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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Point Blank
(Adrian Eiskalt’s narration)Adrian Eiskalt relays how he first saw Magneto attacking East German tanks years ago. It was like looking directly into the sun at high noon. Simply overwhelming in his brilliance – domineering in his superiority – prostrating in his arrogance. He was everything Eiskalt was led to believe he would be. Magneto one of the most powerful mutant on the face of the planet: cold, clinical, methodical, none of which Eiskalt ever expected from a man whose psyche profile indicated an aversion to the military mindset. Yet there they were – soldiers in the East German army, being buffeted about like toys.
His control over his electromagnetic field was frightening in its applications. Bullets aimed at his heart found their way back to the triggermen. The iron in their blood was used to cause seizures and strokes. Tanks were rent asunder as if made of tissue paper. The air burned and through the din his voice could be heard like the snarling of a rabid wolf: You will not take Wundagore Mountain for your own! I will not allow you to tread so callously upon consecrated ground!
The commander cried for a strategic retreat and the soldiers fled. Adrian, whose shirt was burning, and his brother, Ute, ran madly into one direction, away from the others. They reached a clearing in the forest, where they found a small cabin. They wondered whether this could be Magneto’s home, until they chanced upon the cabin’s true inhabitant – a creature half cow, half human. The men were horrified and the poor creature was terrified. Surprisingly, she told the men to save themselves.
Ute murmured something about a tombstone. Adrian doesn’t remember what. He was watching the cow-woman flee into the darkness. Adrian was looking with detached curiosity as the monster from hell calmly joined them. He was staring at his own impending death with an almost bemused indifference. You have disturbed my wife’s eternal sleep, Magneto said with a voice choking in contained fury. Have you no respect?
Ute threw up his arms surrendering. Looking at them with inhuman eyes Magneto bellowed: Surrender yourselves? Isn’t that what my family did? What my wife did? What I did, time and time again? Surrender myself to your tender mercies only to have that thrown back into my face through the pain, misery and death your kind has inflicted on me and mine?!!! He gestured and, a moment later, Ute exploded.
Adrian watched, horrified, as his brother’s mutilated body fell before him. When he looked down at the smoldering remains, Magneto’s voice softened. She always did say I would bring violence to her. When I learned that this was the last place she may have known hope – where our twin children were born – I built a monument for her. I swore never to allow blood to be spilled here. Resigned and disgusted, he told Eiskalt to take his fellow soldier and go. Eiskalt angrily shouted out that he was more than his troop mate. He was his brother. Magneto flew away uttering these last words: So then you now know the pain of loss as sharply as do I. Not much difference between human and mutant pain, is there?
(the present)That was over seven years ago. Adrian Eiskalt finishes his tale to his psychiatrist Dr. Heisenberg, who points out that he lives in that moment. Why can’t he let it go? Keeping the anger and hatred stoked provides the fuel he needs to keep living, he replies. She tells him to look outside. The Berlin Wall is down - for better or worse, their country is now united – shouldn’t his body and mind be as well? He is free of his obligation to state service, no? Isn’t it time to begin his life again? Doesn’t he owe Ute more than this? Perhaps he does, he agrees, fantasizing about killing Magneto. It’s just such a cleansing fire inside him. It simplifies things and provides him with an impetus, a clarity of vision. Then why does he continue to see her, she asks. As it is quite obvious he doesn’t want to move beyond what s emotionally crippling him. He is unsure, replying that he is still looking for a better way to save himself. Better than what, she asks.
Empire State University, New York.An unusual class for international law is being held: “Demagogues of the twentieth century.” This week’s topic is Magneto and the guest speaker is Gabrielle Haller, Israel’s former ambassador to Great Britain.
Gabrielle announces that the man they are here to discuss is unique in his own right, a man they know precious little about – with the official recordings having precious little to say. They believe the man who would become Magneto was born Erik Magnus Lehnsherr, to a gypsy family of Sinte descent outside Gdansk, Poland, then known as Danzig, around 1928.
A picture of Magneto as a young man dressed in gypsy clothing is shown. The picture is replaced by other pictures showing the horrors of Auschwitz as Gabrielle continues her lecture: After Danzig was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1939, Erik along with thousands of other gypsies was shifted to a work camp in Auschwitz. They all know what happened there. Genocide, Extermination of Jews, Poles, Gypsies, homosexuals, intellectuals. Anyone the master race felt was… disposable.
Lehnsherr lost his parents and his sister in Auschwitz. But he gained something in the liberation of the camp in 1945 as well. He gained hope in the form of a wife, a woman called Magda. In 1946 they took up residence in the Ukrainian city of Vinnitsa, where Magda gave birth to a daughter they named Anya. But Lehnsherr had learned something else about himself in Auschwitz, something which was becoming more apparent every day. He learned he was a mutant and, when Anya was tragically killed in an arsonist’s fire, Lehnsherr lashed out at the villagers who refused to help save her and Magda, witnessing this deed, fled.
In his misery and loneliness, he went to Israel to save his own soul. He chose to work with survivors of the camps and, in turn, helped them regain their souls. That is where Gabrielle met him, for she was a patient at that hospital in Haifa. Lehnsherr had taken to calling himself Magnus at the time, as if by choosing the middle name he could bring some semblance of balance and simplicity to his haunted life. Magnus helped nurse her back to health. Does that make her an objective lecturer? she asks rhetorically. For the most part, she can separate Magnus the man from Magneto the mutant crusader. And she has reason to label him crusader and not dictator.
Firstly: he has no country to call his own. Secondly: he has fought for a specific cause, not for personal power. Which begs the question then, before he died in a battle above Earth -- was Magneto a demagogue or an ideologue?Was he a tyrannical madman or a righteous zealot fighting for a noble cause – equality for mutants? Can anyone truly answer that question?
