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[Assistant]
A Whole Lot of Paper
"Danger in Dallas," reads the caption on television. There is a major battle raging in the city. Colossus wrestles a couple of dinosaurs whilst Psylocke uses her telekinesis to subdue several Neanderthals. Wolverine slashes at the invading army and Rogue flies at them hard, using her strength to try to keep them at bay. Havok's powers light up the sky as he attacks a large creature that looms over him.
Their activities are reported live on television. Reports of dinosaurs in the city center were at first dismissed as hysteria, but they have now been confirmed by correspondents on location. The city appeared doomed and all hope lost until the outlaw X-Men appeared on the scene and unexpectedly came to the aid of beleaguered local authorities. The battle rages on but the TV station loses its live feed.
The news anchor apologizes to the viewers but assures them they will bring more footage as soon as it's available. She adds that the Texas Air National Guard has been grounded by the storm, and the governor's office is appealing for special assistance. Watching from his hospital bed is Phil Sheldon. By his side is the mutant, Maggie. She'd come in through the window like a ghost out of the past and sat with Phil. They barely said a word. Phil feels like if he asks her to talk, she'll fade away like a dream. Like he'd break a spell.
They listen as the new anchor adds that there is no word from the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four are reportedly overseas in Africa. Phil quips that he bets they're regretting making the Avengers move out to sea about now. Maggie is amazed that the X-Men are so brave. She was never that brave. She always just ran and hid. Phil tries to respond but she adds, calling him sir, that she will never forget that night. Phil asks her to call him by his name, and asks her to explain what happened.
(flashback)
Maggie explains that they were watching some old movie on TV. Jenny, Beth and herself were dancing when Doris asked them to turn it off and get ready for bed. The two girls headed off but, before Maggie left, a news bulletin broke into the movie. It was a debate between Professor Charles Xavier and Bolivar Trask, and the latter revealed his new Sentinels, each powerful enough to defeat any mutant. Maggie didn't understand everything he said, but she knew his robots could hurt mutants, and she was a mutant. She was afraid that if she stayed, the Sentinels would come and get her and anyone near her. Phil and his family had been so good to her; if they got hurt because she was there, she'd never forgive herself.
Maggie left and went to the airport, to where they loaded the freight. Security wasn't so tight back then and, if she stared real hard, she could sort of see where the guards were. She stowed away on a plane and then another, then another. Her eyes helped her see things that she didn't think they could and that helped. There was a boat, a bus and then she just walked. She tried to get away from people and away from everything. This is how she wound up in New Guinea. She just kept running until she was too exhausted to go any farther. The people that she found didn't know what she was. They didn't know what Americans were supposed to look like. She was lucky that they took her in and treated her like one of their own.
Even there, however, the outside world sometimes intruded. She tried to warn them and help them the way they'd helped her, like when Dr. Doom passed by. After a while they acquired a short-wave radio and she was able to monitor the news... arrange shipments of medical supplies and books. Her eyes helped too. She was able to use them like an X-Ray and diagnose problems that she found. From the books, they figured out that Maggie didn't look like other Americans, but they didn't care. They knew her and protected her, even as a squad of Sentinels flew overhead. They were good people and never scared of her like people in America are.
(present)
Phil says it sounds like she helped them as much as they helped her, and under some pretty
rough circumstances, too. Maggie replies that she didn't do all that much. Anyone could have done it. "But you're the one who did," replies Phil, "So don't kid me." Maggie admits that she liked teaching them to read. She still teaches the kids and reckons she's good at it. You can get so much out of books and newspapers. Phil agrees. He asks what brought her back. Maggie explains that he did. There was some news on the radio - "Famed photojournalist Phil Sheldon stricken with lung cancer."
Phil is surprised that the news made it all the way out there. Maggie adds that she got his book too by mail order from Cairns. She'd always meant to come back, but she was scared. The things she heard on the radio... But, after that she had to come back, to find him. To say thank you. She holds Phil's hand and Phil replies that he do anything worth all that. "You saved me," replies Maggie. "It was so brave." Phil doesn't believe so. He admits he was terrified the whole time that some crazed mob would torch their house for harboring a mutant... especially that night with the Sentinels.
(flashback)
There were riots, and when Phil got home and found out that Maggie had run away; he hit the streets. A neighbor named Sam Kemperer was out walking his dog, and he asked Phil if anything was wrong. Phil told him that a little girl, a friend of his daughter, had run off. Sam asked what she looked like. Phil tried to be tactful and told him she didn't have much of a nose or hair, and her eyes... He realized that he had to confide in Sam, which was the only brave thing he did. He explained that she was a mutant. Sam asked if she ate cats or would melt his feet. Phil told him she was no danger to anyone. She just looked different. Fortunately, Sam understood and helped him with the search, to no avail.
(present)
Phil tells Maggie that in the end, he went home, spending the evening writing a fluff piece for the Globe about the Fantastic Four wedding. "Oh yeah," he sighs, "I was brave as hell". Maggie says he could have turned her over to the authorities. Phil admits that he thought about it, seriously. "But you didn't do it," replies Maggie. Does he know what she did when things got bad in New Guinea... when she had to call someone important in the government, or when there was someone sick that she couldn't help? She asked herself, what would Phil Sheldon do? Whatever it was, she tried to do it. Phil asks if she ever thought about the X-Men or the Avengers. Maggie replies that it was just her. She was just one girl. She's no super hero, but she could aspire to be like Phil... to be that brave.
Phil tells Maggie that it's nice of her to say that, but he's not the best role model. As he speaks, a news announcement distracts Phil. The satellite feed's been restored and the station goes live to Dallas with NTN reporter, Marcia Hardesty. Phil can't believe it. Marcia?
(Dallas)
The news anchor asks her what it's like there. Marcia, standing in what looks like a war zone likens it to Beirut. Their reporter, Niles Crowley, was hit by flying debris and she wants to assure his family and colleagues that he's going to be all right. For now, they're stuck with her. She explains that police are currently working to secure the block. The X-Men have headed into the heart of the conflict. They're going to try and catch up with them. Maggie asks Phil if he knows her. Phil tells her that he trained Marcia and gave her a start; not that she wouldn't have gotten it anyway. She's busting with talent. "But you're the one who did, right?" replies Maggie. Phil guesses so. He asks if they can just watch for a little bit. He's tired.
