell is broken. The Valkyrior live!
In Jotunheim, Malekith and Wormwood are looking for Dani. Malekith proclaims that Skadi and her slow-witted kin are woefully mistaken if they think they can hide the girl from him. He is determined to make these snow-covered mountains run red with the blood of every Giant who dares stand against him.
Suddenly, Malekith hears a sound. He is shocked to see the Valkyries flying in the sky with their stallions: they can’t be free! Dragging Cable akin to a pet with a lashing strap attached on a collar around the mutant’s neck, Wormwood reminds his master that he had told him they should never have invaded Asgard. Why could Malekith not be content to lord over Svartalfheim?
Realizing that the little gargoyle’s not paying attention to him and is giving him all the slack he needs, Cable instantly kicks and punches Wormwood, taking him out.
Still airborne and riding Aragorn, Dani tells Bobby that, no matter what happens when they get back to Earth, she can’t tell him how much it means to her that he stood by her, even in Valhalla. “Yeah, for all the help I was there,” Bobby remarks. Next time Dani crosses over into the land of the dead, she’d better send a postcard! As he spots Malekith on the ground with his army, he thinks that a wall of flame will cut him off from his troops. “He’s mine” Dani proclaims and prepares to release a psi-arrow against him.
On the ground, Malekith assures her she won’t find him an easy target. Cable disagrees, however, and argues that his metallic arm may not contain enough iron to hold him forever but can hold him long enough. Locked in Cable’s grip, Malekith screams “NOOO!” realizing what’s about to happen. The arrow carries all the pain the Dark Elf brought to the Nine Valkyries and when it strikes him, it returns the pain with a searing explosion of psionic energy.
A little bit later, the now chained-up Malekith, lying on the snow, wakes up. Dani lets him know that his army deserted him when he fell. The Frost Giants are picking them out of caves and snowbanks. Also, the Valkyries have informed her that Eitri the Dwarf has forged a holding cell of solid iron in which Malekith will be held until the all-father returns and he can answer for his crimes. Malekith assures her he won’t forget this indignity, nor who is responsible for it. “I know, one day, I’ll pay,” Dani tiredly mumbles. No offence, she tells his “dark lordship” but she has other things to worry about and he is the least of her worries.
Kindra wishes Cable to recover and tells him that he has the gratitude of Nidavellir. She also sends her greetings to Samuel Guthrie. When she had heard there were mortals in Asgard, she had hoped he’d be among them. Cable assures her he’ll tell him.
Caliban asks James how they are getting home. Warpath explains that the Valkyries will fly them back to Ungava Bay. He hopes they know a shorter route than the one they took to get here. Shatterstar wishes they stayed longer in this realm. Asgard suits his warrior nature better than 20th century Earth. Rictor disagrees and asks him if he thinks his warrior nature could survive somewhere where you can’t get pizza delivered! Tabitha seconds that: the sooner they get home the better.
When Bobby asks Dani if she’s coming with them, she explains that Brunnhilda will take her back to Montana: she has unfinished business with the M.L.F. She knows they can’t understand. She hopes that maybe one day she’ll be able to explain everything and swears this will be a day soon.


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

[Assistant]
The Brothers Proudstar
“Howdy, pardner!” Stan Lee says while strumming a guitar on the midnight plains of the Arizona desert. He wears a ten-gallon hat as he sits beside the campfire, and is surrounded by horses, mice, bison, and jackrabbits. “Here’s yer ol’ buckaroo buddy, Stan ‘Sagebrush’ Lee, strummin’ his heart out for yuh! Got a yahoo of a yarn that’ll sizzle yer saddle an’ curdle yer colts! So drop them gunbelts, yuh rawhide-rustlin’ rapscallions! I’m singing ‘bout two good ol’ red-blooded brothers, James n’ John Proudstar. ‘Course, later on, yuh’ll be knowin’ them as Warpath ‘n Thunderbird—till ol’ Thunderbird gives his life for his X-Men pards! As fer Warpath, what happened to his brother’ll haunt ‘im forever—and then some,” he says.
