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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

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Murder by Numbers 1, 2, 3... It’s as Easy to Learn… as your A-B-C!
It was not raining on Tamarind Island, British Columbia, when Jean-Paul “Northstar” Beaubier hung up the phone in Alpha Flight’s headquarters and started running - to arrive in fog-bound Toronto, Ontario, 4500 kilometers and thirty minutes later. The handsome speedster darts about, thinking to himself that the fog blankets are like a shroud, though he knows that running is only slightly slower than flying, and it is a negligible difference - unless the life of a friend hangs in the balance that is.
Jean-Paul arrives at a scene of chaos - fire fighters are doing their best to douse a blazing fire, while police officers keep civilians behind a barricade, and reporters and camera crews try to scoop the story. Northstar leaps the barricade with ease, when a police officer tells him to get back, as this is a restricted area, before the police officer asks ‘Hey, aren’t you…?’ Northstar confirms the officer’s suspicions, producing his Alpha Flight I.D. card, Jean-Paul declares that it gives him access to any site in Canada. The police officer replies that he doesn’t speak French, but that he still recognizes the Alpha Flight security clearance card and tells Northstar to pass, adding that he is too late to do any good.
‘Too late?’ Jean-Paul thinks to himself, after all, he crossed half a continent in the half hour since Jacques’ call, and in that time, Jacques’ entire apartment complex has been devastated. Northstar sees a body on a stretcher that is being carried past him by some medics and he approaches it, lifting up the sheet, he sees the body of Jacques. Beginning to cry, Northstar swears that he will avenge his friend.
The next day, a distraught Alpha Flight assembles in the offices of Commander Giles McHeath in Ottawa. Northstar leans against a display cabinet, and his scantily-clad twin sister, Aurora stands beside him. Heather McNeil Hudson a.k.a. Vindicator - Alpha Flight’s leader - stands right in front of Commander McHeath’s desk, while the beautiful goddess Narya a.k.a. Snowbird, the diminutive Eugene “Puck” Judd and the quadriplegic inside the metal man Roger “Box” Bochs stand at the rear of the room.
Heather asks McHeath why Alpha Flight has been summoned here, pointing out that they are not at the beck and call of any government agency, including the RCMP. McHeath asks Vindicator if she noticed the legend following his name on his office door, and remarks that, after a half-century with the RCMP, he is now very much retired. Heather asks McHeath, who is busy smoking a pipe, if he is not with the government then, to which McHeath replies ‘no longer’ and explains that upon leaving the force he established a private anti-terrorist organization, and the RCMP calls on him when one of his past operations rears is ugly head - such as right now.
McHeath reveals that a long dormant investigation into FLQ acts of terrorism during the early seventies has just turned up fresh clues - and indicate the involvement of a member of Alpha Flight! ’What!?’ exclaims Puck. ’Who? Northstar?’ presumes Box, to which Northstar declares that it would seem he stands condemned even before he is accused. A wide-eyed Aurora mutters ‘Oh, Jean-Paul not again!’ while Snowbird points out that one’s past is precedent. Heather hushes her team and declares that they need to hear what McHeath has to say.
But Aurora rushes over to McHeath’s desk and tells him that, before he lays any charges on her brother, she wants him to know that Northstar stopped a recent terrorist murder plot directed at the leaders of the United States and Canada! McHeath practically ignores Aurora and just looks a photo of himself in his younger days while muttering that he has a complete dossier. Northstar asks McHeath if the report is so complete that it includes the promise he recently made to his sister to foreswear violent opposition to the state. Aurora backs up Northstar’s statement, exclaiming that it is true.
Commander McHeath asks Northstar if he has foresworn loyalty to his old friends as well, to which Northstar replies that they have abandoned political violence, but that he will not betray them. McHeath jumps to his feet, exclaiming that he is not on this job to punish these people, but to try and save them, just like Northstar did last night. Aurora declares that Jean-Paul was on Tamarind Island last night, to which Northstar then confesses to also being in Toronto. McHeath remarks that it was there that Northstar learnt his super speed could not protect a former terrorist - who had been placed on a fanatic’s hit list!. ‘WHAT?!’ exclaims Northstar, clearly shocked.
McHeath presses a button on a panel and the picture hanging behind him turns into a monitor as he remarks ‘Surely you didn’t think your friend blew himself up?’ McHeath lights his pipe again as Alpha Flight watch Northstar appear on the monitor, and McHeath remarks that Northstar’s friend was too good a demolitions man for that, certainly not the type to take a block of innocent “civilians” with him. Aurora remarks that her brother is standing in front of a blasted apartment, and Heather remarks that the blast was on the news that morning.
McHeath informs Alpha Flight that he was called in to investigate when Northstar was spotted beside the body of fugitive terrorist…Jacques Paradis! McHeath explains that Paradis, also known as Numero Un or “Number One” was the suspected leader of one of the most violent cells of the Front de Liberation du Quebec, and that he had been hiding since the conclusion of the October Crisis when FLQ terrorism was smashed. McHeath remarks that the authorities had no idea where Paradis was, but two other people apparently did - his good friend and former comrade, Northstar - and his murderer!
Northstar explains to everyone that Jacques phoned him and said that he thought someone had seen through his alias and was hunting him. Box remarks that it appears someone was, and Judd tells Northstar not to blame himself, after all, he did try to save his friend. However McHeath suggests that Northstar could have called in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police instead of streaking off on his own - and arriving too late. But Northstar explains that Jacques would have seen that as a betrayal, and reminds his teammates that he has always been a loner, but that Jacques gave him something to believe in.
(Shown with flashback illustrations)
Jean-Paul declares that his French language, his heritage - liberty, he and Jacques were not alone in those days, for Quebec cried out for freedom! Jean-Paul remarks that there were some - such as the FLQ - who did more than petition for recognition of Quebec as a sovereign nation - they also fought! Jean-Paul adds that, being young, angry and confused about many things, he joined them. However - the resistance degenerated into…terror!
Commander McHeath declares that the response to the FLQ kidnapping was swift, and Ottawa sent in federal troops to aid the police. He admits that civil liberties were suspended as hundreds of separatistes and their sympathizers were rounded up and arrested. Recalling an incident were he was assaulted, McHeath remarks that Montreal became a solemn city besieged. McHeath exclaims that Canada searched its soul after the October crisis and that the civil rights of countless innocents were trampled in the war against the FLQ. He declares that many people began to urge the rewriting of the laws, but than an underground cell of the FLQ known as Cell Combattre comprised of six terrorists known only as Numero Un, Deux, Trois and Lettre A, B and C, all of who could not wait for peaceful change. Instead, they launched a Christmas raid on an RCMP post, slaughtering every policeman present.
(Present)
Commander McHeath reveals that, in time, other FLQ terrorists were captured and imprisoned, but not Cell Combattre. Aurora asks McHeath what all of this has to do with her brother, pointing out that nothing he has said implicates Jean-Paul with the six murderers. McHeath doesn’t look at Aurora as he reveals that they suspected Cell Combattre had a seventh member, and as he shows an image of someone speeding past the police remarks that Cell Combattre employed a special courier, one who carried their communications too swiftly to allow deception or interception.
Snowbird exclaims that there is no doubt, while Box declares that it had to have been Northstar. Aurora turns to Vindicator, ‘Oh no, no!’ she exclaims while Heather comforts her. Northstar quickly announces that it is true, but that he only carried their messages until he learned what they were planning. Jean-Paul claims that he begged them not to go through with it, but they were so determined. McHeath remarks that Northstar fled from Cell Combattre, severing all ties, and Jean-Paul confirms this, adding that he informed James Hudson of this, but that he was invited to join Department H anyway.
McHeath declares that he thinks Northstar has shown a definite disavowal of his past as a member of Alpha Flight, to which Jean-Paul replies that he never gave up his principles, only their realization through violence. He adds that Jacques and the others did the same, to which McHeath declares that will not prevent their being punished for their crimes, if they ever catch them, while pointing out that it is unfortunate someone else seems determined to find them first. Jean-Paul asks McHeath what he wants from him, to turn informer? McHeath replies that he doesn’t, that all he wants is Northstar to find his friends, to help the RCMP help them by urging them to surrender. ‘For their own safety…bring them in!’
Soon, the rest of Alpha Flight follow Northstar out of McHeath’s office and Snowbird asks Jean-Paul what he intends to do, to which Aurora exclaims that her brother has no choice, that he must do what is right. Northstar asks his sister what exactly is “right” - serving a state that oppressed its French-speaking citizens, or fighting for their political freedom? Heather tells Jean-Paul that it depends on how you fight and on knowing when to stop. Jean-Paul asks how he knows that the authorities and McHeath have stopped waging the war as well, before suggesting that perhaps the authorities killed Jacques and claim that his other comrades are in peril, forcing him to locate them, thus leading the government to enemies it could never find!
Heather tells Northstar that if his friends are targets of a killer or the government, then they must save them, adding that if the explosion last night does mean that Cell Combattre have gone back to their old ways and are planning new acts of terrorism, then Alpha Flight must stop them. ‘We need do nothing, Vindicator!’ Northstar exclaims, declaring that Cell Combattre are his former friends and comrades, so he will either save them, warn them…or betray them…alone! With that, Northstar takes to the skies, speeding away.
‘He’s gone!’ exclaims Box as Northstar disappears from sight in an instant. Heather mutters that the hot-headed Northstar has no team spirit at all, and asks how he could ever have been a member of Cell Combattre. ‘Then he fought for something he believed in, Vindicator!’ snaps Aurora as she takes flight, while Snowbird points out that Northstar has always been ambivalent about being part of Alpha Flight, before they all take flight following him, with Box carrying Puck, who remarks that one thing is for certain - no one can catch up to Northstar when he pours the speed on! Aurora points out that she could have once, but that was before her genetic makeup and powers were altered. Heather, however, declares that there is one way they can track him!
McHeath is thinking about how to track Northstar too, and he knows what Heather knows, as do certain others from the RCMP during Department H’s heyday - James MacDonald Hudson had microchips implanted in the skulls of some of his protégés - Northstar included - so that he could contact them in emergencies. McHeath knows that Alpha Flight can track their teammate via the implant, and although he does not know the frequency, he would be a poor policeman to let that stop him. McHeath picks up a small device and recalls how Alpha Flight, upon entering his office, were “dusted” with electromagnetic particles, and although he knew Northstar’s would soon be swept off, he can track the rest of Alpha Flight while they track Northstar, thus, leading him straight to Cell Combattre.
Later that evening in Toronto, Alpha Flight touch down and Judd asks if the implants that link them to the Alphanex computer will let them track Northstar, to which Heather explains that they were not designed with that purpose, but yes they will. Aurora exclaims that she cannot help but feel guilty about tracking her brother, to which Box reminds Aurora of Northstar’s entanglement with Cell Combattre and remarks that if he rejoins them, he will be renouncing Alpha Flight, and the authorities will not take kindly to him protecting terrorists. Aurora boasts that no prison built could hold her brother, to which Box asks ‘Who says they’d jail him?’ This shocks Aurora, who declares that they must find her brother.