They turn back to the television set where the news anchor reports that battle rages in Texas. Power is being restored to midtown Manhattan after a series of bizarre attacks. In Dallas, mutants are in the thick of it. She introduces a report by Derek Chiang.
Phil and Maggie watch images of a crazy spaceship careening through Manhattan, busting up buildings. It smashes the mooring mast off the top of the Empire State Building. Phil had seen that before back in the war when the Sub-Mariner did it. Derek reports that tonight, two mutants risked their lives to lower the mast safely to the streets: Cyclops and Marvel Girl, two members of the original X-Men who have just admitted to being secret members of X-Factor. The station shows camcorder footage shot by a frightened tourist of them in action. Reaction to this news is mixed. One gentleman is annoyed that X-Factor is supposed to hunt down mutants, and now they find out that they actually are mutants? A woman interviewed tells the reporter that her building was on fire. They put it out and saved them all. She saw it with her own eyes.
It just kept going.
As Phil rests whilst Maggie watches over him, he thinks about how, not so long ago, he would have been out there with them, but now it was others showing us what was happening. That was okay, he feels. He's done his part, and Marcia jumping in like an old pro? He's glad he got to see that. A fresh news feed comes in from Dallas, recorded earlier.
On screen, Wolverine talks to the camera. He says that the X-Men were outlaws, expendable, and nobody will care if they toss their lives away. More than a few will probably breathe a sigh of relief and some will cheer. If they gotta go either way... it might as well mean something. As the X-Men turn away from camera and depart, he adds that they may be back. They may not. Whatever.
The news anchor appears on screen. "Remember us," she says, the words of Wolverine taped just twenty minutes ago. As she speaks, she receives fresh information which is confirmed immediately. Her expression change to one of sadness as she reports that the X-Men are apparently dead in Dallas, Texas... vaporized while stopping an unknown force that had threatened the city, and perhaps the world. Maggie squeezes Phil's hand as he sighs. Right to the end. Whether anyone cheered them or not. Yeah, you were right about them, Maggie. He hears his wife outside the door asking the girls to shush.
She asks them not to mention the X-Men if their father is awake. He doesn't need the grief. Maggie asks Phil what she should do. Phil asks her to stay. They'll want to see her. Maggie becomes nervous, not knowing what she might say. Before she can decide, the family enters Phil's room and their faces light up when Phil asks them to look who's there. The girls rush to her and give her a great big hug. "It's you. It's really you!" beams Jenny. Beth remarks that she's as tall as Jen now, maybe taller. She asks where Maggie's been. Where did she go?
Phil tells them that Maggie's been off teaching people to read in New Guinea. Beth is amazed. She asks if that's like shrunken heads and bones in noses. Maggie hugs Doris and replies that it's not like that really. She has some good friends there. Doris can't get over how much she's grown. She gave them such a fright when she ran away. Maggie apologizes but she thought they might get hurt with her there. Like she told Mr. Sheldon, she didn't want that. She and her family mean the world to her. All of them saved her life.
As Phil sees a cop shaking hands with Cyclops on television, he switches it off. Enough of that for the night, he figures. He lies there watching the delight of others. The world could keep on going like it always did. The Marvels too. Right in front of him... there is his legacy. The pictures he's taken were important and they meant something, and maybe that would last a while. But, Jen and Bethie and Maggie and Marcia out there in Dallas... he and Doris didn't do so bad. She was always after him to slow down and spend more time with them. Just look at 'em. He closes his eyes, and that is that.
Moments later, Jenny looks around, looks at her father and screams, "Mom!"
(sometime later)
The funeral takes place in New York City. There is a large turnout for Phil, a man well loved by pretty much everyone. Doris shakes Rabbi Egan's hand and thanks him. He replies that he knows Phil wasn't much on ceremony, but... Doris tells him it was just right. J. Jonah Jameson and Robbie are next. Jonah tells her that Phil touched a lot of lives and brought dignity to everything he did. Robbie says that if there's anything she needs...
Ben Urich holds her hand and asks her to call if she needs anything. Iggy tells Doris that he and Phil go back a long way and Phil got him out of a lot of jams over the years. She thanks him politely for coming. Betty tells Doris that if she ever has trouble getting through, she can ask to speak to her. Peter Parker says that Phil set the bar so high, the rest of them just try and reach it. Doris thanks everyone for coming. It's very kind of them all.
Bennett Schwed, the publisher, asks if she has time for one more. He honestly doesn't know what to say. He can't help shake the feeling that if he hadnï¿½t pressured Phil to produce another book... Doris replies, "Bennett, no. Phil drew strength from working on that book." She adds that it gave him the will to go on longer than anyone thought he would. The book became a family project and it brought them all closer together. It's almost done. Jen steps in and tells him that she's going to finish it. She and Bethie, and Maggie before she goes back to New Guinea. They'll do it for daddy.
Bennett replies that it's very admirable, but it's a big undertaking. He isn't sure about it. Marcia Hardesty then appears and says that she is. She introduces herself as Phil's former assistant, and says that she will provide any guidance that's needed to finish the book. Bennett agrees, in that case, to let them crack on. Marcia assures that they won't let him or Phil down. Doris tells him they'll bring it in on deadline. She'll see to that.
Marcia hugs Doris and apologizes for being late. She was covering an event that ran in to unexpected difficulties. Doris replies that she can't tell her how many times she's heard Phil say that over the years. It's all right. She's just in time. The coffin is lowered into the ground as Phil's family says their farewells. "We love you daddy," whispers Beth. Marcia says he was a fine man. She learned so much from him. Jen tells her they'll put that in the book, too.
Jen asks Marcia what happened. She explains that she was covering a ticker-tape parade for X-Factor that got a little involved. Latverian storm troopers showed up, trying to assassinate Doctor Doom. It was a big mistake on their part. X-Factor, the Black Panther and the F.F. intervened. Jen is surprised. A parade? The city officially honored a group of mutants as heroes? Her father would have liked that.
The book's dedication reads, "Philip Aaron Sheldon. Our father, our friend. He taught us to tie our shoes, ride a bike. Taught me to drive. And he showed us, like he did for so many others... he showed us the world."
The end.