Eiskalt is leaving on a plane, hating every moment of flight, of not having control. To keep himself busy, he is reading J.B. Chambers’ bestseller on mutants. Fatal Attractions – Mutants & Men. He s leaving Berlin to regain his lost sense of control. And in New York lies the beginning of the end.
His neighbor asks him to let her out As he stands up he sees several rows before them the back of a head with full white flowing hair. Magnus!, he shouts, taking out a needle concealed in a pen.; a needle tipped with poison. He touches the man’s shoulder, only to find that, of course, it is just a startled ordinary man, not the foe he sought. He has to be dispassionate he chides himself and once again daydreams of cruelly killing Magneto.
Manhattan, two days laterIn his hotel room, Adrian watches Nightline, one of the guests being J. B. Chambers, author of the book Adrian just read. Chambers explains his theories on mutants, stating that mankind must ultimately bear the responsibility for the proliferation of the mutant gene throughout the planet. Over the last several decades, they’ve introduced so many contagions into the environment, which have simply made their way to the human DNA structure, resulting in more mutant offspring. How can they blame mutants? It is analogous to blaming the grass when a weed takes root. So he’s comparing mutants to weeds, Ted Koppel asks. Chambers explains that he isn’t trying to turn this into anything ugly.
Koppel asks if Chambers’ bestseller isn’t a warning that mutants are closer than ever to becoming the dominant species. Chambers stresses that humans and mutants can coexist, a view that is not shared by Koppel’s next guest, Graydon Creed, founder of the Friends of Humanity. Koppel asks how Creed can claim that his organization is any better than the mutants he decries, considering the recent terrorist activities of alleged members of his organization. Creed claims those men were radical fringe elements of his organization protesting the fact that two mutant terrorists were not being charged for their crimes by a United States government too afraid of the mutant lobby to act decisively and blow the act out of proportion.
Chambers interrupts pointing out that there is no such thing as a “mutant lobby” nor do they have representation in any of the world’s governing bodies. Indeed, since Magneto’s disappearance last year, mutants do not even have a strong voice in their own affairs. Is he calling Magneto a statesman? Creed blusters. He is saying, Chambers continues, that just like the American founding fathers or Martin Luther King, Magneto’s was a voice to be heard above the protests of the majority and ruling classes. So was Hitler’s! Creed shouts.
Eiskalt switches off the TV set. So many sides to one man, he muses. How can that be? How can anyone see Magneto for anything other than what he truly is – a murderer?
The Grand Hyatt Hotel, Grand Central Station, Manhattan. Eiskalt is expecting a guest for breakfast, Gabrielle Haller. While polite, it becomes quickly apparent that Gabrielle is reluctant to be there and has only come because people she respects in both their governments, as well as those in the United States, have asked her to.
In what appears to be deliberately poor English, Eiskalt points out that their entire talk is merely hypothetical. They don’t even know if Magneto is alive. Gabrielle tells him not to patronize her. She knows what he is and, should Magnus be alive again, she knows what their countries want him to do. She waves away the waiter who offers her a menu. She won’t be staying long enough to eat, she informs him. Adrian expresses his disappointment. How can she ignore the threat of Magneto? She has been through much pain in her life, caused by men like Magneto, no?
Turning away, Gabrielle reveals that she supported Magnus’ goals because of her background. He was – is – a man of vision, of courage, of honor. What he seeks for mutants is not different from what her people built for themselves after the Holocaust. So she won’t help him? Eiskalt asks. She will assist only if his goal is to apprehend Magnus for the specific purpose of putting him on trial for his actions and thereby granting him the forum through which he can once again express his views. If this fool’s mission is to kill Magnus, the conversation is over. Kill him? Eiskalt asks innocently, images of Magneto being shot in the head fleeting through his mind. He assures her that his employers wish to capture him only. To martyr him would be to advance his cause.
She announces that she will make some calls and gather information but adds that he does not fool her. She can see it in his eyes. His motives are personal and, if he approaches this from a personal position, he is doomed to fail. Magnus is beyond such things. With a cold ‘good-bye,’ she leaves, while Eiskalt silently gloats that Magneto is hardly likely to be beyond life and death.
In the Atlantic, off the Key West Island of Florida, a yacht shipped by the latest incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants - Toad, Pyro, Blob and Phantazia – awaits a rendez-vous. The men are arguing about whether they are at the right place, while Phantazia is engrossed in a book about astrophysics. Suddenly, she tells them to be quiet. Someone is coming. Taking off her sunglasses, she announces that the disruption of the electromagnetic field is like a slap in the face. Toad leers at her and Eileen tells him not to belittle her intellect, then she won’t belittle her greed. They are after all their two best features. Whoever arranged this meeting has arrived, she announces, as a maelstrom appears in the air and a glowing figure dressed in black, white gold and purple arrives calling himself Exodus.
He is the ferryman assigned to take mutantkind on a journey to a better place, he announces. What does he want with them, Blob asks. He? With them? Nothing, Exodus replies. What does he want, Toad demands impatiently. He offers a haven, Exodus explains, sanctuary. And he wants them to go live with him? Blob asks. Just Eileen, Exodus retorts pointing at Phantazia. Why her? she asks. Because she is the only one he has deemed worthy, Exodus states.
Toad angrily calls Magneto an arrogant self-righteous pig who has bedevilled him all his life with his conceit. Why aren’t they all worthy, he asks sarcastically. Because there is no place in Avalon for mutants like him and Frederick – people who lack vision and potential. Pyro might have been another matter – had he not become tainted…. Without bothering to explain, he asks Eileen for an answer. Hesitating Eileen refuses. Exodus tells them farewell and hopes their coming deaths will be painless.