Judd asks Heather what if Northstar has good reason to fear leading McHeath to his friends, to which Heather asks if Puck is suggesting that because McHeath is no longer with the government, he may not be playing by the book. The heroes take flight again, this time with Judd holding on to Heather, who declares that if Judd’s suspicious are founded, then McHeath has made a mistake by calling them in, ‘How could an ex-policeman harm Northstar’s friends when they’re protected by Alpha Flight!?’ she exclaims.
While Alpha Flight soars the skies, another flying figure zips across it, unseen over the city, he calls himself…Scourge! He wears a cybernetic battle-suit based on a prototype designed years ago by James Hudson for a company called Am-Can. Apparently, someone else had access to the original plans - and that means to construct the armor! Scourge looks at a device on his arm and sees that Alpha Flight has landed, and wonders if Northstar has led them to the terrorists already.
In an alley nearby, Box exclaims that Northstar is near. Snowbird asks if he is in one of the condemned buildings, to which Judd wonders which one it could be. Snowbird reminds everyone that she possesses post cognitive abilities - powers that let her “replay” events from the recent past, and begins to display this little-used ability of hers, she watches the recent past unfold before her and motions to the building that Northstar entered - an old theater.
As Alpha Flight enter the theater, Judd looks around and remarks that it is as good a hide-out as any, while Aurora exclaims that her brother doesn’t appear to be here. Heather orders Box to “vector in” on Northstar, and asks Snowbird to track Jean-Paul’s scent. Narya complies by transforming into an albino wolverine, but only for a moment though, as she quickly reverts to her default form, ‘What a stench! Humanity has befouled this place!’ she exclaims, while Box announces that he has the scope on Northstar.
Suddenly though, as Alpha Flight move towards the theater stage, Jean-Paul reveals himself, ‘You have been tracking me - how?!’ he exclaims. Aurora tells her brother that it is the “why” that is important, explaining that they are here to see, for his own good, that he does nothing criminal. Northstar replies that he would expect Alpha Flight to doubt him, as they always have, but hoped that his own sister would put more trust in his pledge never to return to terrorism. Aurora tells her brother that she wants to believe him, and that they all want to help his friends. Jean-Paul snarls that his “friends” are just fine, and turns to the backstage area, ‘Isn’t that right…Clementine!?’ Northstar asks, when suddenly, there is a massive explosion backstage so powerful that it forces Northstar off the stage and stuns Snowbird, knocking her over.
Heather is fine thanks to the force field her electro-magnetic battle suit emanates, while Judd tends to Snowbird, Box uses his incredible strength to hold part of the building up, joking that the blast has brought the house down - literally, while Aurora calls out to her brother as she cannot see where he has gone. Heather takes control of the situation and uses a plasma funnel which she creates by flying around the fire to snuff out the flames. She orders Box to clear the debris and for the others to search for Northstar and his friend.
Puck finds the stunned speedster, while a concerned Aurora asks ‘Is he…’ but Judd assures her that Northstar is fine, just knocked off his feet by the blast. ‘The blast!’ exclaims Jean-Paul as he gathers himself, recalling that it came from behind him, he flies to what’s left of backstage, exclaiming that is where Clementine was. Aurora realizes that her brother is referring to Clementine D’Arbanville, and Judd remembers her as the woman who alerted Northstar to Pink Pearl’s plot to kill the Prime Minister and the President of the United States.
Northstar finds Clementine’s body, motionless and broken, he kneels beside her informing the others that he helped Clementine go underground again after the drama with Pink Pearl cost Clementine her circus. Jean-Paul remarked that this theater seemed the perfect hiding place, for to Clementine, the whole world was a stage, adding that even her involvement in Cell Combattre took on the aspect of a part in a perilous play. Picking Clementine up, Northstar tells Alpha Flight that she wanted to retire from the role of “Numero Deux”, the terrorist ingénue, and live a normal life. ‘And now, because you followed me, distracted me…SHE’S DEAD!’ Jean-Paul snaps, tears streaming down his face, he takes to the air, telling Alpha Flight to leave him alone, lest they help the rest of his friends the way they “helped” Clementine, before he flies away.
Judd covers Clementine’s body with a blanket, while the team regroups. Heather wonders if Clementine was killed by McHeath’s so-called murderer, then where is he? Aurora suggests that Clementine might have built the bomb that exploded, killing herself, in an attempt to destroy Alpha Flight. Box remarks that would make Clementine a martyr to her cause, while Snowbird points out that Clementine helped Canada in the Pink Pearl drama. ‘There is a lot here that doesn’t figure, eh?’ Judd remarks, before the team takes flight again, with Heather pointing out that the pieces are never going to add up unless they keep after Northstar.
Before the Toronto police reach the devastated theater, another figure stalks forth from the shadows backstage - Scourge. The armored murderer lifts up the sheet covering Clementine to check that she is indeed dead and thinks that the Alphans thinks there may be a killer on step ahead of Northstar on the terrorists trail, not realizing that it is they themselves who is leading he, Scourge, to the criminals!
Meanwhile, the chase continues across Toronto, and it is not long before Alpha Flight have caught up with their teammate as Heather points out that Northstar is flying a lot slower than before, suggesting that perhaps the blast back at the theater hurt him more than he let on. Judd remarks that even with his speed cut, Northstar is still way ahead of them, to which Heather replies that speed doesn’t matter, so long as Box maintains a fix on Northstar’s microchip. Aurora asks Heather why every member of Alpha Flight didn’t receive an implant. Snowbird remarks that in her own case, it was impossible, for she is not allowed to bleed, while Heather informs Aurora that Marrina’s amulet served the same purpose, and Shaman’s mystical senses alerted him in times of need, while she and Box became members later on. ‘But the rest of the original team had the implants’ Scourge thinks to himself as he flies unseen above Alpha Flight, ‘So follow Northstar, Alpha Flight…and lead me to his murderous friends!’.
Racing against time, Northstar reaches a Toronto scrap yard, thinking to himself that his teammates obviously have some way of tracking him, so he must alert Numero Trois and Lettre A before Alpha Flight - or the assassin - finds them. Jean-Paul enters an old yellow bus, surprising his former associates, who ask him what he is doing here. Jean-Paul replies that he has come to warn them that the authorities, an assassin, or his teammates, hunt them. The two Cell Combattre members produce guns and point them at Northstar, asking how they could know where the two of them were hiding, unless he led them here. ‘I came to help you, and you accuse me of betraying you?’ Northstar exclaims, clearly annoyed.
Suddenly, Box rips the bus apart, causing everyone to fall from it, ‘Fine friends you’ve got there, speedster!’ Northstar exclaims. Heather notices the guns and destroys them with a plasma blast, while telling Northstar that it seems the old ways die hard where his playmates are concerned. ‘You blame them, Vindicator?’ Northstar asks, pointing out that the members of Cell Combattre have been on the run for years, hunted and hounded by the police, and now by beings whose powers any normal human being would fear. Northstar begins to speed around Alpha Flight, causing Snowbird to get tangled in her cape, while Heather fires small plasma bursts at him, Jean-Paul exclaims that her knows what Cell Combattre has done, but he also knows what has been done to them, so he will use his powers to protect them.
Judd tells Northstar that it is too bad his powers didn’t protect those mounties who were murdered, before declaring that the Cell Combattre members may not deserve it, but Alpha Flight is here to save their lives. Northstar easily dodges Judd’s punch and exclaims that Quebec was in a war, and whether it is acknowledged by history or not, those policemen were the enemy. Judd suggests Northstar watch his analogies, remarking that if what happened was war, then the FLQ lost - and the victor could execute the vanquished. ‘Luckily for your murderous friends, the courts will apply the law even to them, eh?’ Judd remarks, while Heather declares that Canada has no death penalty.
Box grabs Northstar by the ankle and forces him down to the ground, while Heather exclaims that no one is going to take Cell Combattre’s lives if Alpha Flight can help it. Due to Northstar’s exhaustion he is unable to evade his teammates, while those he sought to protect cut and run. ‘Let the fools destroy each other!’ one of the exclaims as they rush through the scrap yard - only to be blown up. ‘NO!’ Northstar shouts while Box continues to hold him down. Heather tells Jean-Paul that no one could have survived that blast, while Box, still with his hand on Jean-Paul, but letting him stand up, asks who set the blast, as there was no one here except for them and the terrorists.
Heather examines the area and remarks that there is no sign of a murderer, while Northstar shoves Box’s hand off of him and asks Heather if she is saying his comrades destroyed themselves, he calls her mad and exclaims that if they had wanted to die they could have ended their existences at any time. Box suggests that this time they thought maybe they could take Alpha Flight out with them, while Jean-Paul snaps that he has already said Cell Combattre has renounced that aspect of their past. Box asks Northstar how he explains those guns that they were ready to use, to which Northstar replies that they needed to protect themselves. ‘Or to protect their present plans from one whom they no longer felt they could trust?’ suggests Snowbird.
Heather tells Jean-Paul that the terrorists must have had a bomb hidden in the scrap yard, and Puck adds that they might not have had built one with Alpha Flight in mind, but that killing them would be quite a coup for a reborn Cell Combattre. ‘But McHeath set me…you…on their trail!’ Northstar exclaims. Heather suggests that perhaps McHeath lied about there being a murderer after Northstar’s friends, and perhaps he knew they were up to their old tricks. ‘And wanted me to stop them before they could kill again!’ exclaims Jean-Paul, to which Heather asks if he can blame McHeath for wanting that, to which Northstar replies ‘No’. Heather tells Jean-Paul that he must lead them to Lettres B and C so that they can stop them before they hurt themselves, or anyone else. ‘Yes!’ Jean-Paul exclaims before Alpha Flight take to the skies again, with Scourge watching them go, ‘Even better than I could have planned! Lead on, Alpha Flight, lead on!’ he exclaims.
Meanwhile, in the Beaches, Toronto, a tow of upwardly mobile middle class citizens. At six o’clock, children come home from play, mothers put dinner into the microwaves, and fathers come home from work. Such as the man formerly known as Lettre B. Scourge soars over the neighborhood, thinking that Lettre B is hiding in plain sight, a retired terrorist disguised as an ordinary business man, who no doubt relies on his surroundings to keep him camouflaged. But Scourge thinks that he would know Lettre B anywhere, and that Alpha Flight is near, probably sheltering the killer’s wife - Lettre C - while waiting to warn Lettre B as well. Scourge boasts that he will not give them that chance, as he has waited too many years! ‘This night, justice shall be done!’.