“But fer now, we’re luckier than a spotted hawg in a pile o’ mud, ‘cause we’re gonna git a shot at seein’ Warpath an’ Thunderbird together agin, as they battle t’save their tribe an’ their kinfolk from—but shoot, no need t’gnash muh gums tellin’ yuh when it’s all waiting down the road a’piece on the pages ahead! So gallop to it, hombres—it’s all yourn! Excelsior, y’all!”
Daytime…
A young James Proudstar, wearing a red bandana, white T-shirt, and blue jeans, casts a cockeyed gaze the cat up in his tree. A boy of eleven years old, James was born and raised on the Camp Verde Apache Reservation in eastern Arizona. Like many boys his age, he longs for a life of adventure and danger. Soon, he will learn the cost of such a wish.
James tells his cat, Coyote, that he’s been looking all over for him. What’s he doing up in the tree? Did Old Man Trueheart’s dog get loose again? He tells Coyote that he can’t stay out there all night, and warns the cat to not make him come after him. As he says this, however, the cat arches its back and hisses, as if spooked by a predator. Confused, James asks aloud what’s spooking the cat. There’s nothing around there that can hurt him, he says.
In another few years, James senses will heighten dramatically, allowing him to distinguish the faintest sounds and most subtle smells. He will possess strength and speed beyond that of an ordinary man. This night, however, he remains blissfully unaware of the strange creature looming behind him.
The large, canine creature outstretches its arms and reaches for James, sporting a sinister smile on its face. James still doesn’t notice it. However, when the creature speaks James’s name aloud, it finally gets his attention. The startled boy gulps, asks who’s there, and begins to turn around. As he does this, Coyote, his loyal cat, lunges at the creature from his perch in the tree. The creature cries out as the cat’s claws dig into its face. As Coyote buries its claws into the monstrous beast, James Proudstar takes advantage of the distraction to run.
Flinging Coyote aside, the creature claims that James cannot escape him. James pleads for the monster to stay away from him as he winds his way through the canyon. He’s got to get out of there, he thinks, and just hope the monster doesn’t know the canyon like he does! While inching his way across a precarious ledge, he realizes that he never quite noticed how far away his house was—but he can’t stop. He’s got to keep running, even though his legs are starting to cramp and he feels like he’s about to drop.
As he nears his house, he braces himself and decides to glance back over his shoulder, just to see if that thing is still behind him. Without breaking his pace, he turns his head to check his rear, praying that the creature, whatever it is, is not still behind him. James is still running in this position when he runs directly into the figure of a burly man in a U.S. Marine Corps uniform.
Stunned, James falls to the ground and lands on his butt. The tall marine looks down at him. “Where do you think you’re goin’, runt?” he asks.
“You!” James replies, his eyes wide with excitement. “You’re back!” He leaps to his feet and hugs his big brother around the torso. It’s been only two years since John Proudstar left Camp Verde to join the Marines—but for James, it’s seemed like an eternity.
John tells his little brother that he got his walking papers two days earlier; he’s a civilian now. Changing subjects, he asks James why he was doing a roadrunner impression. He was practically flying, he says!
Immediately, James unleashes his hyperactive account of what just happened in the canyon. At an incomprehensible pace, he tells John all about the monster in the canyon, how Coyote attacked it, and how he got away. John asks his little brother to slow down; is he really telling him there’s a monster in the canyon? And to think, he thought grandpa was the storyteller in their family. Well, if there is something out there, John says, he’s sure it was no match for the mighty Coyote. He picks up the cat from the ground and begins stroking its back. The cat purrs with delight.
As they walk inside their home—a modest mobile unit with a wooden porch—James laments that his brother doesn’t believe him. “Next time you run into any monsters, runt,” John says, “—tell ‘em your big brother said to leave you alone—‘cause I’m the only one who gets to pick on you.”
Soon after, inside the Proudstar family home, Neal and Maria Proudstar welcome their prodigal son home. As Maria sets a large, cooked turkey on the table, Neal lovingly places his arm around her shoulder, tells her it looks great, and asks what the occasion is. Smiling, Maria tells him not to be silly; he knows she wanted to celebrate John’s homecoming. After all, she hasn’t been able to cook for her oldest son for two whole years. She has no idea how much he missed her cooking, John says; they served food in the mess hall he wouldn’t feed to Coyote.