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[Assistant]
The Sword Song On A Barren Heath
(nightmare, based on a flashback)Creed is pumping a double agent known as Janice full of bullets as Logan screams at him for his actions. Creed replies that Janice had become a liability as she was comprising the carbonadium synthesizer that their team was supposed to obtain. Omega Red appears and corners them, demanding the synthesizer, but Creed tosses a couple of thermite grenades at him. Having no other escape option than to jump out the window from ten floors up, the trio decide to take the plunge down to the street. North refuses to leave the dead Janice behind as she is evidence, and they throw themselves out of the window just as the grenades explode. As they fall, Creed and North banter at each other, when suddenly one of Omega Red’s coils snag North. He has survived the thermite explosion and now, despite North’s gunfire, he proceeds to feed his death factor into North.
(present)North exclaims that it did not happen that way, and wakes up. He has been dreaming, and tells himself that he’s still in Ottawa, and that all that was in the past. He chides himself for dwelling in the past again, but reasons it’s only natural since he doesn’t have a future anyway.
Someone in his doorway suddenly calls him by his true last name, Nord, alerting him to react by pulling out a gun. The person introduces herself as Elena Ivanova. She’s a psi-talent, and a former KGB agent. She reveals she has read his rather lengthy dossier, and that it was she who changed the ending of the dream he had just experienced. She then explains she needs his help in locating Sabretooth, but he snorts and tells her the dossier she read probably was not updated or she would have known about his contraction of the Legacy Virus. Pulling the bandages around his head off, he reveals the scars the virus has inflicted on him, causing Elena to gasp in shock.
He goes on to tell her that he’s in the final stages of the virus infection, and is in constant pain, having trouble even getting up some days. He’s in no shape to help himself, let alone anyone else. Putting on his Maverick mask, North tells her revenge is a waste of time, but Elena insists she will seek revenge on Creed for killing her mother. Changing the subject, she informs him that they are being watched by two people, one in an alley across the street, and the other on the roof of an adjacent building.
Maverick recognizes both of them; the first person is John Wraith, whom he dismisses as a non-threat, but he advises Elena that they have to watch out for the second person. Suiting up, Maverick prepares to leave his room, telling Elena that her desire for revenge is eating her up faster than the Legacy Virus is doing to him. He is barely out the door when he is struck down by the pain caused by the virus. Elena offers to help him up and away from there, and skeptical as he is of her intentions for doing so, he accepts and asks if she has a vehicle.
Soon, the duo are making their getaway in a Viper, just as Omega Red reveals himself. Maverick unloads a whole barrage of lead on him, but only succeeds in slowing him down. A rocket courtesy of Wraith suddenly blows Omega Red out of the way. Undeterred, Omega Red recovers from the blast and pulls a passing motorcyclist off his vehicle with his coils, and proceeds to chase Elena’s Viper down the streets.
Back in the Viper, Maverick asks Elena what her story is. Preferring to show him the exact details, she gives him a telepathic experience of what her mother went through.
(telepathic flashback)Logan has come to kill Elena’s father, Epsilon Red, but he hesitates. His wife, pregnant with Elena, begs for his life, even as Epsilon Red himself pleads with Logan to end his inhuman life. Creed then bursts in and tells Logan the “hit” has been aborted, and the latter leaves. Epsilon Red then turns to Creed, asking him instead to do the deed. Creed just laughs and instead levels his gun at Epsilon’s wife, and fires it.
(present)Maverick comes out of the telepathic experience somewhat shaken, and tells Elena not do to that to him again without warning. He then notices Omega Red catching up to them on the bike, and shouts for Elena to drive faster as he fires at the tires of the motorcycle. They take a sharp right turn and Elena continues her story. She was delivered c-section as her mother died from the gunshot, leaving her with a mental imprint of her mother’s death.
They approach a security area, a weapons research facility of the Royal Canadian Air Force, and drive straight through the gates without stopping. Omega Red follows them in, as the base’s defenses are activated, blowing Omega Red away in a hail of rockets. Meanwhile, the Viper hits a dead end as military vehicles close in on them. Wraith then appears and gives Maverick and Elena directions on how to get out of the base into the woods, before surrendering to the soldiers. Inside the base, Maverick and Elena run into a handful of soldiers around the corner, and Elena uses what remains of her psi-powers to manipulate the soldiers into thinking she and Maverick are not there. It leaves her drained and unable to walk, and Maverick has to carry her.
Somewhere else in the base, Omega Red is chained up and interrogated by a Colonel. He refuses to say anything, but a Sergeant reveals he’s a former Soviet agent after searching their intelligence data banks. Just then, Wraith is brought to the Colonel, and he is surprised to find Omega Red there too. He immediately warns the soldiers to destroy Omega Red instead of uselessly chaining him up. The Colonel retaliates by hitting Wraith with his handgun and asking the Sergeant to search for Wraith in their data banks as well. Seeing that he is too stubborn to believe him, Wraith fades out of there. True to Wraith’s warnings, Omega Red suddenly breaks out of his chains and slaughters all around him.
Meanwhile, Maverick and Elena have made it past the perimeter of the base. Maverick is too weak to continue carrying Elena and can only help her walk. As they struggle through the woods, Maverick asks her why she had to drag him into this mess and not let him die in peace. She protests that Omega Red was already on his trail, but he counters that she had led Omega Red to find him in Ottawa. He then collapses to the ground, his legs unable to carry him any further. Soldiers with dogs are on their trail, as well as helicopters. A soldier from one of the helicopters instructs the ground troops to deploy themselves in groups of three to five, so they can target any group of two with their thermal imaging.
Wraith catches up to Elena and Maverick, and seeing that Maverick is not bleeding, he decides to carry him through the woods. They run into a helicopter search light, but the helicopter passes them by as there are three of them, thinking it is one of the search teams. The trio wonder why the helicopter ignored them, as Wraith leads them to a hidden getaway car.
Just as Omega Red finishes draining the life force of the last solider he had killed, the data search for Wraith results in a brief profile of him. A transmission comes in for the now-deceased Colonel, stating that the fugitives have gotten away in a jeep and now a small plane, as well as the direction they are heading. Plotting that direction on a map, Omega Red realizes they are heading for the secret Weapon X site. He deduces that this is where Maverick must have hidden the carbonadium synthesizer. A helicopter soon arrives to apprehend him, but he just smiles as he requires air transport just now.
Onboard the plane, Wraith surprises Elena by spewing her history just as Maverick wanted to introduce her to him. She comments that it’s a pity he doesn’t know more about Omega Red instead of her, but he passes her a dossier depicting everything from his army records to fakes IDs to photographs. He then proceeds to tell her how Omega Red came to be: After surviving his own execution (for raping and killing young girls), authorities figured he might be hard enough to survive the Super Solider process, and thus put him through the program. It transformed him into Omega Red. Elena is shocked that the government turned a serial killer into a Super Soldier.