Scourge hovers over the former terrorist known as Lettre B, who gives no other outward evidence of his fear than some sweat beads on his face - but the trap Alpha Flight has set for Scourge has been sprung, and Lettre B spins around as Box flies up behind Scourge and smashes him over, ‘We’ve been expecting you, hit man! Looks like McHeath was right!’ Box exclaims. Heather stands by Lettre C and remarks that the battle suit looks like a prototype developed by Mac. Snowbird goes over to protect Lettre B, while Scourge introduces himself, boasting that he is the instrument of vengeance come to punish these monsters for their crimes.
Judd calls Scourge a madman trying to rationalize his own lawlessness and leaps towards him, kicking him in the face, though Scourge manages to fire a blast at the house while Judd declares that they are under Alpha Flight’s protection and that he will not get to slaughter them like he did their comrades. Scourge exclaims that Cell Combattre was condemned by society and that he merely exists to carry out the sentence society imposed on them. Vindicator fires a plasma blast at Scourge, keeping him down, while Aurora flies up behind him. ‘You claim to act in the name of justice?’ she asks while putting her hands over his eyes. ‘Not even justice is so blind - as you will shortly be!’ she exclaims, blinding Scourge at such a close proximity, though he is protected by his armor, ‘Curse you, witch!’ he shouts as he pulls his helmet off, shouting that she has burnt out his suit’s optilenses.
‘And I must see you to slay you!’ shouts Commander McHeath, revealing himself. ‘McHeath!’ exclaims Northstar, protecting Lettre B, C and their children. ‘Yes!’ exclaims McHeath, admitting that he used Northstar to lead him to his targets, declaring that he has sought them for years, ever since their Christmas massacre slaughtered his men, except that the government had all but abandoned the chase, so he had to hunt them down on his own, and now that he has found them, justice will be at last done. ‘Vigilantes are no more lawful than terrorists, McHeath!’ exclaims Box as he smacks McHeath to the ground.
‘Justice? You call what you did justice!?’ Northstar shouts as he speeds over to McHeath, who tells Jean-Paul not to speak to him of “justice”, reminding him that he aided them in their crimes. Jean-Paul declares that he will not allow himself or his friends to be judged by a bloodthirsty maniac, and speeds around McHeath, punching him repeatedly at super speed so badly, that it soon threatens McHeath’s own survival, until finally, Heather and Judd manage to pull Northstar away while Aurora informs him that he is killing McHeath. ‘Yes! I must!’ exclaims Northstar.
Heather tells him to take it easy, that he needs to let the same courts that will judge him and Cell Combattre judge McHeath. Northstar, his fists covered in blood, tells Heather that she is right, while McHeath exclaims that if he is to be judged, then he wants the death of a super-terrorist added to his list of crimes. Before he can fire though, Snowbird transforms into a polar bear and tells Scourge that he has committed enough crimes to sway public support in favor of capital punishment. ‘Let their be an end to your evil!’ she exclaims as she kills McHeath by slashing him across the back of his head, before reverting to her default form.
Aurora comforts Northstar while Judd and Box keep the crowds back. Heather notices the approaching police officers and supposes that a civilian summoned them, she tells her team that she will handle the explanations. One of the po9lice asks what is going on here and orders no one to move until he gets some answers.
Some days later, at a hospital in Toronto, Alpha Flight are visiting Northstar, and Heather asks him how his hands are. Jean-Paul replies that they are not healing half as fast as his heart now that the Prime Minister has decided to pardon him for any past indiscretions. Aurora remarks that the Prime Minister could do no less when he realized how limited her brother’s role in Cell Combattre truly was. Judd tells Northstar that his two former comrades will have to go to prison though, but between their reformation and help in trapping Scourge, they shouldn’t be there long.
Aurora tells Northstar that his past is at last buried and that he can finally regard Alpha Flight as his family now. Jean-Paul replies that he has never had a family, reminding her that their poor parents died mysteriously soon after the two of them were born, and they were subsequently separated after that. Jean-Paul declares that, lost and alone, he joined Cell Combattre, although their goals were the same, their methods differed, and finally, he renounced them. ‘True, I sought to save them from Scourge, but they could never again be as a family to me’.
Northstar remarks that they may ask him to make Alpha Flight his family, but that such a relationship implies trust and understanding. Heather tells Northstar that she thinks they have given him a fair measure of both, considering his past. Northstar admits that he his aspects of his past from the team, but that she hid from him the fact that his privacy was not his own. ‘There is the microchip that enabled you to follow me’ Jean-Paul remarks, motioning to a small tray with the chip lying in it, Northstar reveals that he had the doctors remove it.
Jean-Paul admits that he does realize they sought to help him and his friends, and that counts heavily in accepting membership in this “family”, but that he can only be a true son of Alpha if, in the future, he has their unqualified trust. Heather replies that, on behalf of Alpha Flight, she can say that he has, while Aurora hugs her brother, declaring that, at last, they have both found a home.


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

[Assistant]
(1st story) Is This the Way the World Ends?
(2nd story) Rosie
(1st story)
Yellow Claw arrives at his hidden, underground base in upstate New York in a silent flying craft. He orders Hop Sung and his minions to take Captain America to the cellblock below to “commune with the rats for a time.”  He admonishes the drugged, unconscious hero for interfering with his plans. Hop Sung asks what they should do with Frog-Man and Yellow Claw replies he’ll deal with him after he’s had a moment to refresh himself. Frog-Man tells him to take his time, he’s in no rush. Yellow Claw orders a minion take Captain America’s shield to his lab to be analyzed.
Soon after, Hop Sung brings Frog-Man before the Yellow Claw and Frog-Man nervously jokes that he can come back tomorrow if Yellow Claw is busy. Much to Frog-Man’s dismay, Hop Sung asks if Yellow Claw will kill Frog-Man now. But Yellow Claw replies, “No. First I will see what lurks beneath this ludicrous mask!” and quips dryly, “Ah!  An equally-ludicrous boy!” when he removes it. He demands to know what Frog-Man’s connection with Captain America is and how he managed to infiltrate his organization.
Tears begin pouring down Eugene’s face as he confesses that he barely knows Captain America, that he stumbled into everything completely by accident, and that he’s not even a real super hero, “just a jerk who likes to pretend he’s one!”  Terrified, he begs the Yellow Claw to please believe him and that he won’t tell anybody about him and just let him go home. On his knees and sobbing, he says he doesn’t want to die. The Yellow Claw’s eyes bore into poor Eugene’s until he tosses the Frog-Man mask at Eugene and, seemingly bored, takes a sip from a goblet. “He speaks the truth.” Yellow Claw states.
Then Yellow Claw turns and begins to explain what an honor fate has bestowed upon Eugene. How he “stands in the presence of one who -- through his mastery of mysticism and mind-control -- has lived for over 150 years!”  Therefore he is the only one alive fit to rule the Earth. Fate has honored Frog-Man but mocked the Yellow Claw, as his plans for world domination have been thwarted.
He relates how Captain America and the Avengers, though inferior in battle, managed to prevent his victory. When his ship crashed into the sea, the Avengers didn’t think he could have survived but he managed to survive by pure force of his unyielding will. He explains how he dragged his broken body to his nearby island base. There, the Yellow Claw used his “sorcerous secrets,” which have kept him alive all this time, to restore himself back to “the peak of power.” And while he was recuperating he planned...
Instead of forcing humanity to its knees, Yellow Claw decided “to let them kneel before me voluntarily.”  So he assumed the identity of a legendary eastern holy man, the Bhagwan Sri Ananda, who hadn’t been seen for fifty years. Using his insight into human nature and skill at mass manipulation, he gathered worshipers from all over the world. With the promise of “inner peace,” the gullible people accepted his pack of lies. A few minor prophecies, carefully fulfilled by his minions, drew even more followers.
His latest prophecy was for New York to be destroyed by earthquake and tsunami and, with the scientific genius of his loyal lackey Hop Sung, he developed a mind-amplification device capable of unleashing the limitless, untapped power of the human psyche!  The next day, tens of thousands of his followers will meditate and pray to him and with the device he will gather those energies to move the earth to bring down New York City!  Yellow Claw raises his goblet in a toast to his vision as he proclaims his plans from his throne to the trembling, terrified Frog-Man.
Meanwhile, in lower Manhattan, a father waits... and wonders... and worries...  Spider-Man drops down suddenly from a lamp post behind Vinny and comments that he looks like a man with a problem. Luckily, he’s good at problem solving!  Vinny is startled and growls “What the heck took you so long, you stupid--” before apologizing. Spider-Man asks if it’s Eugene. When Vinny asks how he knows, Spider-Man replies that he’s heard Vinny was looking for him and that usually means his son has gotten himself into some kind of trouble.
Spider-Man remembers the first time he ran into Eugene as Frog-Man and has lost count of how many times he’d “boinged” into Spider-Man’s life. He tells Vinnie he hoped he’d heard the last of Frog-Man for awhile.
Vinny is really worried and thinks Eugene is in it really deep this time, because Captain America is mixed up in it too. Spider-Man comments dryly that it’s nice that he’s not the only super-hero whose life Frog-Man is ruining!  Vinny exclaims that this time it’s serious. He doesn’t know where Eugene is and he’s really scared. Spider-Man decides to help, much to Vinnie’s relief but says that, if Captain America can’t handle it, they might need some help. And he knows just who to call. Vinnie apologetically lists his son’s flaws: “pushy, obnoxious, over-bearing, and thick-headed -- but he’s got his good points!”  Spider-Man replies, “I thought those WERE his good points!”
Back in upstate New York, Captain America slowly returns to consciousness, experiencing nausea, headaches and hallucinations. He struggles to focus, asking, “Who’s... there...?” as a figure advances towards him. He wonders if it’s a monster or a man and tries to defend himself. However, instead of violence, there is a gentle laying on of hands. A soft, comforting whisper. And a slow refocusing of eyes, mind and heart.
Captain America asks the kind-faced old asian gentleman “Where am I?” and “WHO ARE you?”  The old man informs him that he’s in the compound of the Yellow Claw and that he is a friend. Captain America asks how the old man cleared his head of the effects of the drugs so completely. The old man replies that Captain America did it; he only helped him focus the incredible energies of Cap’s own mind. He tells Captain America that Cap has a very vibrant soul which is why he must “stop this madness!”  Captain America asks if he knows Yellow Claw’s plan. The old man replies, “I do.”
After the tale is told, Captain America exclaims that he has to get out of the cell. The old man pulls Cap’s shield out of the shadows behind him and asks if it will be of any help. “My shield!!” Cap exclaims. The old man suggests he use it wisely, gives him his blessing then Cap smashes the door down. When Cap looks back into the cell, he’s surprised to find it empty and wonders if the old man wasn’t part of his drug-induced hallucinations. “I’m coming, Claw!” he thinks as he races through the torch-lit dungeon.