Neal asks him how he liked the Marines, otherwise. It was a lot of work, John says, but nothing he couldn’t handle. He’s had his fill of taking orders, though. It’s hard to imagine John listening to anybody, James remarks. John whacks him upside the head for that crack, as older brothers are prone to do.
Setting a plate down between them, Maria reminds them not to play like that at the dinner table. This is just like old times, she says.
Bringing it back on topic, Neal Proudstar recalls that when he was in the army, he couldn’t stand most of the officers—except for Lt. Ross, who never forgot what it was like to be a grunt. He wonders what ever happened to old ‘Thunderbolt.’
John’s grandfather, while lighting his pipe at the table, interjects that he doesn’t understand why any Apache would put his life on the line for the United States government. Neal angrily reminds his father that he was drafted. John adds that he just wanted to get off the reservation and see the world—prove himself as a true Apache. Now that he’s done that, he’s glad to be back home.
After midnight, John Proudstar is restless. He has long sensed that he was different—different from his fellow tribesmen. He doesn’t know yet that he is a mutant—that his singular strength and endurance come as the result of the X-factor encoded in his DNA. What he does know is that—deep in his heart, in a place he would never admit exists—that difference frightens him.
His mom approaches him as he leans on a wooden fence. Can’t sleep, she asks? He tells her he wanted to look at the stars; they’re finally where they ought to be. When he was stationed overseas, he tells her, everything felt turned around. He never felt comfortable, like he belonged. Maria tells him how glad she is he made it home safely.
John, however, admits to his mom that he almost didn’t make it back. He never told her, because he didn’t want her to worry, but one night, his unit was skirting a thunderstorm on its way back to Guantanamo when the storm shifted suddenly. Lightning hit one of their engines and they nosedived into the Caribbean. John managed to get the pilot and himself on a lifeboat, but the waters were rough. He had figured they would probably drown before anyone could rescue them. Then suddenly, the sky opened up with a roar of thunder, and he saw—he could swear he saw—a great bird of lightning above him. That signaled the storm’s end, and he knew everything was okay.
As he hugs his mother, he tells her that he bets grandpa would say he had finally found his totem. Maria begins to cry. John tells her there’s no need for tears; he’s home, right? The Proudstars are survivors. Through her tears, Maria tells John there’s something she has kept from him as well: while he was away, she found out she has cancer. John is understandably startled at this news.
The next day, John, James and Maria head into town to the Camp Verde Medical Clinic. As John helps his mother out of the truck, she thanks him, but tells him it isn’t necessary. She may be sick, but she’s not an invalid, she says. John laughs and tells her he just wants to make sure she gets the best treatment possible.
Inside the clinic, Maria introduces John to her doctor, Dr. Edwin Martynec, a young, bespectacled man with a ponytail. Ah, yes, Dr. Martynec says—the soldier she’s been telling him about. After asking the Dr. Martynec not to take offense, John bluntly asks him if he’s sure about this cancer thing; after all, Martynec doesn’t look much older than he does. Dr. Martynec realizes John wants to grasp at any hope, and he’s certainly welcome to get a second opinion, but they’ll just tell him the same thing: his mother suffers from an advanced case of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Is it terminal, John asks? Putting his hand on John’s shoulder, Edwin tells him they’re going to begin an intensive program of radiation and chemotherapy—but at the current stage—he has to be honest that the chances are slim. John hangs his head.
Outside, John punches the side of his family’s truck in order to vent his anger. The force of the punch momentarily lifts the vehicle off the ground. While he does this, a man wearing a cowboy hat watches him from his porch. John Proudstar is finally back from the Marines, the mysterious man thinks. He guesses it’s time he and John had themselves a little conversation—although he’s not going to like what he tells him.
Meanwhile, on the nearby Interstate 40, a family sedan adorned with bumper stickers cruises down the road, leaving a cloud of dust in its wake. The radio blares ‘Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow up to Be Cowboys’ before the woman in the passenger seat changes it to a different station playing ‘Muskrat Love.’ The man in the driver seat reaches over and changes it back to the country song. Bearing a lit cigar in his fingers, he asks her if he said she could change the music. Angered, she tells her husband, Lou, that they’ve been listening to his country garbage for two days. Lou tells his wife, Mandy, that he happens to like Willie Nelson. Oh please, she sighs; when did he turn into an urban cowboy?