The Toad blusters shouting out How dare he?! Pyro cynically curses both Exodus and Magneto, clearly shaken by Exodus’ hints that he is tainted in some way. He reminds the others that they still have an afternoon meeting, where they can make some nice money with no strings attached. Who needs Magneto anyways? Eileen, looking sadly at the ocean, doesn’t answer.
A little later, Eiskalt returns from his meeting with the Brotherhood, having noticed they were quite in the mood. He notes to himself to never try and match the Blob shot for shot. Especially with Tequila.
In his room, he looks at several snapshots showing Magneto in different situations. Toynbee was more than happy to offer him information for cash. He assumes that, since Toad lacks the courage to exact revenge on Magneto himself, he is more than willing to assist anyone that does. What must it have been like for Toad to have been an indentured servant to such a monster? Such a dichotomy between the Magnus of old and the more recent man, he muses. From abusive genocidal demagogue to tweed-dressed school headmaster and sympathetic spokesman for the mutant cause. He reads a brochure of Xavier’s School with Magneto as principal on the cover. How does one predict the actions of an opponent who is so adepts at being unpredictable?
More pictures: The original Brotherhood, Magneto facing the Avengers, Ka-Zar and Zabu. Magneto reduced to infancy by Mutant Alpha. Magneto and his children facing off against the West Coast Avengers. Magneto at the trial in Paris …
He started as the antithesis of Charles Xavier, Eiskalt thinks. He recruited a band of young mutants, who would pursue the achievement of his own dreams. Dreams of conquest and superiority. Time and time again he attempted to force his world view down the collective throats of the planet’s people. Time and time again he was stopped. From the depths of the Savage Land underneath Antarctica to being reverted back to childhood by one of his own creations, from secret bases in the Caribbean of ancient myth and fantasies to principal and nursemaid to the children of Xavier’s dream. Magneto has found every which way conceivable to advance his own political and genetic agenda. When he finally allowed himself to be placed before the world court, he was found not guilty of crimes against humanity. And then he started all over again.
This time the next generation of pawns were, ironically enough, his first generation as well: Pietro and Wanda Maximoff – the children of Magneto, both of whom had served the cause of humanity as members of X-Factor and the Avengers. When Magneto allegedly perished, he died a failure in the greatest sense of the word, for he was a man unable to make his own children see the justness of his cause, much less a species or an entire planet. How ironic indeed.
How did he do it, Eiskalt wonders, as he gulps down some Jack Daniels. How could he have come back time and time again always with a new method of conquest. One ridiculous attempt after another. And how could anyone have believed that simply having his asteroid home incinerated while entering Earth’s atmosphere would actually kill this man. He was once reverted to infancy and still found a way to regain his adulthood. What makes a man like that continue to believe in himself. Eiskalt listens to the audio interview made with the Toad.
The interview:The Toad describes how frightened he was of Magneto, how he was constantly abused. Why did he stay with him for so long then, Eiskalt asked. He was younger then, Toynbee replies, Magneto had a way of keeping you under control and not just through the threat of physical punishment… but through sheer force of will. He believes so strongly in himself that, no matter how ludicrous some of it sounded, you actually believed he would accomplish his goals.
How did Hitler rally his country around him? Through the incredible allure of his confidence. Magneto was much the same way in that regard. For all his bluster, his ill-tempered treatment of him and his comrades, they stayed because he made them believe what he believed himself… that he was superior to them all and by staying they were ensuring their place alongside greatness.And as much as he hates him today, he still believes he may have been right…
Eiskalt stops the tape, asking himself again how. This either indicates a completely delusional sense of self-worth or the unshakeable belief in the correctness of his way. Knowing which could make all the difference when the opportunity arrives to kill him …
In the administrative building which houses the Mossad, Israel’s security service, Gabrielle Haller is calling Moira MacTaggert via a video conference. They both briefly reminisce about Charles Xavier, the man they both once loved, before Moira states that Gaby wants to talk about Magnus, doesn’t she? Gaby adds that she needs help in finding a way to… neutralize him. Isn’t he dead, Moira asks, shocked. Gaby just reveals that recent evidence calls that into question.
Moira glumly states that she’s beginning to believe the man can’t die. Gaby should have seen his eyes after he had been reverted to childhood by the Mutant Alpha he had created himself. He was a beautiful child and Moira thought she could change the way things were meant to be . She studied him top to bottom inside out. As if, by seeing what made him tick genetically, she could alter the man he would turn into, maybe raise him right, help him harness his powers for good. She knew she was wrong from the start, but she thought she could give him a chance, the chance her own son Kevin never had.
Gaby tells Moira she needn’t explain herself. Her own son, David, lies in a vegetative state in a hospital cot in Moira’s faculty. She just wanted to help, Moira states, and if Magnus is alive, then his fury, his renewed hatred of humanity will be Moira’s fault. Gaby asks Moira to help them. Help find a way to stop him before he has a chance to carry trough on these passions. She doesn’t want to see him sanctioned either but, unless she can provide the people who have asked to organize this posse with an alternative, what choice will they have? And Moira is the key – she has the answers, doesn’t she? Moira looks aside, considering.
Three weeks later, Eiskalt meets Gabriele at the Genetech bio-research facility in Sayville Long Island They spent the last two days at the research lab, as Walter Rosen, the head of the company, shows them the fruits of his labors. He points to a suit telling them that, as unbelievable as it may sound, he really thinks this has a good chance of succeeding. Eiskalt silently admires the simple design. This will allow him to kill him man to man – as it should be. Rosen continues talking about complications, to which Eiskalt replies that that will be his concern, Rosen’s job is simply to fully prepare him to tell him all he needs to know to stop this… man.