Meanwhile, above ground and several miles south, Frog-Man wakes to find himself outside. The last thing he remembers is Hop Sung coming at him with a needle. He wonders why they let him go and realizes they probably thought he wasn’t much of a threat. Feeling really dejected and foolish, he’s startled when a metal door creeks open nearby, revealing a dark cave. He barely makes out something big and ugly moving inside when he’s surprised by a deep resonant “Ribit!”  Suddenly giant, bear-sized frogs leap out of the cave towards him.
“Holy moly!” he exclaims, “Giant frogs!?!?”  Using the springs on his feet to leap away from their attack, he realizes Yellow Claw must have a sick sense of humor to create monster frogs just to kill him. Bouncing off another frog, he frantically tries to escape, realizing they were experts at it compared to him. Suddenly, he crashes head first into a frog which jumped up to block him. Helpless on his back, the giant frogs begin to lick him and, as he thinks he’s about to die, Eugene realizes that it tickles. They aren’t trying to eat him, they actually like him!  Believing it to be a miracle he gives thanks to the heavens and vows to become a real hero and not just a joke.
At dawn, two hundred thousand followers of the false Bhagwan “Sri Ananda” have gathered from all over the nation and across the world to hear his words. The fawning Hop Sung sounds a gong and the disguised Yellow Claw rises up through the stage, a giant screen behind him projecting his image to the vast crowd. They cheer as he sits on a broad throne and a robed henchman places a massive, crown-like helmet on his head. He directs the crowd to begin a meditation, “Let your love be centered upon me... let your hearts and minds be focused upon me!”  Two round gems begin to glow on the helmet as he directs the people to give all their hopes, their dreams and their fears to him so he can “change the world!”
Suddenly, Captain America throws off his robe disguise and rips off Yellow Claw’s latex mask, revealing his true face. He grabs a microphone and yells that it’s all a lie, but he is too late. The crowd is in a trance, and the Yellow Claw exclaims that his mind-amplification device has done its work. “They are MINE!” and in only a few moments the energies he’s drained from their “willing psyches” will wipe out Manhattan Island. But first, he will use those energies to destroy Captain America.
A massive claw of pure mental energy surges out of the helmet. Cap dodges and it becomes a fist, smashing the ground just as he leaps out of the way. He barely deflects the fist again with his shield but it moves at the speed of thought and Cap is soon trapped in its giant grasp.
As Yellow Claw is about to crush Cap, Hop Sung apologizes for interrupting but he’s spotted something very strange. Frog-Man has arrived with “the charge of the frog brigade!”  Yellow Claw exclaims, “Why you insolent little--” and orders his minions to stop him. Frog-Man thinks he’s probably going to get himself killed but if he can help Cap, it’s worth it. He notices the henchmen look like they’re scared of him but he’s unaware that Spider-Man has arrived with the Human Torch, along with Angel, Beast & Iceman. “Maybe I really do strike terror into the hearts of evil-doers!” Frog-Man thinks to himself.
“No!  This can’t be!  Not now!” Yellow Claw exclaims, which makes Frog-Man think it’s him the Claw’s afraid of, but he gets the feeling he’s missing something. He is because, behind him, the other heroes are really giving the villains a good thrashing.
Yellow Claw smashes Captain America onto the stage with the mental claw, realizing he must act quickly. He turns to unleash the power of the device but is distracted by the giant frog riding Frog-Man leaping towards him. “You again?!?!” he exclaims. Frog-Man says, “Yeah!” and taunts, “What’re you gonna DO about it?”  “This!” Yellow Claw replies and smashes him out of the air with his mental energies. “Oh.”  Frog-Man says, “Uh-oh!”  He’s going down... and out.
Yellow Claw turns and proclaims, “And now, Manhattan Island--” but unnoticed, behind him, Captain America reaches for his shield. “Lives!!” interrupts Cap as, with the last of his strength, he hurls his shield at Yellow Claw’s crown and the device is shattered. Yellow Claw exclaims in horror that without the helmet... Captain America finishes his sentence, informing him that he’s out of a job!
With the helmet destroyed, the crowd is no longer enthralled and is now angry. Captain America tells him not to try anything but the Yellow Claw replies that he will do nothing, “except -- escape!” as a hidden jet pack pops through his jacket and he rockets away. Hop Sung begs his master not to leave him behind but Captain America grabs the obsequious toady and tells him the Claw’s gone “and so are you!”
Later, after state and federal authorities have mopped up, Captain America thanks Eugene for distracting the Claw at that crucial moment so he could recover and smash the device. He asks Eugene if he’s all right and Gene replies that he thought for a while that he was winning the battle alone until he noticed Spider-Man and the other heroes. He sounds so down that Spider-Man tells him to look on the bright side, “We couldn't have done it without you!”  This perks Frog-Man back up and he proclaims he probably could have trounced the villains if he had a little more time.
He’s surprised by Vinnie pulling his frog mask off, who asks him what he means by that. Eugene sheepishly asks his dad if he’s gonna kill him now or wait until they get home. Vinnie pulls his son into a hug and tells him he’s proud that Eugene managed to sneak into the Claw’s communications center to get a message out to the feds. Cap even tells Eugene that maybe someday he’ll become a full-fledged hero. “Whaddaya mean someday?!”  Frog-Man proclaims as he re-dons his mask and launches into a heroic speech. Spider-Man and the rest of the heroes cringe and look dismayed. Human Torch asks Beast why they’d let Spider-Man talk them into this rescue mission. Beast replies resignedly that it seemed like a good idea at the time!
Around midnight in Avengers Mansion, Steve Rogers reads about the real Sri Ananda in a newspaper article, which says he hasn’t been seen since 1939. A photograph published next to the article is the only one ever taken of him. To Steve’s shock, it’s the wise, kindly old man from the cell. Steve muses in wonder that perhaps there are still miracles in the world, after all.
(2nd story)
Vision & the Scarlet Witch are strolling down a street in Manhattan. They approach an old homeless woman selling flowers from her cart. Scarlet Witch greets her, saying, “Good evening, Rosie. This old street corner wouldn’t be the same without you.”  Rosie informs them she saved the prettiest flower for “Miss Wanda, just like always.”
After they leave, Rosie hails a man in a dark trench coat, asking if he wants a rose to warm the night.  He replies that blood is red and warm, and stabs her repeatedly with an ice pick.
In Ben Urich’s Night Beat column, the day after her burial, Ben writes of Rosie’s death. He muses that no one knew if that was her real name and that no one bothered to take the time to find out. The “Skid-Row Slasher” intended to make a name for himself. It’s strange how people remember the murderers but quickly forget their victims. Sadly, no one will remember Rosie, a nameless street person. Someone with no mourners and tragically, no flowers for her grave.
Vision and Scarlet Witch visit the grave. It’s raining and bleak. Vision is troubled that she died alone, without friends, without even a name. Scarlet Witch sympathizes but Vision states that while she is a mutant, she’s still human while he is synthetic, “A cold, uncaring machine.” She passionately refutes that. He is the man she loves, who loves her. Vision rises into the air and asks, who loved Rosie?  He knows the pain of loneliness, comparing it to a death, of sorts. Wanda replies sadly to herself, “...or worse...”  She gazes sadly down at the single rose in her hand.
Vision has gone to the NYPD 28th Precinct to talk to Captain Mathias about the Skid-Row Slasher. “Five murders in less than two months. Better believe I want ‘im.”  Mathias is having trouble with the Coke machine and thumps it. “Blasted machine!”  Vision phases through it and frees the stuck can for him. Mathias realizes Vision might have thought his outburst was directed at him. “Uh... I didn’t mean...”  “No offence taken” Vision replies.
Mathias tells him the investigation is ongoing and they’re doing what they can. He’s interrupted by a plainclothes officer who informs him of a hostage situation with 2 officers down. “It never ends.” his Captain replies. Vision responds that it did “for one nameless old lady” and that they owe her more than an unmarked grave, as he phases through the window.
Vision visits Ben Urich at the Daily Bugle. Ben asks for a light and Vision uses his eye beams to ignite Ben’s cigarette. Momentarily taken aback, Urich quickly regains his composure. He thinks of someone who might know the truth about Rosie. “Her name’s Gerty.”  Vision asks where he can find her and Urich replies that he can’t, without help. They take a taxi to Grand Central Station.
Vision wonders why Urich’s brought them there. He replies that she’s got no place else. Urich spots a policeman he knows. Officer Ryan wonders what Urich is up to with such “high-powered” company. “Pursuit of the all-mighty story, Ryan.” he replies and asks if he’s seen Gerty. Ryan tells him he had to “run ‘er outta here” a little while ago and says “She probably hit the rails.”  Vision asks Urich what Ryan meant. “The subway. Some of the cars are even heated.”  Urich informs him.
They fail to notice they are being followed by the Skid-Row Slasher as they search the platforms. Urich spots Gerty and tells her that waiting for a train could take forever. She tells him she’s got nothin’ but time. He asks if she’s heard about Rosie, if she knows Rosie’s story, what Rosie’s real name was. Gerty says “Rosie’s all I ever knew. Just plain Rosie.”  Urich tells her to take care and she says she’ll do her best. Vision asks, “What now, Ben?” as they climb the steps up from the platform and Urich says, “I wish I knew. Looks like we’ve reached a dead end.”
Gerty’s scream stops them short and they dash back to spot her trying to defend herself from the Slasher. Urich shouts “It’s him!  The Slasher!” and the Slasher jumps off the platform, onto the rails, and runs into the subway tunnel. Urich asks if Gerty’s OK and she retorts furiously, “He tried to cut me!  Little weasel-eyed punk tried to cut me!”
The Slasher glances behind and spots the Vision flying after him. He turns back only to discover the train bearing down on him. The screech of breaks fills the air but it’s too late and the Slasher is hit by the train. The Vision can only phase and allow the train to pass through him.
Vision & Urich visit the unmarked grave where Rosie is buried. Ben says sadly that at least the Slasher won’t kill again, won’t claim another nameless victim. Vision responds, “She had a name, Ben. The only one that ever really mattered,” and uses his eye beams to engrave “Rosie” on the headstone and the image of a rose below it. They leave a bundle of roses on the grave.


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

[Assistant]
The Battle of PS87! (first story)<br> One Life to Die, part II: Death in the Dark Woods (second story)
first story:
‘Okay, Jack - stay cool. The last bell rang a long time ago and everyone is already home. The door is just ahead…a few more steps and you’re home free’ Jack Power thinks to himself as he walks nervously down a corridor at school, making his way towards a door. Suddenly, a voice shouts ‘Lookit! It’s our old pal, Jackie-Boy!’, and Jack looks scared, as three bullies approach him.