In the backseat, young Tabitha Smith endures the ninth day of her family vacation. Clutching her toy, she tells herself that if she knew how to drive, she would steal a car just so she didn’t have to listen to her dad and Mandy argue anymore. She doesn’t understand why they ever got married in the first place. They’re always screaming at each other—that is, when they’re not screaming at her.
Their travels take near a traveling carnival currently stationed near Camp Verde. Her parents decide to stop; they don’t get to see genuine roadside carnivals anymore.
Inside the carnival, Tabitha remarks that she’s thirsty. Lou generously gives her a couple of bucks, and tells her to go get whatever she wants. He’s spoiling her, Mandy remarks. Lou tells her not to start with him.
Elsewhere on the midway, John Proudstar leads his kid brother through the crowd by the hand. Abruptly, James looks up at his brother and tells him that he knows dad only told him to take him there because he doesn’t want to talk about their mom. Smiling at his little brother, John tells him he’s smarter than he looks. James replies he’s almost twelve; it’s not like he’s a kid anymore.
Changing subjects, he asks John if he wants to ride the tilt-a-whirl with him. Sure, John shrugs. Suddenly, he spots an old acquaintance of his named Susie Littlewing—and comments that she sure grew up nice. Annoyed, James tells his brother he supposes he’d rather hang out with those girls than with his little brother. He adds that he knows John is upset about their mom, too. As John waves him goodbye, he once again remarks that James is smarter than he looks.
James storms off, snidely remarking that his big brother doesn’t need to worry about him. He doesn’t need him! “Girls,” he groans. “Hmmph.”
Later, John tries to find James, but can’t. He supposes he’ll be easy enough to find, though. He bets he made a beeline for the roller coaster. Best he has some fun now, while he can, he thinks; if their mom gets bad, it’s gonna be toughest on him.
As John reaches into his pocket to pay for a soda, someone slaps down some cash on the counter and tells him he’s got it covered. John turns to see his old friend Michael Whitecloud, dressed in a cowboy hat and jacket. After greeting him, John asks him if he’s still working at the newspaper in Phoenix. Nah, Whitecloud replies. They said his reporting was too radical for their readership—meaning the publisher didn’t want him accusing his country club pals of crimes in his paper. Well, money talks, John replies.
Changing subjects, Michael tells John he heard about his mother, and that he thinks there’s something he should know. “Don’t tell me my mother’s cancer is one of your conspiracies,” John says. In lieu of answering, Whitecloud produces a folder from inside his jacket and tells Proudstar to take a look at it. John does, and realizes they are medical records. Whitecloud proceeds to tell him that every Apache in Camp Verde diagnosed with cancer in the previous three years has had their labwork sent to a place called Arroyo Laboratories. When John asks why that matters, Michael tells him most medical laboratories aren’t surrounded by electrical fences. Something is wrong with the picture, Whitecloud adds; he wants to break into Arroyo, and he needs Proudstar’s help to do it.
Elsewhere, young Tabitha Smith wanders by a tiger on display in a cage. She asks the kitty if it thinks it has it bad in the cage. Try spending two weeks in the backseat of her dad’s station wagon, she tells it.
Nearby, the tiger’s trainer, Clem, argues with a colleague who tells him he needs to take the tiger, Kimba, out of the show. The cat has been too temperamental lately to trust in front of an audience. Clem refuses to sideline Kimba. Without the tiger, he loses half of his act.
“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, may I have your attention please,” a bold voice suddenly rings out. “Prepare to be amazed as the Tiboldt Carnival of Wonder presents—the wondrous warlock, the sorcerer supreme, the one and only—Chondu the Magician!” The smiling Chondu appears in a puff of pink smoke and immediately begins his act. Releasing a pair of doves, he says the ancient masters in the Himalayas taught him the secret arts through which dreams become reality.
In the audience, one onlooker asks his friend where she thinks the magician stashes the pigeons. The woman asks her friend who cares. Figuring out the trick just spoils the magic, she says.
Tabitha is much less cynical, and stands awestruck at the performance. The announcer once again addresses the crowd, telling them they have only glimpsed a fraction of Chondu’s mind-boggling mystical talent. Fortunately, Chondu performs his act in its otherworldly entirety in a mere fifteen minutes! They should purchase their tickets now, he adds, because they’re going fast!