Rosen calls up a file, explaining Magneto’s physiognomy, something that wouldn’t have been possible without Moira’s data. He explains that Magneto is quite simply the single most powerful being on Earth. And, if anything, they have only borne witness to a fraction of his powers. He is a force of nature, tied, literally, to the planet’s electromagnetic field. How can they stop him? How did David slay Goliath? Think small. One man, completely cloaked. One chance to bring him down.
Rosen continues talking about slipping through Magneto impregnable electromagnetic forcefield, of capturing him by repolarizing that field for a moment and he talks some more. But Eiskalt stops listening. He knows the spirit of what the other man is saying. That the cancer can be surgically excised. And that he can be the scalpel…
Two more weeks pass in preparation, as rumors of Magneto’s return increase. Finally, Rosen presents the result of their work. He shows Gabrielle and Eiskalt a helmet – a bioelectric mask, meaning that Magneto cannot see the wearer – at least in an energy wave sort of way. The mask allows the wearer to perceive all bio-electric readings, while the computer registers all ambient signals in the vicinity and the baffles built into the mask disperse the wavelengths around the receivers. So, Eiskalt interrupts, if he cannot see me with his own eyes, he will not see me at all.
Over the course of the next two days, his body is measured and a skin sheath suit is developed. For all intents and purposes, Eiskalt will be invisible to Magneto. And that’s their only hope of bringing Magneto down. Indeed, Eiskalt agrees, adding that perhaps it would be time to work on David’s slingshot.
The “slingshot” is an enhanced taser gun, all parts of which are made completely of plastic, with a fibreglass needle and a nylon tether line for firing.Eiskalt familiarizes himself with the weapon’s inner workings. Like all guns, it is designed on a beautiful pattern of logic and simplicity. The parts fit together. How often can one say that in life? Ironic that he can only find such order through a tool of death. But the gun is only meant to stun.
As Rosen explains, if Eiskalt can fire the needle into the base of Magneto’s skull, piercing the medulla oblongata, the taser will disrupt Magneto’s bioelectric field, scrambling his neural synaptic interface of his power for a two hours time period. Enough time for a team from the American Vault penitentiary to capture him.
As if it will come to that, Eiskalt silently scoffs. As if he would allow the monster to walk away. He holds the guns and has but one though – yes … it can be modified …
Things get uncomfortable for Eiskalt, as Rosen brings in a publicity crew to photograph what they have been calling the Fugue Armor. He feels Genetech will prosper if the world knows the equipment that captured Magneto was developed here. Eiskalt doesn’t care about that. Once again, he daydreams of killing Magneto. This is about revenge. For what Magneto did to his brother … for what he did to Adrian Eiskalt himself – Magneto will die. Simple as that.
Under the streets of Washington D.C. lie the offices of the Commission on Superhuman Affairs. Yesterday, an electromagnetic storm ripped across the eastern seaboard, scrambling all mechanical and electronic systems over an eight hundred square miles perimeter. Gaby Haller and Eiskalt received a code blue alert and were brought there where they were joined by National Security Liaison Henry Peter Gyrich, X-Factor administrator Doctor Valerie Cooper and Alexei Vazhin, the head of mutant affairs for the Russian States Service.Magneto has returned, Gyrich curtly announces, and Eiskalt tenses at his words. Is it because of fear or anticipation, he wonders.
Gyrich explains how Magneto made his return in a rather dramatic fashion. Having appropriated and modified the remnants of an orbital space station first discovered by SHIELD a few months ago Magneto brought his new home, dubbed “Avalon,” through Earth’s atmosphere, to interrupt the memorial service of a small mutant child affiliated with the brood of Charles Xavier. He offered these children of the atom the “opportunity” to participate in his self-proclaimed quest for a haven – a mutant heaven. Convincing only one of Xavier’s people to accept his offer, Magneto returned Avalon to a geo-synchronous orbit high above the planet.
Avalon’s cloaking systems have been re-engaged, Gyrich finishes. He is completely hidden from them. How are they expected to reach him then, Vazhin inquires. Val Cooper points out that Magneto has used an emissary called Exodus to recruit mutants to Avalon. Perhaps if they were able to follow or capture him?
Neither Exodus nor Magneto has harmed anyone yet, Gyrich scoffs. Does she believe their superhuman will engage either in battle just because they ask?Maybe they shouldn’t actually do anything, until Magneto does instigate a problem, Cooper suggests. Eiskalt gets impatient with all the talking but says nothing. Vazhin decides that the very fact that he exists, hovering above them, is cause enough for any action they may take. They all agree that Magneto must be stopped. That still leaves them with the how, Val states. If Magneto is divorcing himself completely from humanity as he claims and they can’t get up to where he is, how can they truly expect him to come to them?This gives Eiskalt an idea. If he is prepared to abandon his past, there may still be one place where he will go…
Wundagore Mountain :Dressed in the Fugue Armor and armed, Eiskalt waits hidden among the trees. This walking force of nature… this failed man who would strive to be a god… returns seeking absolution from the one source left to remind him of his lost humanity. Indeed, Magneto strides through the night, greeting the cow-woman, Bova, and bidding her not to be afraid. He is merely here to say good-bye.
He strides to the tombstone of his wife’s memorial, stating how differently it could have been for both of them, perhaps for the entire world, if only she had stayed by his side and if he had been a more forgiving man than a vengeful monster. Eiskalt takes aim. One chance. One bullet.
Magneto kneels down before the headstone. As he gets rid of the weeds on it, he has taken off the helmet and a tear falls from his eye.