‘Hey, stupid - didja think you was gonna sneak outta here without saying goodbye to yer buds?’ a larger kid with orange hair asks. ‘Oh, heck! Not again!’ Jack tells himself as he is cornered by the boys. ‘Yeah, you mighta hurt our feelings, moron!’ a boy in a blue jacket declares. The boy with the orange hair grabs Jack’s books from his hands, while Jack asks them to cut it out. ‘What did I ever do to you?’ he enquires. ‘Oh, I dunno, squirt - maybe it’s your bad attitude…of course, it could be your dumb face!’ the boy with orange hair replies as he throws Jack’s books in the air, and the other two boys grab his arms.
‘Stop it, you jerks!’ Jack shouts, angrily. ‘Maybe it’s just that you’re a skinny, sawed-off little twerp!’ the boy with orange hair laughs, while Jack struggles to break free, ‘Leggo, or I’ll -’ he begins, ‘You’ll what, bucket head - bust out crying?’ the orange-haired kid asks, when suddenly, an elderly man, the school janitor, approaches: ‘You kids! Knock off that tomfoolery and leave Jack be!’ he shouts. ‘Yo! It’s old Gus the janitor - we better scram before he swats us with his dust rag!’ the orange haired kid mocks. The kid with the blue jacket calls the orange-haired kid Vinnie and tells him that he cracks him up.
Jack wipes his face, while the kids run away. ‘Gol’danged smart-mouthed punks!’ Gus mutters, before turning to Jack and asking him if he is okay. ‘Sure, Gus - I’m just great!’ Jack replies as he leaves, slamming the door as he goes. Gus places an arm on a nearby staircase banister, and for some reason, the banister breaks. ‘Shoot, Gus - now look what you went and done. You‘re gonna have to replace that before morning!’ he tells himself.
Outside, Jack’s siblings - Alex, Julie and Katie - are waiting for him. ‘Why do you suppose Jack is late this time?’ Julie asks. ‘Let’s hope it’s not because Vinnie’s gang was picking on him again’ Alex replies, adding that Jack is real sensitive about that, so nobody should bring it up unless he does. ‘Here he comes - and he’s in a baaaad mood!’ Katie exclaims as Jack approaches them, kicking an empty soda can along the ground.
Alex, Julie and Jack walk along the sidewalk, while Katie skips alongside them and tells Jack that if any mean old bullies picked on her, she would use her Starstreak powers on them. ‘Katie! Ix-nay on the ullies-bay!’ Julie warns.
But Katie continues, ‘Before they knew what hit ‘em, I’d fly them to the tippy top of the Empire State Building - and leave them hanging there!’ Suddenly, Jack spins around and shakes his fist at his younger sister: ‘You dumb girl! What do you know about anything?’ he shouts. Alex tells Jack to take it easy, pointing out that Katie doesn’t understand the situation the same way they do. ‘Remember how Johnny Rival used to give me grief all the time? I knew it would be wrong to use my super-powers against an ordinary kid, Katie’ Alex tells his youngest sister, adding that it is not fair, as it would have blown Power Pack’s secret identities. ‘I still don’t get it, Alex. Those bullies are bigger and stronger than Jack, plus there’s three against one’ Katie points out, asking if that isn’t a kind of super power they have against Jack, she wants to know why it isn’t fair for Jack to use his powers on them.
Later that night, Jack is fast asleep…
In Jack’s dream:
‘Leave me alone you creeps, or else I’ll -’ Jack begins as Vinnie and the bullies toss him about . ‘You’ll what, bucket head? Bust our crying?’ Vinnie asks, only for Jack to break free from them, ‘Nahhh. But I might just bust out laughing!’ he exclaims, before going over a large truck, ‘Watch this, you lowlifes!’ he calls out. ‘Think you still want to mess with me, weasels?’ he asks as he holds the large truck up over his head. ‘Gosh, no, Jack - your gravity power must make you the strongest guy on Earth!’ Vinnie calls out. ‘I’m sorry I dissed you, man!’ the boy in the blue jacket shouts as they watch Jack hold the truck up.
‘And that’s not all I can do. I can negate the force of gravity on myself to “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”!’ Jack exclaims as he begins to hover over the three bullies. ‘If you guys don’t start showing me the proper respect, I might have to -’ Jack begins, when suddenly, he loses balance, something is wrong, his power isn’t working properly. ‘Yo, Vinne - catch!’ one of the bullies shouts as he grabs Jack and throws him to Vinnie. ‘Ha! Once an air-head, always an air-head!’ Vinnie replies as he grabs Jack. The bullies begin attacking Jack, and the one in the blue jacket boasts that he is going to kick a field goal with this “wac dude” - clear to the moon. The third bully begins to laugh, while Jack calls out for help from his mother and father.
Reality:
‘Holy!’ Jack thinks as he sits up in bed. ‘Swell…I can’t even beat those guys in my dreams…’ he tells himself as tears stream down his face.
Late the next afternoon, disguised as an adolescent male thanks to an image inducer, Warlock follows his teammate in the New Mutants, Illyana “Magik” Rasputin, past a school and thanks her for using her day off to show him around New York City. Noticing something is wrong with Illyana, he asks her why the sight of small humans at play causes her much sadness. ‘It’s nothing really, Warlock. I was just thinking…’ Magik begins, looking into the school playground, she explains that if it wasn’t for what Belasco did to her, she might still be at her proper age, playing with these kids, instead of at a school for “special children” - mutants. ‘Then self-friend Magik would never have met Warlock  - and self would have been very sad’ Warlock smiles.
Hanging around by the school gate, Jack Power walks past Magik and Warlock, ‘Take it easy…’ he thinks to himself, while Magik tells Warlock not to worry, as she is just envying these kids and their carefree existences.
‘Soon the bell will ring and you can head for home - having made it safely through another day’ Jack thinks to himself. Suddenly, the bell does ring, and Jack sees Vinnie and the other bullies by the door. ‘Gotta hide - until they leave!’ Jack decides, and he runs along the side of the school building, eventually coming to a doorway to a cellar. He recognizes a symbol on the door from his history book - a nuclear symbol, meaning this is a fallout shelter. Jack remembers that these were built back in the 50’s when the threat of the atomic bomb panicked the country. ‘Nobody’d ever find me in here!’ he decides.
Jack uses his degravitizing power to manipulate the lock, and forces the door open. He creeps inside, and finding a torch, turns it on. He examines his surroundings and going by all the junk inside, decides that Gus the janitor must use it. He sits down on a box, flashlight shining in his face, Jack realizes that it is very damp and cruddy in here, but decides that it is good enough for a dumb coward like him, unaware that, up above the cellar is the gymnasium, which Magik and Warlock enter.
‘Ohhh, this place is like New Mutant Danger Room, yes?’ Warlock enquires. ‘Human children are sent here to practice life preservation skills in the face of perilous hazards?’ the alien remarks. ‘Well, not exactly…this is the place where children play games and have fun’ Illyana explains.
Outside, Alex, Julie and Katie are waiting for Jack. ‘All the kids have left and still no sign of Jack…’ Julie points out, asking Alex what he thinks happened to their brother. ‘I bet he depravities old Vinnie, Zack and Hughie up to the top of the Empire State Building like I told him to!’ Katie exclaims. ‘I hope not, Katie…’ Alex replies.
Back in the gymnasium, Warlock is having fun bouncing a basketball around, while Illyana thinks to herself that there hasn’t been a lot of time for fun and games since she joined the New Mutants. ‘Observe, self-friend Illyana! Self is engaged in typical Earth-child fun-type activity!’ Warlock exclaims. ‘Swish! Two points!’ he shouts as he dunks the ball through the hoop. Magik wonders what it would be like to be seven years old again, with a soul untainted by Belasco’s instruction in the dark sorcerous arts.
A young girl enters the gymnasium, dressed remarkably like Illyana. ‘Self-friend Illyana - a visitor has arrived!’ Warlock calls out as he spins the ball on his finger. ‘Greetings, diminutive Earth-female! Self’s human guise is meant to forestall causing alarm in your kind - effective, is it not?’ Warlock smiles.
Illyana looks down at the girl and tells her that she is sorry about her friend, explaining that he is not from around here. ‘He’s goofy’ the little girl replies, before remarking ‘And you’re sad’. She asks why that is, while Magik suddenly realizes that the girl standing before her is herself, at seven, yet somehow marked by the sorcerous power she holds in check within her now. ‘You only traded away your worthless innocence for a deliciously heady taste - of arcane power!’ the little girl declares. Raising her hands, she causes the gymnasium to explode.
‘The gym - it just exploded!’ Julie shouts as she shifts to her cloud-like Molecula form. ‘Costumes on!’ Alex orders as he and Katie think-up their costumes, and Katie takes to the air as Starstreak, while Alex, as Destroyer, rushes long after them. ‘We’d better get over there and see if anyone is hurt!’ Molecula declares.
At the remains of the gymnasium, the little girl hovers over Magik, who barely had time to raise a sorcerous defense to keep herself and Warlock from getting splattered. ‘Who are you?’ Magik calls out to the little girl, who suddenly begins to transform, while telling Magik that she might remember her malevolent mistress - the Enchantress. The little girl is gone, replaced by a hideous pig-wolf-like creature. The Asgardian creature lunges forward, announcing that the Enchantress sent her along as a reminder of the kind of power that could have been Illyana’s, if only she accepted her offer to succumb to her own dark side and become her companion and pupil. ‘More likely her slave, you mean!’ Illyana replies, before summoning her Soulsword and eldritch armor from Limbo with the hope of taking the demon out fast, before he does any more damage.
From out of the smoke and dust of the collapsed building, Warlock sees Power Pack rushing forward and alerts Illyana to more self-friends having arrived to aid the conflict. ‘It’s self-friend Starstreak, self-friend Molecula, self-friend Destroyer -’ Warlock begins, while Illyana raises the Soulsword to the demon who leaps towards her, and tells him to save the introductions for after she disposes of the pug-ugly. ‘By “pug-ugly”, I suppose you’re referring to me, you repulsive insect?’ the demon retorts, while releasing a blast of energy down to the ground, knocking Magik aside. ‘Everyone scatter!’ Molecula calls out, while Alex is knocked backwards by another burst of energy. Illyana supposes that the demon means to prevent them from mounting an attack by throwing the bolts of mystic energy around.
Meanwhile, outside the school playground, police officers have arrived and are keeping the curious onlookers at bay. ‘Hey, Freddie! Come and look! The gym blew up and everything!’ a boy screeches at the top of his lungs. Another boy tells him to forget it, though, as there is so much smoke and stuff that you can’t see anything. Gus the janitor crosses the police barricade, he introduces himself to one of the officers and explains that he thought he saw some kinds in there. ‘Our orders are to leave this up to those super-guys until our captain arrives’ one of the officers replies. ‘But…but the kids!’ Gus exclaims, pointing at the smoke-covered war zone. ‘Sorry, pops’ the officer replies.