Wraith soon lands them skillfully on an unmarked landing strip with some help from image intensifiers, and tells Maverick he hopes he’s got a plan. Much later, Omega Red arrives in the helicopter, and tears his way through a fence to get into the Weapon X compound. At the same time, a couple of Canadian Air Force fighter planes are dispatched to blow up the compound after satellite imagery confirmed the presence of the four of them in the building.
Inside the compound, the trio have planned their attack on Omega Red, and Maverick tells Elena he’ll tell her where she can find Sabretooth after they deal with Omega Red. Wraith tries to convince her to forget her vendetta by telling her about Birdie, an alpha-class psi-talent sent to take Creed out in Hong Kong, who ended up his slave instead. Maverick also informs her that Creed’s own son then killed Birdie to spite him.
Omega Red’s coils suddenly burst through the wall and snare Elena, but she tricks him into seeing her as one of his earliest victims, distracting him enough to drop her and allow Wraith to open fire on him. Omega Red threatens them with a slow death as he climbs through the wall, and sees Elena and Wraith running off in one direction, and Maverick in the other. Maverick taunts him by waving the carbonadium synthesizer at him, and Omega Red takes off after him. Maverick leads him through the Weapon X compound to an open area with a giant red ‘X’ marking on the ground. Standing in the center of the ‘X’, Maverick taunts Omega Red further and begins firing at him. Omega Red traps him in his coils, but “Maverick” reveals himself to be Wraith, thanks to Elena’s psi-powers. Elsewhere, Elena and Maverick are standing by a switch, and the second Wraith fades out of Omega Red’s coils, Maverick throws the switch, activating the containment chamber where Omega Red has been fooled into entering.
As Omega Red claims the containment chamber cannot restrain him, the fighter planes can be heard overhead. Maverick realizes Wraith deliberately let the RCAF pick them up on the radar so they would perform an air strike for them. The trio hurry out of the compound, and come across Logan’s old Lotus Seven jeep. There are no keys available for the car, and Maverick quickly hot-wires the engine just as the fighter planes unload their missiles on the building. They accelerate out of the building just as it blows up spectacularly. Inside, Omega Red realizes what is happening from his prison and shouts in defiance.
Outside, Maverick upholds his side of the bargain and tells Elena that Sabretooth can be found in Fall’s Edge, Virginia. Upon saying this, he collapses from exhaustion and pain on the steering wheel. Elena is concerned for him but Wraith tells her he’s still alive, but that it’s a shame he will have to go back to the Prophecy in Ottawa and die alone. Deciding to put her vendetta for Creed aside, Elena volunteers to stay with him in his final days.


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[Assistant]
Overture
(Three months ago)
At a concert in Paris, a cello player Francois Perigeux is feeling uneasy and edgy, but still gives an excellent performance. After the concert, he is approached in a dark alley by Hammer and Sickle, who confront him about the arrest of his overseas business partner Henri Dubois. Francois swears it was not him who ratted out on Henri, and frightfully suggests that it was Major Barrington who committed the betrayal. He then pleads with Hammer and Sickle not to kill him since he’s already told them what they wanted to know, but Sickle says Pushkin believes him to be a liability and thrusts his weapon into Francois’s throat.
(present)
In Quebec, Canada, Maverick returns to his hotel room via the balcony. He has just barely escaped from an explosion at his booby-trapped secret storage. Elena Ivanova is concerned for his health, but he himself doesn’t seem to care as much, claiming he’s already been as good as dead since he contracted the Legacy Virus. Believing he won’t survive the night, he collapses on the bed and begins coughing. Chris Bradley then calls him but Elena tells him Maverick is busy. Maverick is running a high fever and begins to hallucinate about his dead wife Ginetta. Elena snaps him out of it, but he goes into cardiac arrest and flat-lines. Having developed some affection for him, she desperately tries to revive him. As a last resort, she uses her psionic powers to try to reach him mentally. She succeeds, and Maverick comes to; releasing a huge burst of energy from his body that sends Elena flying to the side.
Maverick is surprised to find his hands glowing and figures that his “rebirth” has caused his mutant powers to resurface, although they had worn out years ago. He picks up an iron object and melts it to slag simply by holding it, and expends all the energies in his hands in the process. Feeling stronger than he’s ever been since he contracted the virus, he deduces that the virus has gone into remission and realizes his memories have become clearer to him. Elena decides they have to leave the hotel soon as his powers returning has caused quite a mess of the place.
Just then, Hammer and Sickle burst into the room, and Maverick and Elena are both surprised to find out that each other knows them. On Maverick’s instruction, Elena establishes a psi-link between the two of them and they give each other a brief description of how they each got to know Hammer and Sickle. They then agree to split up and meet up outside the hotel, while Hammer tells them no harm will come to them if they obligingly followed them to Ivan Pushkin. Maverick refuses and assaults Hammer as Elena flees the room pursued by Sickle.
During the fight, Hammer strikes Maverick with his weapon, inadvertently powering Maverick up. He absorbs the kinetic impact and much to his surprise seems to re-channel it, as his fist starts to glow again. This aspect of his power is new to him, yet Maverick barrels his powered-up fist into Hammer, putting him down immediately. He then fires a grappling hook and rope to a building across and begins to make his escape as Hammer picks himself up. Upon reaching the building, Maverick is fired upon by a helicopter before he can detach his grappling hook and send Hammer falling. Losing his balance, Maverick falls off the sloping roof of the building and just manages to get a hand on its edge, but he has nowhere to go as Hammer approaches him. Much to Hammer’s surprise, Maverick instead opts to let go of the ledge and let his powers save him from the fall. His plan just about works as he survives the fall and absorbs the impact.
Before he can get away, the helicopter again fires at him, keeping him pinned just as Sickle appears, having been given the slip by Elena. Before anything can take place though, Elena drives a car in between Sickle and Maverick, who wastes no time in getting in. Elena then speeds off but the helicopter continues firing at them. Mavericks tells her to steady the car, which she does doubtfully, and he duly blows the helicopter out of the sky with the energy he absorbed from the impact of his fall.
The couple soon arrive in a small town in Montreal, where Isabel Ferguson is residing with her infant daughter Madeline. Isabel creates Maverick’s body armor and equipment. After introductions are made, Maverick requests Isabel to supply him with more of his usual “goodies”.