Pointblank, Eiskalt thinks. For all the pain you have caused. All the misery. All the anguish and fear.
A final fantasy of Magneto dying.For my brother Ute. My brother you so … Eiskalt begins to shake.… callously … killed…
(flashback)Eiskalt’s mind flashes back to the way things really happened during their encounter with Magneto.
Ute Eiskalt didn’t know what he was doing when he fell over Magda’s grave. He did not listen when Magneto asked them to leave this very private place he held so dead. Ute did not care when Magneto told him this was not a place for violence and never would be.’
Stupidly, he drew a gun, spitting out words of rage and prejudice and fired at Magneto with a murderous rage, point-blank right at his head… and was caught in the backlash, as Magneto simply gestured to protect himself in a magnetic cocoon.
Ute Eiskalt died when his own bullet ricocheted and pierced his thick skull, when he had forced Magneto to break a vow of honor to the memory of his wife. And maybe, just maybe, he might have been ultimately responsible, in some small way, for setting Magneto upon the course of his life.
(present)Eiskalt sees Magneto’s grief and respect.Ute … my brother; a simple, stupid man… not a symbol for a cause… but a frightened lamb who sough to strike back at the wolf… the wolf who was doing what it was meant to do -- being what it was meant to be… not a monster, not a villain, not less than a human… but more… for he denies himself a human life in order to make the lives of others safe from the kinds of pain and hardship he has suffered. He is more than me … more than all of us.
Whether it is through indecision or because he has chosen not do it, Eiskalt drops the gun and Magneto hears the noise. Seeing his would-be assassin, he says nothing and rises up, knowing he was just a weakness away from dying, just as Eiskalt is aware he was just an act of compassion away from being killed. He lives because of an act of humanity on the part of the creature he has called inhuman.
He takes off the helmet and sinks to his knees, tears falling from his eyes, as he berates himself for his utter failure. He failed himself, failed Ute, failed the world. Or did he fail in something more important? For wanting to kill a man named Erik Magnus Lehnsherr for all the wrong reasons could he have failed humanity itself?
He holds the weapon to his own head but, then exhausted, drops it, just sitting there shaking. Either way, he has lost everything he wanted and everything he believed in, lost not because he was weak but perhaps because he was strong – strong enough to know that, after all is said and done, he lost very little, because he had very little to lose in the first place… because all he ever really had was hate…


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

[Assistant]
The Whispers Scream
(St. Alamander Church, Barcelona Spain)
Maverick breaks into the church; the first thing he notices is the smell; death, blood and rotting flesh. He opens one of the interior doors and sees a body hanging from the ceiling. He wonders how many days this took, how long did he play with him? “Men of God shouldn’t be made to endure that much agony before meeting their maker.” He follows a trail of blood. “No one should.” He comes to a large set of doors; he readies his gun, and kicks in the doors. Inside he finds nothing but lit candles. He thinks that the reports were true: Sabretooth has gone over the edge.
Suddenly, from up in the rafters, Sabretooth speaks. He knew that it would either be him or Logan that would find him. Maverick sees him up in the rafters; Creed holds up a dead priest. He’s disappointed that is Maverick, because he doesn’t hate him as much as he does Logan. He dives at Maverick, who shoots him. Unfazed, Sabretooth asks if he knows why the killing can’t stop? He slashes Mavericks back; “It’s ‘cause I can’t pull it back together!” He tells him about how Birdy helped straighten things out in his head. But now she’s dead. Before he could finish, Maverick shoots him and Sabretooth takes off down a hallway, knocking down burning candles along the way.
In the darkness, Creed taunts Maverick, telling what he likes about him. The ‘eye of the tiger’ is what he likes second most about him. As Maverick sees him with is infrared visor, Creed yells what he likes the most; “The taste o’ your blood. Maverick! The sweet, sweet taste o’ your blood!” He stabs his claws into Maverick’s stomach. Sabretooth falls back to the wall; he further taunts Maverick by telling him that he’s not good enough, and doesn’t have the guts for the kill anymore. He breaks one of the windows; “Put the pieces together, figure out who’s been killed, then you’ll know why.” Sabretooth tells Maverick one last thing, as he jumps out the window, “Find him. Get Him to come after me, ‘cause he’s the only chance you got of getting’ the killin’ to stop!”  As Maverick looks out the window, holding his open wound, he thinks that Sabretooth was right. There is only one man who can stop the killing.
(Outside Frankfurt Germany, Kurt Geinstach estate)
Kurt Geinstach asks for help from Garabed Bashur’s organization, the Executive Elite. Two weeks ago, it was a member of the British royal family, then a psychologist in Brussels and finally a priest in Barcelona. All killed with one common link. He hands him a picture. Bashur recognizes it as Creed. “Known in Central America as El Tigre, here in Germany he is called Der Schlachter. Sabretooth.” He wonders what would an innocent munitions manufacturer, have something to do with such a man as this? Geinstach goes on to explain that all of them were involved in a complicated transaction, involving a multiple exchange or arms for drugs, drugs for money, money for securities and securities for power. Run out of Cambodia, through Japan, and Frankfurt, and finishing in Switzerland. Creed was hired to clear all the routes. But the plan was put in jeopardy when a Japanese political candidate threatened to expose their operations. Sabretooth was forced to terminate him.
Bashur tells him he prefers not to accept assignments involving personal security, there’s too much potential for failure. Geinstach pleads with him; if he doesn’t get help he’s dead. Bashur agrees but he doesn’t want to place himself or his operatives in the same position. He recommends two others that could assist him: Wolverine and Maverick. With both having strong personal connections with Sabretooth, which may compel one of them to assist him. He then asks who is the Japanese connection Creed will seek next in his vengeance quest. The Jigoku underworld crime family, Clan Yashida, that was then headed by Lord Shingen. Bashur recognizes the name as someone that Wolverine killed several years ago. He notes that, if Clan Yashida is involved, Wolverine will not help. He refuses to return to Nippon, following the death of his fiancée, Lady Mariko Yashida. Bashur suggests that he contact Maverick, soon.