Meanwhile, James wanders behind the crowd in front of Chondu’s stage. As he does so, he catches a glimpse of the shirt the young Tabitha Smith is wearing. He notes that it’s a Wacky World T-shirt, and wonders if the place is as great as it seems on TV.
Moving on, he wanders into a fortune-teller’s tent. The fortune-teller addresses him as he enters, remarking that he seems lost and without direction. “Let Madame Destiny part the curtain of tomorrow and show you your future,” she says.
Skeptical, James asks for clarification: she’s going to tell him his future by looking into a crystal ball? He doubts her. “A skeptic, eh? Well, then, I’ll make a deal with you,” Madame Destiny replies. “If you don’t believe your fortune, you don’t have to pay. All I need is your hand.”
Reluctantly, James agrees, and sits across the table from the mysterious, blind woman. He holds out his hand. As she takes it, she tells him that she senses he is very close to his brother—an older brother. His brother is very thick-skinned, but underneath that hardened exterior is a very giving soul—in fact, he will…
Suddenly, Madame Destiny gasps and stops speaking. Jerking his hand back, the incredulous James asks if something is wrong. When she remains silent, he asks her to please say something; she’s scaring him!
Madame Destiny begins muttering something about the future she really sees. In it, an older John Proudstar, dressed in his Thunderbird costume he one day wears with the X-Men, perches atop a fighter jet and punches the windshield as it crashes into the ground, erupting in flames. Madame Destiny does not reveal this vision to James, though. Apologizing, she claims she sometimes has faint spells. Resuming her service, she tells James he will become a man of the world, and have many wonderful adventures to tell his many children. Sensing his continued skepticism, she bluntly remarks that he isn’t buying any of it.
Smirking, James tells her she’s correct; it sounds like she’s just making it up. He bets she’s not even blind. He’s a smart boy, Madame Destiny tells him. She asks him to promise it will be their little secret. This is her job, after all. No problem, James says as he exits the tent. Just before he leaves, however, Madame Destiny tells him one last thing: to take good care of his brother.
After the boy exits the tent, a striking woman steps out of the shadows. “You lied to the boy, Irene,” Mystique says. “You of all people truly have a gift of prescience. What did you really see in his future?”
With her head buried in her hands, Irene tells Raven that she saw the death of the boy’s brother—and sensed that even more tragedy would follow that loss. Her foresight is no gift, she says to Raven. Sometimes it’s a terrible, terrible burden.
Gently touching her partner, the blue-skinned Mystique tells Destiny to let it go. She has wasted too much of her talent in this two0bit carnival. Destiny reminds her she had no choice; there are far too many people in this world who would use her abilities for their own purposes. She’ll never have to do this again, Mystique swears. They have bigger things ahead of them.
Outside the tent, meanwhile, James reunites with his older brother. When John asks if he’s having a good time, James shrugs and tells him he saw some cheesy magician and then a blind lady read his fortune. Incredulous, John asks his brother if he realizes that’s a con; nobody can really tell the future, he says. James says he knows, but adds that the woman was nice. Changing subjects, he asks John if that was Michael Whitecloud he saw speaking to him.
Suddenly, someone’s scream pierces the ambient noise of the carnival. John guesses that somebody must be hurt, but then immediately realizes it’s worse than that: the tiger, Kimba, has attacked its trainer and escaped captivity. Clem, the trainer, lies bleeding on the ground. He begs someone to call an ambulance, and laments that his colleague Jeb was right about the tiger.
James is unfazed. He looks straight at the tiger and remarks how cool it is! The scared onlookers realize the tiger is looking their way, and begin to run. At that point, James realizes he is closer to the cat than he would like to be. His older brother steps between them, shielding James’s body with his own. He’d better get behind him, he tells James, before the tiger attacks!
Just as he says that, the tiger leaps in his direction, its claws and fangs bared. It is a potent combination of adrenaline surge and brotherly love that moves John Proudstar into the wild cat’s path—but it is also something more that enables him to engage a snarling beast twice his weight. It is the knowledge that in the past four years, he has grown uncommonly strong and fast.