Maverick and Elena spend the night in an abandoned church on the outskirts of town, and they are both surprised to find that Maverick’s hands and face are no longer disfigured by the scars caused by the Legacy Virus. Maverick is unsure what to do with his second chance at life, but Chris Bradley calls him at that moment and they have a short chat about how Chris is coping with his new identity. Chris then mentions to Maverick that they’ll face the Legacy Virus together, and Maverick suddenly realizes that he cannot bear to tell Chris that he has gone into remission.
The next morning, Maverick and Elena return to Isabel’s house to collect Maverick’s equipment, only to find the place a mess and Isabel and Madeline nowhere to be found. Maverick goes to the basement as Elena checks out the rooms only to be ambushed by Ivan Pushkin and his lackeys. Maverick hears this and rushes upstairs to find them holding Elena hostage. Pushkin tells Maverick Isabel and Madeline can no longer be of any help to him and orders him shackled.


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[Assistant]
Denouement
In a seemingly abandoned ski resort, Puck and Vindicator of Alpha Flight are discussing their current assignment to guard the lodge, in which Major Barrington is staying. The major is about to make an important testimony, and Vindicator wonders why only they have been assigned to this job and not the whole Alpha Flight, but Puck says that with all the armed guards in the cabin, the entire team would have been a bit of overkill. They are having doubts about Department H, the government agency that runs Alpha Flight, when its director of foreign affairs, Pierre Cloche, approaches them and advises them to express their concerns about Department H during the parliament’s next convenes. Vindicator immediately apologizes but Cloche replies that he was not offended by her comments about Department H.
Their conversation is interrupted when a guard approaches Cloche and informs him that the perimeter guards, who were due back over ten minutes ago, have not returned yet. Vindicator quickly offers to go check it out with Puck. They soon find the unconscious guards and it becomes clear that an intruder is present on the premises. From above, the brainwashed Maverick watches. He is somewhat surprised to see the two Alpha Flight members as he is not aware of the team‘s recent reactivation. He tells himself he has to complete his task nonetheless and then leaps down from his hiding place to the surprise of the two. He taunts them into chasing him as he fires his grappling hook to a cable car overhead.
As he flees from them on the grappling hook, he has a brief flashback to a similar move he performed against Hammer back in his hotel in Quebec (in Maverick #1). It is the second time he is recalling that fight since he woke up from Ivan Pushkin’s brainwashing technique (see Maverick #2), and he begins to wonder if the fight really occurred, though he never remembers it happening.
Meanwhile, Vindicator has caught up to him, perched atop a cable car, and fires hot steam at him. She then tries to reason with him and talk him out of fighting by saying Logan has mentioned him to be a person with strong morals. Maverick then catches her off guard by suddenly surrendering and tossing his grappling hook to her. She catches it and is electrified by it immediately and drops out of the air. Maverick then leaps from his ride atop the cable car and hits the ground. He absorbs the impact of the fall and his fists charge up with power. Puck aims a flying kick at him but Maverick simply throws an energized fist at him, knocking him out. In the process of doing that though, Maverick gets another flashback, this time of his near-death experience in his Quebec hotel (also in Maverick #1). He doubles over in pain and again begins to question what exactly is happening to him, and why he doesn’t recall anything from his recent past.
(several hours earlier)
In a Victorian manor in James Bay, Canada, Elena Ivanova is rescued from her prison of nearly a fortnight by Isabel Ferguson. Isabel helps her out of her psionic-dampening cell and Elena gets a head rush as her psionic powers return to her. The two then start communicating via a psionic link. Isabel tells Elena that she found her as a result of the tracking devices she placed inside her equipment which Pushkin had stolen. She assures Elena that she removes them after each purchase but they are included as a precautionary measure against such petty theft. Elena is grateful for the rescue, but asks her why she took almost two weeks to find her, and Isabel responds that Pushkin had distributed her stolen hardware across Canada and as a result she had to search all over the country for them. Elena thanks her for her perseverance and is handed a neural-synaptic disruptor by Isabel. Elena asks why they are not using something more powerful but Isabel replies that she doesn’t believe in using lethal force unnecessarily and that the disruptors are able to knock a man out for 24 hours.
Isabel then asks if she knows where Maverick is being held but Elena tells her that she overheard the guards saying Maverick had voluntarily left the manor in the morning. Elena figures that he’s been brainwashed and they both crash Doctor Langstrom’s laboratory to find out for what purpose. After they take down the guards, Elena grabs the doctor by the throat and proceeds to execute a painful psi-probe on her.
(present)
En route to the ski lodge, Maverick is taking out some more guards. As he fights, he ponders if a relapse of the Legacy Virus is the cause of his painful flashbacks. He figures that he’s still not fully recovered from the injuries he sustained from his safehouse’s explosion. According to Pushkin, he thinks, he nearly died as a result of the explosion.
He soon reaches Major Barrington’s room, much to the shock of Barrington. Maverick then calmly tells him he’s going to kill him, and accuses him of destroying his life by enlisting Ginetta to be his wife so as to spy on him. Barrington denies his allegations, but Maverick goes on further, accusing Barrington of infecting him with the Legacy Virus and planting the explosive trap in his safehouse once he was no longer of any use to him. Barrington again denies any involvement, and backs off, but as he does so, he loses his balance and hits his head against the wall, knocking himself out.
Maverick then checks his body and finds out he’s still breathing. He tells himself he should finish his job and kill Barrington, but finds himself hesitating somewhat. He tries to convince himself to complete his job as that was the order Pushkin had given him, when he suddenly realizes something is wrong as he never takes orders from scum like Pushkin. Reliving more flashbacks, this time of Doctor Langstrom’s tampering with his mind and Pushkin capturing him, Maverick finally comes out of his brainwashing. He now realizes that Pushkin has brainwashed him to do his dirty work for him by killing Major Barrington but reasons that he could not have believed Pushkin so easily unless there some truth to Pushkin’s story.