(Salem Center, Westchester New York)
Gambit and Rogue drive down Grymalkin Lane, well above the posted speed limit. Unknown to them, Maverick is watching them. As they fly through the gates of the school, Gambit continues to complain, but suddenly he sees someone standing in front of their path. As the car comes to a screeching stop, they recognize the person; it’s Bishop. He is standing guard, when he recognizes Rogue and Gambit. Gambit comments that he should come out with them sometimes, instead of trying to be a speed bump. He tells them that they came in without activating their perimeter override and he thought they were attackers. Rogue tells him to relax; he doesn’t always have to be on guard. Gambit jokes that Bishop has no choice, he’s a warrior who cant crack a smile or his face will break, all that tension weighing him down. Bishop coldly tells him that its better to live tense than to die relaxed.
From behind them, Maverick has them in his sights. He knows he has only one chance to catch them off guard. He fires three canisters of gas at them. Rogue flies to see who is attacking them, but Maverick shoots her full of anesthetic. As she falls to the ground, Maverick readies himself for the next attack. Gambit stumbles out of the gas and is quickly put down with some tranquilizers. Before he passes out, he wonders how he knows his name. Maverick comments that he knows a lot about him, none of which he likes. As he surveys the scene, he notes the one they called Bishop. He’s the most dangerous, because he’s the most like him: a soldier. But even soldiers fall in battle. As he approaches him, he prepares to shoot him with the tranquilizer darts, in case he’s faking it. He is, Bishop grabs him by the throat. He asks what he wants, but passes out. Maverick says he’s not here to hurt any of them; he only needs to talk to Logan.
Suddenly from behind him, Beast and Professor Xavier surprise him. Beast tells him that if that’s what he wants then he’s too late. Logan left weeks ago; to recover from injuries he sustained fighting Magneto. Maverick recognizes Beast and meets Xavier for the first time. Xavier recognizes Maverick as an operative with Logan before he became Wolverine. He confirms this; that’s why he used anesthetic gas on his students.  He wanted to get in, get Logan and get out again. Besides Logan, none of them should have to stomach what has to be done. Beast disagrees as he jumps off of Xavier’s hover-chair and flips into Rogue’s convertible. “Try us.” Maverick begins to tell them; “It’s about Sabretooth.”
(Garabed Bashur’s Palatial Estate, New Delhi, India)
Mr. Bashur is met by Creed, but he is surprised by the formality of his appearance. Creed laughs at this. He’s found a pharmacist in Barcelona who helped him, for the short term. He gave him something to keep his head straight. Bashur wants to know why he came to him. He’s linked and he needs info and he needs to keep breathing. Creed needs a telepath. Bashur knows of one, an old man currently tended for by the Yashida Estate in the city of Agarashima. “Two birds with one stone.” Creed then asks what he can expect when he gets to Geinstach? Bashur comments that Creed is a much more frightening fellow wile lucid. Then that he can expect Maverick and maybe… But before he could finish Creed finishes for him. “Logan? Good.”
(Over the north Atlantic)
Bashur contacts Rogue, Beast, Gambit, Bishop and Maverick. He tells him that he is trying to contact Maverick for Geinstach, who has been trying to find him, for protection. But, as he was unable to find him, he came to him, as his information networks are far more extensive than his. Maverick asks where Creed was going. Before he was going to assassinate Geinstach, he was going to the Yashida estate, to an awaiting Silver Samurai.
Beast shuts off the monitor. He comments to Maverick that they know where Sabretooth has been and where he’s going but what they don’t know is why. “Of all his past assignments to seek retribution for, why this one?” Maverick asks what difference dose it make? It would be simpler if they just went ahead and sanctioned him. Beast would like to but, as tired as he is of hearing it and saying it himself, “If we were to kill Sabretooth because he killed others that would make us no better than he is.” Rogue agrees with this, all of them have a monster inside of them. Without the X-Men she could have ended up like Sabretooth, as could have Logan and even Remy. Gambit begrudging agrees, “Much’s I’d like t’jam a deck a’cards down the ugly boys throat.”
Maverick doesn’t buy it; he tells them that none of them are like Creed. “Ultimately, no matter the angers or passions you display or the mistakes you make, you are all in control of your own actions!” Rogue argues that’s all the more reason to help him. Maverick still disagrees; “Creed is a killer, by want as much by need. If it comes down to a choice of kill or be killed I know what mine is going to be! Can all of you; be so sure what yours will…” Before could finish Bishop interrupts him. “No one really knows what ones future actions will be.” Beast then decides that they should split up. Rogue, Gambit and Bishop are sent to Frankfurt to protect Geinstach, and Maverick and Beast will go to Japan to visit the Silver Samurai.
Bishop, Rogue and Gambit jump out of the Blackbird. Rogue lands first but is shocked at what she sees: the bodies of the guards. She enters the compound by breaking through the wall. Bishop examines the bodies. They’ve been dead for awhile; the bloods dry. Rogue hears something, Gambit thinks that it’s just the wind, but a body drops out of a tree behind them. It was Geinstach. Sabretooth was playing with them. “Just like he always did.”