The onlookers watch with their mouths agape while John Proudstar wrestles the tiger. Thankfully, another trainer steps up and readies his tranquilizer gun to put the animal to sleep. Apparently not grasping the degree of Proudstar’s feat, though, he asks John to stand still so he can get a good shot. Struggling, John replies that he’s doing the best he can. He repositions Kimba into a chokehold and orients the tiger into the trainer’s line of sight. Time for an afternoon nap, he tells Kimba. The man fires the tranquilizer dart right into the tiger’s hide. Afterward, he asks John how he managed to wrestle the tiger, and thanks him. John thanks the man in return—for not shooting him.
As John stands triumphant over the sleeping tiger, the crowd cheers. Some people assume it was all a staged part of the show. Some others in the crowd recognize John Proudstar. James, meanwhile, runs up to his brother. He can’t believe he took on a tiger barehanded! That was totally amazing, he says. He asks John if he thinks he will ever be as strong as him. John says he doesn’t know. In fact, he didn’t know even he was that strong. He was acting on pure instinct.
He starts to realize that everyone is looking at him like he’s some sort of freak. James corrects him; he’s not a freak, but a hero. As John walks away, he remarks that he doesn’t want to be a hero. He just wants to be left alone. He tells James they should get home before people start asking questions.
As they try to leave, the announcer from the magic show calls out for John to stop. His feat was absolutely phenomenal, he says. Handing John a card, he introduces himself as Maynard Tiboldt. The carnival may be strictly penny-ante, but he’ll be running a bigger show soon. If John ever dreamed about running away to the circus, he should call him. Curious, John reads the Maynard’s card, advertising “The Ringmaster’s Circle of Delight.’
Sometime later, John accompanies Michael Whitecloud to the Arroyo Medical Laboratory, located sixty miles north of Camp Verde. In the dead of night, John scales the outer wall. He doesn’t know how he let Whitecloud talk him into this, he thinks as he climbs the rope. Maybe he’s just in denial. Lots of people get cancer, he tells himself. It’s a part of life. Still, if Michael says something’s wrong with the place…and I can find something that will help mom…I’m willing to trust his instincts. Let’s just hope his instincts land me in jail for breaking and entering.
Once inside, Proudstar returns to the entrance and opens the front door for Whitecloud, who asks him what he’s been eating for breakfast. He’s never seen anyone scale a building that fast. Proudstar asks how often he sees people scaling buildings at all. Moving on, he tells Whitecloud to get inside.
As the two begin snooping around the lab, Proudstar remarks that, although he’s no expert, he doesn’t see anything resembling ordinary lab equipment. Whitecloud replies that he did some checking up on the place, and didn’t find it anywhere in the American Medical Association’s records.
Digging into the records, Whitecloud discovers that all the patient files contain two different sets of records for each subject. It looks like they’ve been doctored to show cancerous growths requiring radiation therapy, he says—and half of them have been signed by Dr. Edwin Martynec, John’s mother’s doctor.
Suddenly, John hears a noise, and realizes they are not alone. Reaching into the shadows, he pulls out the faint figure he spots. To his surprise, it’s his little brother, James. James asks him not to hit him. John, meanwhile, asks his brother how he got there. He saw him sneaking out of the house, so he hid in the back of the pickup, James answers. Instead of getting angry, John just accepts his brother’s presence, but reminds him he should not be there. They’d both better hope that their mother never finds out about this, he says—not to mention the authorities.
James asks what they’re doing in the lab anyway. The less he knows, the better, John replies, urging his brother to stay out of the way. As John examines a shelf filled with specimen tubes, however, his attention immediately reverts to the investigation. He beholds rows and rows of vials filled with strange creatures suspended in green liquid. He calls for Michael and exclaims he should get a look at them; some of them even look human. He wonders what they’ve stumbled upon. Michael, readying his camera, remarks that this discovery is big, and starts to get it on film.
“Take all the pictures you want,” a voice says to them from behind. “You won’t be leaving with them.” Whitecloud and John Proudstar turn around to face the new entrant into the room, and see Dr. Martynec, holding little James at gunpoint. Dr. Martynec calmly begins telling them that he has been studying the effects of concentrated radiation in animal and human tissue. They’re looking at his attempts to clone organs and animals from irradiated DNA. His methods aren’t exactly legal, he says, which is why he can’t let the three of them leave alive.