As he considers the validity of what Pushkin told him, Vindicator and Puck arrive and burst into the room. Maverick tells them he didn’t kill Barrington, but that the major knocked himself out. The two Alpha Flight members don’t believe him and Puck retorts that he should save his story for Director Cloche. Maverick is surprised to learn that Cloche is there, and tries to explain that he was brainwashed and managed to break free of it just before he killed Barrington. Vindicator demands an explanation for his reaction upon hearing of Cloche’s presence, and Maverick explains that as Director of Foreign Affairs in Department H, Cloche probably posed a larger threat to Pushkin than Barrington. Now aware of Pushkin’s involvement, Puck and Vindicator seem to believe Maverick, and they soon realize Maverick’s aggressive entrance has made the place less guarded and left Cloche open to an attack. Vindicator and Maverick decide to go check on Cloche while Puck agrees to guard the unconscious Barrington.
In another room, Cloche is complaining about the power shortage and wonders why the emergency generators have not activated yet. He tries to exit the room, but finds out he has been locked in. Sickle then emerges from the darkness and advances on Cloche, but Vindicator and Maverick suddenly appear through the floor thanks to the former’s powers.
Sickle assaults them both with his weapon but Maverick angrily retaliates by aiming a kick at Sickle’s arm, causing him to drop his long weapon. Sickle then pounces on Cloche, meaning to kill him no matter what. A furious Maverick then uses Sickle’s own weapon to slash across his face, slicing out one of his eyes. As Sickle recoils in pain, Cloche orders he be apprehended. Speaking to Cloche as Sickle receives medical attention, Maverick soon realizes Sickle’s accomplice, Hammer, should be around the premises as well.
Shortly afterwards, Barrington is discovered brutally murdered while Puck is concussed nearby. Maverick curses to himself that with Barrington now dead, he has no way of knowing if what Pushkin told him about Ginetta was the truth.
Three hours after Maverick first appeared on the grounds, Elena and Isabel are brought in by a guard who assumed them to be trespassers. Maverick is overjoyed to learn Isabel and her child Maddie are still alive, while Elena tells him about the audiohypnotic implants placed in his head to make him susceptible to Pushkin’s commands. Maverick deduces that it was probably the fused-implants that gave him his headaches, but Elena tells him he should see a doctor. Maverick tells her that can wait as he has to get in touch with Chris.
In Florida, at almost two past midnight, Chris is preparing to run away from home. As he leaves, he notices his chatterbox and contemplates bringing it along with him. He then decides otherwise as Maverick has been unable to answer his calls for almost two weeks now. He tells himself Maverick probably has plenty of his own problems and believes he may never even hear from Maverick again. As he climbs out of his bedroom window into the rain, unbeknownst to him, his chatterbox starts to beep as Maverick calls him.


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Found and Lost
Chris Bradley walks down West Village near Washington Square Park in New York City. He is slowly dying of the Legacy Virus, an airborne plague that was unleashed on the mutant public by the madman named Stryfe. Chris, like most other mutants, is aware of the anti-mutant sentiment, especially since it has been on a rise since the Onslaught disaster. This sentiment was exacerbated when former presidential candidate Graydon Creed was assassinated by an unknown assassin. Two days ago, Chris Bradley ran away from his new home in Florida in order to escape the problems associated with being a mutant in a society that fears and hates him. However, as he coughs, Chris reminds himself that he can never escape his problems, as the Legacy Virus is always with him.
Chris walks through the park, the only shelter from the rain being his raincoat. He is having trouble seeing through all the mist, which leads him to mistake a girl for the one he is looking for. He worries if she will come, but assures himself that he is just early. Chris pulls out his copy of The Catcher in the Rye and begins to pick up where he left off. Behind him, a girl approaches him and asks if he is Chris. Chris turns to see Donna Funaro, the girl he has had a crush on since the sixth grade, though it was only recently in the tenth grade that he asked her out. Unfortunately, with him moving to Florida, their relationship ended before it could blossom. The two embrace under Donna’s umbrella, where Donna is so happy to see Chris, who is ecstatic that she came. Donna admits that she didn’t think that she would see him again, as his goodbye sounded final. She didn’t know what to think when he called last night, especially since he was all cryptic.
Chris apologizes for that, but he was calling from a phone booth while his bus stopped to refuel, so he didn’t have much time. He just got in a couple of hours ago and walked to West Village from the Port Authority, because it is impossible to hail a cab in this weather. Donna agrees and asks where he has been living since the fire. Out of state, says Chris, and that is all he can tell her. Donna understands and asks about Chris’ family’s well being. They are fine, says Chris. Donna recalls how angry she became when the agents of the Friends of Humanity trashed his house. They are the reason he went into hiding, aren’t they? Chris confirms and then has another coughing spell before asking Donna if she told her family whom she was meeting. Donna tells Chris that her parents think he is at Marla’s house. She would be grounded for a month if they knew she came into the city alone.
Suddenly, a blast of energy separates the two, as a voice tells the gene joke that they have unfinished business. Chris and Donna turn to see four armed men, the leader calling himself Grinder. Grinder, with an energy cannon aimed at the kids, introduces the man on his left as Checks and the other two as Weasel and Jumbo. They are from the Friends of Humanity.
Chris asks how the FOH found him and Grinder reveals that they tapped Donna’s phone months ago and waited for Chris to call. Donna tells the men to leave Chris alone, but Checks backhands her, which enrages Chris. Chris runs at Checks, but Grinder blasts away the ground beneath him, causing Chris to fall. Grinder tells Chris that Weasel and Jumbo didn’t appreciate the butt kicking they got last time from him and his friends and asks where he has been staying. Chris kicks Grinder, who tells his companions that they have a feisty one. Grinder hits Chris in the head with his energy cannon. Chris collapses on the floor with his head pounding and the feeling that his skin is on fire. His health has definitely taken a turn for the worse. Donna pleads with the men and asks them if they cannot see that he is sick. Grinder explains, as he spits on Chris, that they are going to kill him to get rid of the disease he is carrying before it can spread to others.
Chris’ powers spiral out of control, as electricity explodes out of his body, in the same manner as when his powers first manifested. Weasel and Jumbo are blown away, as the surrounding civilians in the park run away, several asking where the Thunderbolts are. Chris tries to calm himself down and remembers what Professor Xavier and the X-Men taught him. He has to concentrate and take control of his body. Chris regains control as Donna comes to his side. The two run away with the Friends of Humanity thugs after them.
As Chris and Donna zigzag through the traffic on the street, Chris notices that his headache is gone, as well as the pain, after he powered down. Hopefully, this doesn’t mean it will hurt every time he wants to use his powers. Donna and Chris take a wrong turn and find themselves in a dead end. They turn to see Grinder and the others, who swear that Chris will pay. First, they will pound him and then they will splatter his guts. A voice from behind tells the men to stand down if they want to live.