This causes Gus to crush the toolkit he was holding with his bare hands, and thinks to himself that he is gonna do it, gonna go in there and save the kids. But as he moves towards the demolished gym, but the police officers promptly stop him. ‘Where you going, grampa?’ one of them asks, pulling Gus back. ‘Gee, lookit ol’Gus!’ one of the boys shouts. ‘There’s nothing an old geezer like you can do in there’ the police officer tells a dejected Gus, who hangs his head and holds his crumpled tool kit. ‘Yessir officer’ Gus whispers, which causes the kids and others to begin laughing.
At that moment, Warlock shifts his alien body into a large force field to protect Magik, Alex and Julie from another energy blast. Magik asks Warlock how he is holding up, to which Warlock replies that the impact of occult energy on his technological form is producing much tickling with his circuitry. The demon continues to hover overhead and throws more energy bolts, while asking ‘Why do you not cower in fear like your brethren, foolish little gnat?’ to Katie, who is darting about around the demon, while thinking to herself that it is because she is supposed to be testing a theory of Alex’s - not that she will reveal that to the Asgardian demon.
‘How was that, Destroyer?’ Katie asks her brother as she flies back down to the others, whom Warlock is now shielding in the form of a semi-circle. ‘Just fine, Starstreak. It confirms what I thought I noticed earlier’ Alex begins, explaining that the debris kicked up by the demon’s blasts is somehow being deflected before it strikes back at the demon. Magik suggests that the next test should involve the transmission of energy fields, and Warlock announces that he is ready to proceed as ordered. ‘Swell’ Magik replies, before asking Destroyer if he is ready. Destroyer is crouching down and explains that he will be, as soon as he disintegrates some rubble in order to “power up”. He does so, and Warlock extends his body, wrapping a hand around Destroyer, they move towards the Asgardian creature.
‘Pardon me, sir, but self-friend Illyana informs self that your mistress chooses to attire herself in “army boots”. Is that now the preferred mode of dress in Asgard?’ Warlock enquires. The creature just growls in response as it hovers mid-air, while Destroyer releases a power ball towards it - but Alex’s power is deflected as well. He quickly tells Warlock to retreat as fast as he can, while the demon shouts ‘You humans try my patience’ and demands that the self-styled sorceress meets him in final battle. Warlock drops down and returns Alex to the others, and the young hero explains that they were correct - the ogre is protected by some kind of invisible barrier. Katie asks what that means, and Magik tells her that the creature is composed entirely of magical elements, that he is shielded no to much from us as from his coming into contact with earthly elements which would destroy him.
‘You mean he’s even shielded from contact with the air itself?’ Julie enquires. ‘That’s correct’ Magik tells her, explaining that if she can remove the protective envelope so that air reaches him, and if Power Pack were able to hit him with the three other earthly elements - water, fire and earth - all at once… ‘Here’s the plan’ she begins.
Shortly, ‘At last you emerge from hiding behind the enterprises of mere mortals!’ the ogre exclaims as he drops down towards Magik, adding that he does not know what qualities the Enchantress ever saw in her. ‘Perhaps it was a similar penchant for guile, monster!’ Illyana thinks to herself as she raises her Soulsword, giving the signal. The eyes of the Asgardian creature are riveted on Magik, all across the field of battle, the others prepare for their part in the monster’s undoing. Warlock dives into a pile of dirt, Alex disintegrates some rubble, and Katie and Julie prepare a fire hydrant. ‘I’ve a message for your mistress, construct! Tell her I much prefer the friendship of “mere mortals” - to that of a living cur such as herself!’ Illyana shouts as she fires energy from her Soulsword, aimed directly at the force field, which begins to shatter.
Magik is pleased with her plan, ‘Julie - now!’ she calls out, and Julie shifts her form into that of her eight foot size to make opening the broken water pipe easy - water begins to gush from it, and she tells her sister to get going. Star streak “catches” the water in her slipstream, and flies towards the creature. ‘Come on, Warlock!’ Katie exclaims on her way, and in the form of a bulldozer, Warlock pushes dirt towards the creature, who screams as the air begins to burn it. ‘How about a nice cold bath, you big stinker!’ Katie shouts. ‘Here’s mud in your eye, self-enemy demon!’ Warlock declares as he tips the dirty on to the confused demon. ‘Alex! Don’t goof up!’ Katie calls out to her brother, as he steps forward and releases the final element to their earthly “stew”, as a fiery power ball explodes against the demon. An instant later, the Enchantress’ demon vanishes. ‘We did it! He’s gone!’ someone exclaims.
Down blow the ruins of the gymnasium, however, the basement begins to collapse. ‘Holy! Maybe that old A-bomb finally went off!’ Jack thinks to himself, wondering if Vinnie and his gang got blown to bits. ‘And I’m “Jack Power: Last Boy on Earth”!’ he decides, but realizes that he would never be that lucky.
Outside, Warlock has transformed himself into a rocking horse, which Katie is riding, while Magik thanks Alex and Julie for their help. ‘We couldn’t have beaten that creature without you’ she tells them. Alex tells Magik that she is welcome, and asks her to say hi to Sam, Dani, Rahne and the rest of the New Mutants. ‘Will do’ Magik replies, before pointing out that it is time that she and Warlock headed home. Katie says goodbye to Warlock and asks him to come back and play with her sometime. ‘Okey-dokey’ Warlock replies as he transforms himself into a helicopter, announcing that he likes human school, and wishes he could go have fun like that every day. ‘Oh, brother!’ Illyana smiles as they fly off.
A moment later, Jack emerges from the rubble. ‘You guys - what happened? Where’s the gym?’ he asks his siblings. An excited Katie tells Jack that he missed the big fight between the “scary monster, the magic lady and the silly mister pretend guy”. ‘I knew it - my sister has bean-dip for brains!’ Jack thinks to himself as his clothes convert into his team costume. Alex informs Jack that they will tell him later, and suggests that they get going, as the smoke is clearing, and he doesn’t want any of the onlookers to recognize them. Julie creates some additional mist to cover their departure.
And so, ‘ - and now you know everything that happened to us!’ Julie tells her brother as she flies behind them in her Molecula form, while Katie carries her brothers across the sky. ‘Yeah. What we want to know is what you were doing in that hole in the ground’ Alex tells Jack. ‘I bet I know!’ Katie exclaims as they young heroes drop down into an alleyway near their home. ‘First Jack was too scared to use his powers on the bullies - then he was too scared to use ‘em on the monster - so he ran off an hid!’ Katie declares, smiling. Jack tells her to shut up, shaking his fist he shouts ‘You better just shut up!’, before walking away from his siblings. ‘Way to go, dunderhead’ Julie mutters, while Alex tells Katie that she had best apologize to Jack.
That night, despite Katie’s apology, it is a restless Jack that arises from his bed. He gets dressed and slips out without waking Alex up. Before long, Jack is standing alone in the schoolyard of PS87. Rubble is strewn all around, and he wonders if Katie is right, if he is just a stupid chicken. Suddenly, he notices a light coming from a hole in the ground that leads don into the basement. ‘I heard ya up there - who is it!’ Gus calls out. Jack climbs down the hole, ‘It’s just me, Gus’ replies, while asking the elderly man what he is doing. Gus greets Jack and replies that he is just thinking. ‘This is where I do all my best thinking’ he explains.
Gus tells Jack that a body can do a powerful, lot of thinking alone in here, of course that was until the big ruckus today. ‘I guess that’s why you’re here, isn’t it? Curious about the big ruckus this afternoon’ Gus remarks as they sit down. ‘Or maybe you just come here to do some thinking about the personal ruckus you been caught p in lately’ Gus suggests, adding that when he was a young boy, like Jack, everything seemed so important.
Flashback illustrations, narrated by Gus:
When World War I came along, Gus lied about his age and joined right up - deciding that nobody would call Hus Mustin a coward. He was proud to serve his country, too. He had just about settled into soldiering when, in the midst of his first battle, the enemy sprung some sort of experimental gas warfare onto them and he landed smack in an army hospital. Eventually, he was discharged, and after some months of bed rest, Gus began to suspect that the gas had a peculiar effect on him - he tossed the tractor over the barn - and his father told him that he might be the strongest fella in the whole world, but he was afraid that if people found out, he would be locked up, so Gus stayed on the farm, doing chores like his father told him.
Gus’s father eventually passed on, and Gus moved to the big city, wondering what to do with his gift, when World War II broke out, and suddenly there was all kinds of folks in shiny suits using gifts like his to help people. He decided that was what he wanted to do, after watching a newsreel of some of those folk - Captain America, Namor and the Human Torch. He stayed up all night to sew himself a fancy suit, but he was so fired up that he ran the scissors through his hand and it took 48 stitches at the hospital to stop the bleeding. It was then that he realized that having the gift of strength alone wasn’t good enough in a profession where a man could get killed once the bullets started flying. So, Gus ended up taking an ordinary job and got married, but down through the years, it kept eating at him - why was he given this gift in the first place if he wasn’t meant to use it?
Eventually, Gus decided to share his secret with the smartest woman he knew, and asked his wife, Opal for advice. But by demonstrating his strength, he scared his wife so much that it was days before she would talk to him again, and she made Gus swear on the Good Book that he would never do any such thing again.
Present:
Gus tells Jack that Opal was a fine woman, and that he kept his promise to her for as long as she lived. ‘But now I’m just an old man still wondering what good it is to have a gift like mine if you can’t sue it when you want to. Like this after noon, I - eh?’ Gus begins, as suddenly, the ceiling begins to collapse. ‘Get down, boy - the whole blamed ceiling is coming down!’ Gus shouts at Jack, who dives to the ground. A large slab of concrete lands on Gus’s back, but he manages to hold it up, telling Jack to stay low. Dust fills up the room. Jack thinks to himself ‘Hang on, Gus! Counterweight’s gravity power is on the way’ as he starts to use his power to lighten the load. Gus announces that he seems to be having trouble lifting it off, and coughs as the dust enters his lungs. ‘I guess I’m not as all-fired strong as I used to be. Still, I can’t hold this thing up all night’ he decides, announcing that on the count of three, he will heave-ho it off him.
‘Anytime you’re ready, Gus - I’m disintegrating the slab’ Jack thinks to himself, as he continues to use his power on the slab of concrete, which Gus suddenly heaves backwards. ‘Bu juniper! I did it! We’re safe!’ Gus exclaims as the slab hit’s the ground. Jack barely manages to get back to the ground before Gus notices that he is gone, and as Gus pulls Jack from the rubble to the safety of the open space outside, Jack thanks Gus. ‘I should be thanking you, son! At last I know why I was given my gift all those years ago - it was so I could save your life this very night!’ Gus exclaims. Gus announces that he can live the rest of his days content. ‘Because knowing what you’re capable of, knowing that you’re special, even if no one else realizes it, is a pretty satisfying thing’ he declares. ‘He’s right’ Jack thinks to himself, before promising Gus not to tell his secret to anyone. Gus thanks Jack, before telling him they need to get him home.