As Gambit says this, Sabretooth jumps out of a tree above them. As he attacks him, he comments that Gambit’s been pretending to be on the side of the angles for a wile, so he wonders if it’s made his blood taste any less spicy.  Bishop fires his weapon at Creed, “there may be no love lost between Gambit and me but he is still my comrade.” Creed avoids them, by climbing a wall. Once on top he tells Bishop, that Gambit’s got a history of betraying anyone who trusts him. Rogue grabs him and throws him into a wall.
As she attacks, Creed grabs her face, but his glove is ripped. And her power absorbs Sabretooth’s memories. She can’t stop screaming about, “The Blood!” Bishop takes stock of the situation, Gambit’s down, and Rogue’s losing self-control. Sabretooth stands up; he comments on how pathetic it is. “I really scare the sand outta you X-Men, don’t I?” He takes a swipe at Rogue, but misses. He then grabs her. Bishop tells him to put her down. But Creed goads him, “Or what, Boy? You honestly think you can get a clean shot on me without hitting her?” Bishop tells him, one shot through the forehead. “Oh, good answer. Tough an’ cold. You’re not a killer, you’re a soldier! And soldiers care about their troop mates.” He then offers Bishop a deal. “I walk away, an’ you get your little friends sewn back up, or we keep playin’ the games an’ they both bleed.” Bishop lets Sabretooth go. But, as he leaves, Creed tells Bishop, “Can’t say I’m not surprised, X-Man. Though for once I wish one o’ you X-punks would have the guts to go for it!”
Bishop contacts Beast in the Blackbird. He tells him that Gambit and Rogue are recovering. But he is still dismayed that the lack of preparedness led to such an untenable position. Beast wonders why he was given the choice to begin with, instead of just trying to kill all of them outright. Maverick thinks that Creed had another goal in mind, one that they don’t know about yet. Beast questions this but agrees that its possible. However, if true, they have to stop him before he kills again.
The blackbird arrives in Japan and is met by the head of the Yashida clan, Keniuchio Harada. He asks Beast what business they have with the clan. Beast informs him that they have come as potential allies, not as adversaries, as in the past. Harada wonders what cause would require the Silver Samurai to help them. Maverick tells him about Sabretooth and about the people he has been killing. He suspects that it involved the Lord Shingen, but questions why they are helping. Beast tells him that the X-Men are about saving lives, not taking them. “There is nothing simple about that, McCoy.”
After two hours of waiting, Harada asks Beast the question of why he is helping. He understands the warning but, as of two months ago, they were enemies. Help in this way brings him dishonor. Beast wonders if, placed in the same position, he might not do the same thing. “Sabretooth is a mutant, one with a big problem and the X-Men have made it their responsibility to help mutants with big problems when we can.” Harada asks if it would not be easier if Creed were simply killed? Beast tells him its because it’s an easier course is the reason why they are choosing not to take it. They all have a beast inside us; some have it within and some without. “But one thing we must all strive to do is to tame the beast, not terminate it.”
Outside the estate, in the trees, Sabretooth watches the guards. As they pass him, he drops down and kills one. He hides him in the bushes, then stabs his claws though the back of another other. He sniffs the air, and is suddenly surrounded by guards. But he just grins. Inside the mansion, Beast notices that it got quiet outside. Harada, now dressed as the Silver Samurai, tells the group that his men were immediately aware of his entrance on the grounds. He is certain that they have stopped him. Maverick asks if he’s joking. But no sooner than he said that, Sabretooth smashes through a widow in front of them. Demanding to see the telepath. Silver Samurai tells him that he’s right here, behind him. But he’s not going to say much to him. He goes on to explain that he was a highly skilled telepath, but when the bombs went off in Hiroshima, his mind was destroyed when he felt the death cry of and entire city wash over him. He hasn’t spoken sense.
Sabretooth is shocked at this revelation and realizes that Bashur set him up. He jumps behind them and grabs Tanaka. “I need him to give me the same glow Birdy did! I need him to take away the pain!” Beast tells him that, if he needs a telepath, the X-Men have three. If he wants help, they can give it to him. Suddenly, Tanaka speaks. “The blood.” Creed demands to know what he’s saying. Silver Samurai is amazed that Sabretooth’s mind was strong enough to awaken Uchio. He smells the blood. Maverick thinks it’s the blood on Creed’s body. Beast corrects him, “No… on his conscience.” Creed can’t take it, yelling to shut him up. Uchio’s eyes turn red, as his powers erupt, connecting all of them in a mind link.
Various images flash in Creeds mind and he recognizes some. “Through all the happy days? Iron fist, Logan Black ops…” The images stop at one image in particular. Creed recognizes it as Japan, Makurasaki. They see Creed sneaking up to a house. Inside, they see the couple living there. Creed tells them that he was a candidate for the diet from Kyushu. “He was threatening to expose a trade route his clients wanted kept mum. So, he had to be eliminated. An’ his wife, well, she was a freebie.” They then see blood spatter on the wall. As he was leaving the house, Creed notices something no one told him, “That they had a kid.” The child runs down the hall and out to the backyard, with Creed in pursuit. “A little kid. Who knew better than his parents did that he was a good as dead. So alls he wanted t’do was t’say goodbye to his little pet rabbit. An‘ I knew…” Beast is horrified at this. “You are a monster.” Creed continues, “I knew, that my soul would be condemned forever and that I’d never be able to do a thing about it, but I left and his eyes followed me all the way an’ I never forgot his stare.”
Coming out of the mind link, Silver Samurai asks what happened. Beast explains; Tanaka linked them to Sabretooth’s mind, so they could see the demons that are driving him to do this is killing Tanaka in the process. Maverick asks how long they were out? “Why didn’t Creed just kill us?” Beast tells him to look at the walls, covered with blood. “This is Sabretooth’s way of asking us to stop him.” He then realizes that he knows where he went to and he invited him to go there. “Sabretooth has gone to find Charles Xavier.”