Enraged, John Proudstar accuses him of using his people as guinea pigs. Lunging headfirst at Edwin, he declares he shall do so no more! The force of his body knocks the doctor’s gun loose and sets James free. However, it has the unpleasant side-effect of triggering a transformation in Dr. Martynec—a transformation into a furry, canine creature. As he grips John’s face with his claw, he tells him he shouldn’t have done that. John’s strong, but not as strong as he is. The astounded John can barely speak, so Edwin finishes his sentences for him. He is changing, he says. “Under the correct circumstances, the human body will constantly evolve and adapt to its surroundings,” Dr. Martynec says. “Prolonged exposure to radiation has proven deadly in general—but in a small but significant number of cases, it’s catalyzed remarkable adaptations…like mine.” With his animal strength, he overpowers the elder Proudstar and forces him away from his body.
Suddenly, a gunshot echoes through the room. The bullet hits Edwin in the arm, and he screams. Across the room, the bewildered James Proudstar holds the smoking gun in his hands. After remarking that Dr. Martynec is the monster he saw in the canyon earlier, he asks if he’s dead.
“You wish, l’il Hiawatha,” the injured Edwin says. His wounds heal in a matter of hours, merely another benefit of his transformation. Wasting no time, John implores Michael Whitecloud to get his brother out of the lab and call the police. Although Michael worries that they will be the ones the police arrest when they arrive, John tells them he will take the heat; he just wants them out of there, right away. Someone needs to remain alive and free to expose what Martynec is doing. James refuses to go, but Whitecloud scoops him up in his arm and carries him toward the exit. He doesn’t give the screaming kid a choice.
After they escape, Martynec continues taunting Proudstar. He tells John that he may be genetically advanced himself; he’s much stronger and faster than normal men. That’s why he went after his little brother, after all. Martynec claims that their mother, Maria, was exposed to nuclear fallout from government tests when she was younger. He wanted to see how that exposure affected her children.
Martynec hoists a specimen container over his head and hurls it at Proudstar. As he dodges the attack, Proudstar asks Martynec who’s funding his research; he can’t be doing this alone. Martynec, reaching for a dial marked ‘gas main,’ tells John that he works for men who want to control the future of mutants. He’s twisted, John says. Martynec tells him it’s a living. Too bad he can’t let this work be discovered. Pulling a lighter from his jacket pocket, he prepares to light the flame. John asks what he’s doing—he’ll kill them both! In response, Martynec says that he can survive an explosion. He asks John if he thinks he can too.
With that, Martynec sparks the lighter, triggering a massive natural gas explosion. John barely reaches the warehouse door when the explosion throws him into the air. He lands hard on the broken asphalt, but he is alive.
One week later, Whitecloud pulls up to the Proudstar home and greets John in the driveway. When he asks how John is feeling, John replies that he’s worried; he’s been waiting for the cops to show up on his doorstep. He can relax, Michael says; they’re in the clear. The official story, according to Michael, is that the Arroyo lab explosion was caused by a broken gas main—and Martynec’s body was never found.
Leaning on the door of the convertible car, John remarks that he was wrong; Whitecloud has good reason to be paranoid. Michael asks how his mom is doing. John tells her she’s okay; apparently the whole diagnosis was a sham. She never even had leukemia. It seems the other patients in his care will be okay, too. After remarking how good that is to hear, Whitecloud urges John to watch his back. As for him, he’s off to New Mexico; he’s got a lead on some gamma bomb the Army is testing out there.
“See, I told you I wasn’t making things up,” James says after Whitecloud departs. “There really was a monster.” John tells his little brother he should have believed him; the only people one can trust is one’s family. “Yeah, it’s a good thing you got me around to protect you, huh?” James says, smiling.
“Protect me? You’re dreamin’, runt,” John says. James bounces his basketball off his head. The two begin playing basketball in the yard, laughing and smiling like brothers and best friends.
From the porch, their mother watches them while holding the family cat, Coyote. Look at them together, she says to the cat. “It’s been too long since they had the chance to laugh and play together, the way brothers should,” she says, “and if the spirits be willing, they will never be separated again.”