Everyone turns to see Maverick, armed with a gun, standing on a hovercraft with Elena Ivanova. Donna asks Chris if Maverick is on their side, to which Chris confirms that the man is. Grinder is shocked, as he heard that Maverick was dead, but the mutant tells the goon that he got better as he blasts them all away with his energy gun. Donna and Chris run to the hovercraft, where Maverick helps them in, as Elena defends them with her own gun. Chris admits to Maverick that he thought that they were goners for sure. Maverick explains that Chris left an easy trail to follow and admits that he was disappointed, as he taught Chris better than that.
As soon as everyone is on, Maverick tells Elena to get them out of there. The hovercraft begins to zoom away, but Grinder refuses to let them escape. Checks tells Grinder to chill, as he uses his energy gun to blast the hovercraft, which tips over, dumping all its occupants out before crashing. As the FOH men rush after the heroes, Maverick tells Elena to get the kids out. The three run, as Maverick deflects some blasts with his powers, causing an explosion. He leaps over a rail and pulls out his rifle, which he finds melted to slag when he used his powers to defend himself, just like Pushkin warned him of. That is just great: unreliable powers. That should be comforting next time he dives out of a ten-story building. It is only a minor setback, thinks Maverick, as he clubs Grinder in the face. Maverick sees the other FOH members by the hovercraft, so Maverick shoots at the leaking fuselage tank, which explodes behind the goons.
Nearby, the X-Man known as Wolverine stops for a quick snack on his way back to his East Village apartment. Wolverine takes a bite out of his apple, as he comments on the horrible rain. A boom sound echoes through the streets. Wolverine’s nose detects Maverick and Chris, but also a very familiar scent. Just as Elena and the kids run past Wolverine, he grabs the woman by that arm and tells her that it is fancy meeting her here. Why the rush? Why is a KGB psi-talent doing in New York City? This is out of her jurisdiction. Her name is Elena something, right?
It is Elena Ivanova, says Elena, and she corrects Wolverine; she is ex-KGB. Donna is surprised to hear that Elena is a Russian agent, but admits that it explains the accent. She wonders who Wolverine is. Wolverine tells Elena that he hasn’t heard of her of seen her since the Terry Adams caper a while back. Elena agrees that it has been awhile, but Chris interrupts and tells Logan to let her go, as the Friends of Humanity are after them. Hearing more gunfire, Wolverine turns to see Maverick running towards them, with the Friends of Humanity right on his tail. Maverick catches up and tells Wolverine that he is a welcome surprise. Is he ready to rumble? Wolverine smiles and tells Maverick that he is.
Maverick tells Chris and Donna to hang back for now. Donna gasps, as Wolverine unsheathes his bone claws. Logan thinks to himself that something is odd about Maverick. His smell has changed. His immune system is stronger, though his condition should be worsening. Also, when did he get his powers back? He is not as sick as the last time Wolverine saw him, but that is impossible. There is no cure for the Legacy Virus. As the fight ensues, Donna tells Chris that he has interesting friends. Yeah, says Chris, they are rather colorful. Elena tells Maverick that, even with Wolverine, they are sitting ducks out in the open. Maverick tells Elena that he has a plan and as he tells her, Cheeks notices Wolverine and begins to worry.
As Wolverine takes on the goons, Maverick returns to Chris and Donna, where he tells Donna that she has to go home now. They won’t follow her, he promises. Donna turns to Chris, who says bye. Cheeks sees Maverick, Elena, Chris and Donna with their back turns to him. As Donna leaves, Cheeks sends out a massive blast of energy from his weapon, which hits an exposed gas line and unleashes an explosion, which seemingly kills Maverick, Elena and Chris, much to the horror of Donna! Cheeks tells his companions that the mission is over. One of the others asks about Wolverine, but Cheeks asks him if he really wants an early grave.
Some time later, Wolverine sits on a rooftop with Elena and tells her that he does not like it when telepaths poke through his head without permission, so he is glad that she asked before she did what she did. He has to hand it to her for using her psi-powers to make the crowd believe that they all died in the explosion. Tired, Elena tells him that she is spent, as it wasn’t as easy as it looked. He should take his share of the credit. They would never have made it if Wolverine hadn’t stalled the bigots long enough for the three of them to escape. Wolverine tells her that it was all in the line of duty, though it was cruel to put Donna through all that. Elena explains that it could not be helped. They had to give credibility to the illusion. In the long run, this was the only way to protect the girl. Wolverine tells Elena that he didn’t say it wasn’t necessary, he just thought it was cruel.
Nearby, Chris is sad to know that Donna thinks that he is dead and he can never tell her otherwise. Out loud he announces that this is all his fault and he should never have run away. Maverick consoles Chris and tells him that at least the Friends of Humanity think he is dead, so now they are out of his life. Angry, Chris tells him not to call him Chris anymore. He is Brian Johnson now. As far as the world knows, Chris Bradley died and the sooner he deals with that the sooner he can put the past behind him. Chris comes to his senses and apologizes for snapping at Maverick. He is sorry for running away and for not bringing his chatterbox with him at least. He thought he would never see Maverick again. Maverick asks Chris how many times he has to explain that they are together for the long haul. Is that clear? Crystal, says Chris. Maverick tells Chris that he is taking him home. Wolverine stops them and tells Maverick that he wants a private chat first.
Maverick and Wolverine step aside and Logan asks Maverick if Chris knows that the mercenary is in remission. No, says Maverick, and he would like to keep it that way. Annoyed, Wolverine reminds Maverick that Chris believes in him, and yet he is lying. Why? Offended, Maverick doesn’t see how this is Wolverine’s business. He is making it his business, says Logan, as he pushes Maverick against a wall. If he is playing a sick joke on Chris, then he will regret it.
Surprised, Chris asks Wolverine what is going on. Wolverine tells the boy that he should think of this as a visit from social services. Wolverine is not so sure that Maverick is a good influence on him. How could he have any idea what is good for him, asks the angry Chris. The X-Men abandoned him and he fell apart. If it weren’t for Maverick, he would be dead. Maverick understands what he is going through, as they are both in the same situation. Chris trusts Maverick, which is more than he can say for Wolverine.