(Xavier Institute for Higher Learning)
Next to the dock by Breakstone Lake, Sabretooth emerges from the water. In the rain, he runs towards the mansion. He enters one of the sliding doors. He sniffs the air and follows the scent; he finds Professor Xavier. He’s sitting in his hover chair in the library. He is aware of Creeds presence, commenting that he that he should put a lock on that door. Creed agrees but pounces towards him. In mid jump, Xavier attacks Creed’s mind, sending him back against a bookcase. Sabretooth slowly gets up, “If my head weren’t already messed up so bad, that might have really hurt, but you just weren’t good enough!” Charles coolly tells him that wasn’t his intention to do so. He then hits him again with a psychic attack. Creed, still groggy from the attack; “You don’t wanna kill me. That ain’t your style at all, shame of it is, that is my style, so’s it looks like the only way yer gonna stop me, is to kill me!”
He is about to slash Charles with his claws, but he is hit by an energy blast from behind. Its Maverick but, before he could fire again, Charles stops him; he has the situation under control. Creed growls as he looks to see who shot him. He sees the arriving group of Gambit, Bishop, Maverick, Beast and Rogue. Beast tells him that the only question is will it be his choice to stop the killing, or ours? Suddenly, Sabretooth yells at Charles, telling him to, “GET OUT!” He jumps behind Charles and grabs him by the neck, “Oh, that was tricky, distract me while cueball tries pryin’ into my head to take me down!” Bishop and Maverick aim their weapons at Creed. They tell him to let Xavier go; he’s more than willing to help him without the excessive threats. Bishop takes close aim at Creeds head, demanding that he remove his hand now.
 Sabretooth doesn’t buy his threats, “I seen what’s inside you, Bishop. An’ we both know it ain’t enough t’get you to pull the trigger.” Bishop fires his plasma gun, hitting Creed in the head, knocking him out. Maverick covers the downed Sabretooth. Rogue is mad at Bishop for endangering the Professor. Maverick tells Rogue not to worry, Bishop knew exactly what he was doing, and Creed is still alive. The Professor interrupts them; he may be out, but not for long. What he has to do must be done immediately. He touches Creeds head and begins to search. Rogue and Beast question if it is wise if he enters his mind. “How else can we discern if Sabretooth truly wishes to be cured of his barbaric fits of violence?” Bishop wonders if he could guarantee if he could enter his mind and return without being corrupted. He never expected a guarantee of any kind. He then enters Creed’s mind, and collapses in his hover chair. Beast tells the group that the Professor is gone. Maverick doesn’t understand him. “To the astral plane, Mr. North. Inside Sabretooth’s Mind.”
(Inside Sabretooth’s mind)
Charles walks down a tunnel, alone. He hears the mourning cries of the dead; it smells of carnage and the smell of old blood clinging to the wall. Tattered ribbons of memories hang like cobwebs, slapping at him as he moves forward, trophies of once glorious hunts. Charles realizes that this is Sabretooth. Everything about him is centered around those he has killed. Charles smiles; if he remembers the dead, at the very least it acknowledges that on some level, Sabretooth places a value on human life.
Suddenly, in front of him, he sees Logan, Maverick and Sabretooth from when he spent time as a covert operative. He then realizes that he was walking backwards through Creed’s memories. The images fade, leaving Charles at what he thinks is a dead end. But it’s a break in his psychic defense. One that formed when Creed asked for help. Charles sees a boy, Creed, chained in a cellar. He wonders if it’s a symbolic memory or a literal one. He watches as the cellar door opens and Creed’s father tosses in a rabbit. “Dinner time, boy! You catch what you kill. You eat what you can catch.” Then slams the door shut. Charles steps out of the darkness; the boy sees him. Charles tells him that his father was wrong, that the choice is ultimately his to make. He picks up the rabbit and walks towards Creed, telling him that he can’t even begin to help, unless he is prepared to help himself. He has spent a small amount of time in the hard, cold place he has lived his entire life, not finding it to his liking.
He knows nothing about his life, Creed yells at Charles. But Charles knows more that he wants to. That he fear the bloodlusts, but are also addicted to them. And innocents have paid for that addiction. He is a man of violence and cruelty, but he hides behind this childish façade of blamelessness. Creed reaches out to the rabbit in Charles arms. The rabbit smells him and jumps into his arms. He cradles the rabbit, “You’re not like Birdy. She made me forget the pain.” Charles bluntly tells him; “And that was her mistake.”
As the Professor awakes, Bishop asks him what happened. “I’ve made a decision, Bishop. Sabretooth stays here.” Maverick wants to know who is going to be responsibility of trying to tame him. “I will. Sabretooth has escaped the authorities too many times and too many have died as a result. He must be contained.” He will hold Creed here. “Who else could handle him?”
(Danger Room)
Creed stands on the dock by the boathouse with Charles, protective covers on his hands. Creed tells him that it was a mistake. Charles thinks he means the program, “I cannot allow you free access to the grounds.” But that’s not what he means. “Am I gonna be a prisoner now, baldy?” It is. But Charles asks him if he would rather be locked up in a maximum security cell at the Vault? Creed wonders what’s the difference, “you all hate me s’much as I hate you.” Charles doubts that, he senses that the students hate him quite a bit more. But they understand the need to stop someone like him, requires drastic measures. “Yes, you are a prisoner of this house until such a time as we find a way to cure you of these murderous rampages.”
Creed doesn’t believe him; “Yeah right, like I’m really scared, Charlie.” Charles says he should be, he wants the killing to end, no matter what it takes. As they walk back to the mansion, Creed asks, “You think your man enough to stop me?” “I know I am Creed. Watch me.”