The next day, after school, Jack rushes over to his waiting siblings, and Katie tells him that today a lunch, Joey Chiodo laughed and shot milk out of his nose. ‘That’s great, Katie, I -’ Jack begins, before Hugh, Vinnie and Zack approach him. ‘Hey, shrimpy Jack - I bet I can make blood shoot out of your nose!’ Vinnie calls out. ‘I’m sick of this’ Jack mutters, before telling Vinnie that if he wants to fight, then come on. ‘Jack?’ Alex calls out quietly. ‘Maybe if I’m quick’ Jack thinks to himself, and he lands a punch right in Vinnie’s fae. ‘One lucky punch is all you get, pygmy!’ Vinnie snaps back. ‘Take that! And that! And this!’ he adds, as he punches Jack, causing him to fall to the ground.
‘Yay, Vinnie! You handed that dude a righteous defeat!’ one of Vinnie’s friends calls out. Jack’s siblings rush over to him, and Alex congratulates his brother for standing up to the bullies. ‘We’re very proud of you’ Julie adds. But Jack asks them what they are talking about, pointing out that he lost. ‘Maybe so, but you did it as Jack Power, not Counterweight!’ Julie explains. ‘You may not be ready to realize it yet, but that’s a victory for you’ she adds. ‘Hey, that’s right…’ Jack exclaims as they start to walk home. ‘You coming, Katie?’ Julie calls out to her younger sister, who is standing with her hands on her hips, poking her tongue out at Vinnie and the bullies, warning them that when she gets big, they are dead meat. ‘I’m the only one allowed to pick on my dumb brother!’ Katie thinks to herself.
Vinnie and his cronies continue on past one of the school buildings, with one the bullies asking Vinnie who they are going to pick on next. ‘How about that new kid - all the time reading books and drawing pictures -’ Vinnie suggests, when suddenly, the trio are absolutely drenched by water that seemingly falls from nowhere. But, up above, ‘Look out below!’ Gus calls out as he holds up the now empty large bucket. ‘Oh, hi, young fellers. Nice day if it don’t rain’ Gus calls out, before slamming the window closed. Sopping, the boys are shocked. ‘Eeyeew - dirty mop water!’ one of them exclaims. ‘Ick’ Vinnie complains. ‘Totally disgusto, man!’.
second story:
Wolverine a.k.a. Logan finds himself caged, in a room where several humans are also in cages. A mad-scientist type stands before him with some strange creatures at his side. Logan thinks to himself that in his time with the X-Men he has seen a lot of looney-tunes situation - Brood aliens, evil mutants, instant goddesses, vampires - but decides that this takes the cake, as the doctor - LeSeig, does recombinant surgery, and he is wanting to graft animal parts on to the four captive travelers. ‘They are definitely not happy campers’ Wolverine decides, while knowing that he is very important to LeSeig’s plans - as Wolverine is the guinea pig. ‘Once I’ve dissected the human Wolverine, I’ll know the secrets for combining human and animals!’ LeSeig boasts.
‘Human Wolverine? Erika, do you know who that looks just like? That X- -’ The older man remarks to the older woman in one of the cages. Erika calls him Ritchie and tells him to shush. ‘Don’t volunteer any more information!’ she exclaims. The younger man addresses Ritchie as his father and tells him that the bars may look slim, but that they are solid. ‘We’re corralled here - but good!’ he declares, while the younger woman in the same cage tells everyone to look at the Wolverine-man, as he is collapsing, so he must be sick.
Wolverine recalls that he was brought into LeSeig’s lab unconscious from some toxic injection that his hirelings had slipped him, so decides that the least he can do is act more helpless than he is. At least, it seems like it is worth a try. ‘My prize falls. Can I have overdosed him?’ the doctor remarks, while deciding that an examination is in order. He calls out to his associates, one resembling a moose, the other… a large walking reptile, pink with a goofy expression. Calling them Fisher and Thidwick, he tells them that Wolverine is too weak to be a threat, and they need to bring him into the examination chamber. ‘Playing dead sure beats being dead’ Wolverine tells himself, waiting as the two jigsaw creatures shamble into the cage, then he pops his claws, spins around and lets them have it, knocking them aside with ease.
Wolverine knows that the creatures aren’t to blame for what their master foes, though, so he just scratches them enough to keep them at bay, but wonders whether Dr LeSeig senses he is holding back, since the doctor is not spooked by the sudden attack at all. In fact, LeSeig grins and boasts that he controls all the creatures here in his cavern. ‘Your rebellion is a petty matter’ he exclaims. ‘This guy’s been sniffing loco weed!’ the young male prisoner mutters, while the young woman mutters that she knew they should have gone to Paris. Wolverine realizes that he should have guessed that any place where monsters regularly run wild would have built in security - but he didn’t figure on how built-in it would be: ‘What the -?’ he calls out as a tube falls from above and traps him inside.
‘In this chamber, my fine, feral friend, I can raise these isolation booths anywhere - with just the press of an encoded button’ LeSeig explains, adding that he can subdue any recalcitrant creature with a selection of special gasses - in Wolverine’s case, the toxin with which stealth, incorporated felled him, would seem the best choice. Wolverine tries to cover his mouth as the gas fills the tube. The civilians look on in shock. ‘This is insane - some hallucinatory nightmare! We’ll offer you anything to let us go!’ Erika calls out. Ritchie reveals that they run the Pittsburgh Standard, and tells LeSeig that if he wants recognition for his discoveries, they will see he gets it. LeSeig ignores them, and orders that Wolverine be brought to the operating theater.
‘Ah don’t think he’s buying it, Dad. Ah don’t think he’s even hearing you!’ the young man calls out. The young woman with him addresses him as Johnny, and tells him that he has to try. ‘We can’t just give up’ she adds. LeSeig tells Thidwick and Fisher to strap him down, and exclaims that discovering his psychological intricacies may take many hours, so they can’t count on his sleeping through it all. ‘I’ll need extra anesthetic, oh yes, yes!’ LeSeig exclaims excitedly. Wolverine decides that it is funny what you think of at times - realizing LeSeig seems so intent on learning his body’s patterns, that he misses a more obvious pattern, or, perhaps, he never considers that Wolverine will try the same trick twice.
Indeed, Wolverine leaps up out of the arms of the strange creatures, and just in case they won’t believe that his healing factor resists a second exposure to the demented doctor’s toxin, Wolverine flashes his adamantium claws to convince them that he is back on the offensive. ‘Fooled me again. I acted conked so much, you’re going to start thinking I’m the human possum!’ Wolverine exclaims. ‘Drop the scalpel - that’s a good madman’ Wolverine exclaims as LeSeig moves backwards, shouting ‘Shamming again? I’ll not brook such dissembling’ and boasts that he has ways of controlling unscientific behavior.
LeSeig begins to run, fast, too, Wolverine notes, as he rushes after him, while Johnny calls out ’Hey! Hey you! Don’t just race away - let us out of these cages first!’, but doesn’t suppose Wolverine heard him, and mutters to his family that now they are stuck. But, Wolverine does indeed hear him, only he decides that with all the monsters rambling through this high-tech house of horrors, the “Pittsburgh Family Robinson” will be safer in their cages until he does what he has to do. The kind of thing he does best. ‘I’m coming for you, Doc’ Wolverine snarls, following LeSeig up a flight of stairs to a heave door. Wolverine decides that this place is like the Castle of Frankenstein. Wolverine wonders what sort of workman would come here and do his housing renovations, and as he enters the other room, decides that it is the weirdest yet, as inside it looks like a hanging bridge, with fences each side, and the doctor is halfway across.
Wolverine cannot describe the sounds or scents in the room, before he sees that the mad doctor isn’t alone - there are more of his creatures on the bridge, some of them real winners. The doctor holds a torch up, filling the room with light, and boasts that this chamber has his most extreme recombinants, and that they will subdue Wolverine in a trice. If Wolverine was sure what a “trice” was, he would surely have a snappy reply, so, as it is, he plays it strong and silent. Wolverine hears more screams, while LeSeig sends two of his creatures - Kukula and Richard - to attack. Wolverine notes that they don’t look as docile as the ones he encountered earlier, and as a large blue, furry creature with wings on its head attacks, Wolverine knocks it back with ease. A purple dragon-like one falls over, too, and the fence on the bridge breaks in the process.
There are more screams, and Wolverine looks over the electrified fence, seeing something he doesn’t want to - the mad doctor’s crowning achievements, in their own native habitat. ‘The ugliest ones, too’ Logan thinks to himself, He is shocked as the strange, bizarre creatures turn on the purple one who fell in, and start eating it. Wolverine recalls how LeSeig said that these extreme recombinants were insane and doomed to die in extreme pain. He supposes that the one who fell into the pit has been let of lightly. He forces his eyes away, and sees that LeSeig has found a weapon, some sort of big blaster. ‘Resign yourself, creature! Either you bend to my will, or you must die!’ LeSeig shouts. ‘I gotta hand it to him. Though - he never even twirled his mustache’ Wolverine thinks to himself, before LeSeig fires the weapon, and three jab-bombers screech towards Wolverine. He does a fast cartwheel, but that maneuver has an instant drawback - he crashes into the fence, on his way to become tonight’s entrée.
‘You’re not worth your keep, creature’ LeSeig calls out, while Wolverine clings to the edge of the bridge. LeSeig adds that he cannot afford to lose any more of his experiments, and declares that Wolverine must die. Some creatures below try and reach out for Wolverine, who keeps hanging on, he is not about to let go, as he knows what is waiting below. LeSeig holds up a large syringe which he tries to stick into Wolverine. ‘Hold still, you, I -’ LeSeig calls out, before screaming, as he loses his balance and falls through the broken fence, towards the creatures below, who roar, and then begin to chomp down on him. Wolverine tries hard not to look, and harder not to listen, as that is no way for anyone to die. He tells himself that those creatures tortured appetites are the product of the doctor’s mistreatment of them.
All Wolverine wants to do is get away from this charnel house, the distorted, destroyed creatures, condemned to a short life of horror and pain. He has a handle on the situation, except for two things - that the recombinant animals might agree with him, and that they might be smart enough to do something about it. As Wolverine leaves the chamber, indeed, one of the creatures slams its paw against a panel with the note: “Danger. Fail-safe toxic gas jets”, and the slamming of the paw against the panel activates the jets - and toxic gas starts to fill the chamber.
The next act of business for Wolverine is freeing the campers. He finds the electronic circuit which deactivates the cages, and Wolverine jokingly tells them that he hopes they return to this little theme park. ‘Oh, I can’t believe this! Did you save us? What went on here?’ Andy exclaims as Johnny helps her out of the cage, suggesting that it might be best if they didn’t ask any questions. Andy declares that she thinks they should be told what is going on, to which Wolverine tells her that if he was her, he would want to forget all about what went on here. ‘My advice is for you to pack up and return to the big city’ he adds. Ritchie announces that he doesn’t think they can just forget about what happened here. ‘That doctor may have been inside, but his techniques can be used for the good of mankind’ he explains.
Erika states that with their connections on the Pittsburgh Standard, they will be able to put this information in the right hands, while Johnny turns to Wolverine and asks ‘What about you, man - and that doctor? Where is he?’ Wolverine explains that the doctor got “swallowed up with his work”, while Andy tells him that they are so happy he rescued us. ‘We knew you weren’t like those creatures of his - despite your claws. We knew you were just as human as us!’ she exclaims. Wolverine heads for the exit, and the humans watch him as he calls back ‘Lad…you don’t know how wrong you are’.


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

[Assistant]
Second Story: Hometown!
2nd story:Leonia, New Jersey, as yet ungraced by dawn.The soft silver glow of moonlight spills across a gabled roof, and slips into a silent bed chamber, where sits a man gazing longingly, lovingly at his sleeping wife. A man? Well, yes, perhaps. And perhaps no. A parody of a man, say those who hate and fear him. Made in the image of man, his friends reply... a Vision of the best mankind is capable of becoming, his beloved wife would respond. His wife.
The Vision gets up from the seat he rests in and walks over to the bed where Wanda Maximoff a.k.a. the Scarlet Witch lies still. How he loves her, how he loves, and is loved by her. How, he wonders, did he come by such happiness?
The Vision goes over to an open window and remembers that he was created, after all, a sleepless synthezoid, aspiring to the joys of being human begins, but ever feeling set apart. It was Wanda who made him realize that an artificial man had as much right to happiness as any man or woman. Thinking of the light the Scarlet Witch brought into his android life, the Vision fails to note another light as it streaks across the starry sky – and settles silently and unseen, to Earth on the outskirts of Leonia. The orb like vessel suddenly opens, and red eyes glow from inside it, as large tentacles start to spill out, startling a hare which rushes for safety.
It is hard to say when day actually breaks over Leonia, for the entire town is swathed in a thick blanket of impenetrable fog. Despite the mist that has settled over this quiet community like a shroud, life in Leonia goes on. A paperboy pulls up outside the Vision and Wanda's home, delivering the “Daily Bugle”. The boy tosses it towards their front door, where the Vision stands – and phases his hand through the door to catch the newspaper, startling the now wide-eyed boy, who quickly speeds away on his bicycle.
The Vision walks into the kitchen, where Wanda sits at a table with an elderly woman. Wanda pours some tea and asks the Vision if he got the morning paper. The Vision replies that he did, but he fears that the sight of him gave their newsboy something of a fright. 'But perhaps it was merely the fog which made him frightened' the Vision suggests as he puts his hands on Wanda's shoulders. 'Fog?' Wanda asks, looking up at her husband. The elderly woman  raises her cup of tea and announces that it is positively beastly outside this morning. 'One can't see one's hand before one's face' she adds.
Wanda addresses the woman as Mrs Childers and tells her that she admires her for venturing forth to visit them. 'Well, the ladies did ask me to speak to you – about your and your husband's plans. What I mean is, how long do you intend to stay... in our town?' the old woman asks. 'Your town? Your town?' Wanda scowls. Spinning around, she declares that she and the Vision purchased this property with money they earned as Avengers. 'That makes Leonia our town as well as yours!' The Vision adds that they do intend to live here, as is their right.
Mrs Childers stands up and informs the Scarlet Witch and the Vision that they might as well be aware that their neighbors are not pleased. 'We have invested considerable sums in our homes...' she explains. 'And you're all afraid that having super-powered beings living next door will lower the property values?' Wanda asks, before informing the old woman that they are staying. 'And I'll thank you to get out of our house – NOW!'
The door slams behind Mrs Childers, 'Well!' she remarks to herself, admitting that she had hoped they would be more reasonable. Descending the back steps, Mrs Childers spies Wanda's garden, and approaches a blue flower. 'My, what a strange flower – but lovely!' she remarks, as something from a vine above the flower drips onto her hand. This flower had been but an ordinary rose – before the fog touched it!
Back inside, Wanda is sitting on an armchair, head in her hands. The Vision goes over to her and tells her that women like that are not worth the salt of her tears. 'Why can't they leave us in peace, Vision? Why can't they just forget that we're different... and accept us for what we are?' Wanda cries. She rests her head against the Vision's body and reminds him that all they wanted to do when they left the Avengers was lead normal lives among normal people. The Vision suggests that perhaps it is time the people of Leonia reassessed their definition of normalcy to encompass who and what they are. Wanda tells her husband that he is right. 'After all we've done for mankind, we've more than earned acceptance!' Wanda decides that Leonia should now prove itself worthy of acceptance by them. She picks up the telephone receiver and starts to dial, announcing that she will arrange with the mayor's office to let them state their position publicly, before the entire town assembly. The Vision concurs with Wanda's decision to challenge the townspeople's prejudices. He asks her why do so by telephone and delay, when they can confront them directly.
Becoming as intangible, as ethereal as his name implies, the Vision rises through the roof of his house expecting the familiar vista of Leonia to unfold before his android eyes, but sees instead: 'Insanity!' he cries. 'A world gone mad!' the Vision shouts as he sees the landscape around him transformed. Trees spiral skyward, the town of Leonia rests on a slant, and strange creatures appear before him. Hearing the disbelief in her husband's cry, and accustomed to responding swiftly to the unexpected, the Scarlet Witch dons her costume and joins the Vision on what had once been their front walk, but which is now a pathway to some sinister, unspeakable nightmare realm! 'What is it, Wanda? What has happened to our town?' the Vision asks. Wanda announces that she senses evil in the fog, evil which transforms all that it touches – even the townspeople themselves. The heroes see the townspeople lurching slowly through the town, stalking, strangely shuffling, twisted and tormented, transmutated into things no longer human by the alien vapor’s cold caress.
The Vision asks Wanda what foe or force is responsible for this terrible transformation, to which Wanda, still examining her surroundings, replies 'Magic, Vision! Magic black and baleful!' Wanda remarks that though she was born a mutant and not the “witch” that men named her, she has still received instruction enough in the arcane arts to recognize the supernatural at work.
At that moment, they see their elderly neighbor, Mrs Childers, transformed, walk amongst the other townspeople. They form a grim goblin procession, the transformed townspeople move like shadows through the fog. Their line of march causing them to converge on one of Leonia's houses of worship. 'Something draws our neighbors to the church. And, look, Wanda, where once was the altar – now is a yawning pit from which a blue light beams forth' the Vision points out as he and Wanda climb a wide tree branch that spirals up to the church like a path. They stare into the church and see the townspeople kneeling before the pit, and as the goblin creatures adulate the light, the unearthly horror that sits entrapped by it – a large snake like monster with large tentacles, sitting on the altar over the pit. 'That creature, Wanda...!' the Vision gasps as he and the Scarlet Witch drop into the church. 'It's not of Earth, my darling!' Wanda declares.
The creature and the townspeople turn to the former Avengers, and the creature announces that it is not of this physical realm, or any other, but that it has been drawn hither from its own mystical dimension. 'Because I sense that great magic resides here on this planet!' the creature adds. Watching as the townspeople lurch closer to them, the Vision asks Wanda if the creature means that her own magic-stimulating mutant powers attracted it. Wanda replies that if so, then the people of Leonia were right to fear their coming to dwell in this town! As one of the townspeople lunges at the Vision, the android phases and the man passes through him, as the Vision declares that he will not countenance the thought that they are responsible for the horror that unfolds here. More townspeople climb into the church, and Wanda tells the Vision that it doesn't matter if it was her mutant ability that drew the alien from his own mystic realm, because it is their only means of returning the creature to that dimension. 'And we must doo so without harming our neighbors who have been forced to -' Wanda begins, but suddenly, one of the transformed townspeople grabs her from behind.
For the entranced townspeople of Leonia have no such qualms, and Wanda is pulled to the ground by three of them. 'WANDA!' the Vision shouts, before knocking back a shirtless man with rams horns sticking out of his head. As he strikes out, he revels in the thought that the very creatures he is hurting are the same neighbors who would deny the right of him and his wife to reside in a home of their choosing. However, as soon as the idea occurs to him, the Vision is ashamed of it and himself. Not that there is time for regret, as the Vision cries out in pain as a surge of energy strikes him. The creature has slithered towards the Vision, who turns to it, and informs it that its spell hurt him. 'But it did not slay you, sd was intended! Had you been any other human...' the alien replies. 'Were I any other human, I would not be the Vision!' the android declares, as energy from the solar jewel implanted on his brow surges from his eyes as a searing beam of heat – but his science-spawned powers are, it seems, as nothing before the demon's magic, as the creature blasts the Vision once more, knocking the android to the feet of the Scarlet Witch, who has escaped her attackers.
Between the still form of her husband and the coiled evil of the extradimensional demon, the Scarlet Witch makes her stand. 'You have invaded the sanctity of my hometown, demon, and hurt the one I love! I swear. By all the power I possess – that for both acts you shall pay!' Wanda warns the creature.
Is it magic that rips the fabric of night... or mutant might so supernatural in substance that it is impossible – indeed, unimportant – to distinguish between it and the mystic arts? Wanda raises her hands, green energy surrounds them, and the demon is moved backwards: 'You gesture, and call forth the wind?' it asks. Wanda explains that her hex-spheres merely affect probabilities – the chance that the winds might rise – and sweep the demon from the Earth! The demon fights back with magic of its own, causing the fire from the church candelabras to flare forth, but Wanda's hex affects that probability, coiling the fire around the creature, striking it with its own attack. The cathedral reverberates with the soul-rending sound of the demon's screams! 'I burn! I burn!' it screams as it falls backwards, closer to the pit.
The Vision wakes to this scene, and sees the demon retreating into the pit. 'No, Vision! This demon who wished to claim the power of the pit, has instead been claimed by it!' Wanda declares. They stand over the pit and the Vision tells Wanda to explain. 'I... cannot. I can only speak of that which I... sense' Wanda replies. The Vision takes Wanda in his arms as she tells him that as she fought the demon, she somehow “knew” that it was the power flowing from the pit that drew the creature here to their dimension, and though the demon is gone, the pit – and its evil – remains. The demon's tentacles fade into the pit, while the Vision tells Wanda that she underestimates her hex power, and points out that even know the church changes back, and the pit itself fades and vanishes. 'Would that I could claim it was my doing, Vision' Wanda remarks, explaining that the pit fades away because it has consumed the mysticism on which it apparently feeds – today, the demon's magic. Wanda states that the demon will return when it hungers again, and she fears it will be drawn by the power... of the Scarlet Witch!