Maverick tells Chris to calm down, as he and Logan just have things to settle. He can take care of himself. This doesn’t concern Chris. More annoyed, Chris turns away. Maverick tells Wolverine that breaking the news about the remission would destroy Chris. Wolverine reminds Maverick that Chris will find out anyway and, if he learns it from someone else and that Maverick has been keeping it a secret, things will be worse. Maverick admits that he knows, but he has no other choice. He is just a kid and should not face this disease alone. Besides, his remission is probably only temporary. The two look at Chris, who is on the other side of the rooftop. Wolverine reluctantly agrees not to say anything, but tells Maverick that he doesn’t like his methods. Wolverine will keep an eye on them. Maverick tells him that he is welcome, so long as Wolverine stays out of his way.
The next night, Elena does some research in her room at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. She looks at her papers and is surprised that there is no trace of him anywhere. There is only an unconfirmed sighting in western Canada and that was months ago. She hears the door slowly open and instinctively whips out her gun. Fortunately, it is only Maverick, who she expected to arrive in the morning. Maverick tells her that he caught an early flight. Elena asks about the Bradleys and Maverick tells her that they are the Johnsons now. Chris is right, they need to get used to their new names. His parents were overjoyed to see him. They are all fine.
Elena asks Maverick how he is, but he is not sure. The past few days are all a blur and he hasn’t had time to recuperate from the mind games Pushkin put him through, as well as Barrington’s death and the implications. His life is such a mess that he cannot tell right from wrong anymore. Drudging up this Ginetta business has him rattled and he doesn’t like to feel vulnerable. Elena tells Maverick to get over it, as they are all vulnerable in life. Maverick apologizes, knowing that Elena has had a hard life. He will not use her or Chris as an emotional crutch. Elena reasons with Maverick and tells him not to live in a vacuum forever. He has to let people back in.
Maverick turns and decides he will do so later, as companionship has its price too. It doesn’t have to be that way, says Elena. Maverick tells the woman that he doesn’t think that this is a good idea. Why not, Elena asks. It is wrong for two consenting adults to seek comfort in one another’s arms with no pretenses or false expectations? She knows that he is not in love with her and she is not in love with him, but she cares about him a lot as a friend.
Maverick is about to say something, but Elena tells him to shush. She takes off his mask and tells him to forget the outside world and the future. He has no way to know what tomorrow will bring, so he should embrace the moment. After wall, what to they have left? Maverick and Elena kiss and make their way to the bedroom. However, what Maverick does not see is what Elena was researching: Sabretooth!


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Pressure Points
In Manhattan’s Chelsea area, near the meatpacking district twenty blocks from Hell’s Kitchen, the man known as Maverick stands silently upon a rooftop. Being sick with the Legacy Virus has kept him from work for over a year and, in that time, he lost touch with many contacts and got rid of many safe houses. Back then, he didn’t think he would need the safe houses anymore. Most of his money went to medicine and the rest to food and shelter. A lack of money was never a problem. However, now that he is healthy, he needs some cash fast and he cannot keep on having Elena use her telepathy to get them free rooms at hotels. Since his cash reserves are tapped, it is about time he called in some old markers.
Maverick looks down into the streets, as a car pulls up in front of two men. Two more men emerge from the car, as one of the men already present asks Donner if he as the action, because they have the cash. Maverick leaps down from the roof in front of a man with an open briefcase full of cocaine. He punches the cocaine, ripping the bags and spilling the coke everywhere. The other three men freak out and realize that Maverick must be a mutant. One comments on how Big Louie isn’t going to like this mess. One of the men tells Maverick that he just signed his death warrant, since he just destroyed a quarter of a million dollars in coke. Twelve Hours Earlier:
Elena sits in her hotel room at the Waldorf-Astoria and looks again on her information regarding Sabretooth. She thinks of how unfortunate it was that X-Factor’s base was declared a biohazard zone and quarantined before she had a chance to check it out. Wondering if the feelers she put out last night had borne fruit, Elena uses her psi-powers to check, but the feelers have turned up nothing. Wherever Sabretooth is, he has done a good job of hiding since he left Fall’s Edge, Virginia. However, Elena refuses to give up and assures herself that Sabretooth will slip up soon enough.
Maverick, fresh from the shower and sporting a bathrobe, comes out and greets Elena. The two kiss and Maverick asks her what she was doing, as she seemed preoccupied when he walked in. Does she have leads on Pushkin? Elena tells him that Pushkin wasn’t what she was working on. Maverick picks up a paper and is angry to learn that Elena is still planning on going after Creed. He thought she laid that vendetta to rest.
What gave him that idea, Elena asks. She only postponed her search because he was ill and she didn’t want him to die like an animal in the hotel room she found him in. Now that he is getting better, she has resumed her search. Didn’t he get through to her last time, Maverick asks her. Creed is a psychopath, who maims and mutilates people for fun. She shouldn’t go after him unless she has a death wish. Elena tells him not to lecture her on how deranged Creed is. He murdered her pregnant mother, just to spite her father. Creed blew her mother away when Elena was still in her womb. She knows just how sick and twisted Sabretooth is and when she finds him he will pay with his life.
That’s easier said than done, remarks Maverick. Elena approaches Maverick and tells him that she isn’t stupid. He is under no obligation to help her, as this is her score to settle. However, she has to know one thing. When the time comes, will he help her out? Annoyed, Maverick asks her what kind of help she needs; to dig her grave? Suddenly, Maverick stops in his tracks and grabs Elena. Did she seduce him last night to coerce him into helping her against Creed? Elena looks at Maverick bewildered and then slaps him squarely in the face.
Present:
Maverick enters a bar, where one of two bartenders asks him what he would like this evening. Maverick asks the new bartender what they have on the way of hefe-weizen beers. The young man has no clue what Maverick is talking about, but the other bartender explains that a hefe-weizen beer is German for a particular style of beer that is served in a stein, but has to be poured in a special way. What is special about it, the other bartender asks. The more experienced man explains that it has something to do with how the sediment collects at the bottom.
The man grabs a bottle and hands it to Maverick, who is disappointed at the brand, but nonetheless accepts the drink. Nearby, a rather large figure tells the three to be quiet, because he paid good money to hear the song on the jukebox. Maverick turns to see Fred J. Dukes, a.k.a. the Blob. What are the odds that he would step in a bar serving the Blob? There goes Maverick’s quiet evening. At least the Juggernaut wasn’t here.
Blob, not knowing when to keep his mouth shut, asks Maverick why he wants a special German beer. Is he a Nazi? Angry, Maverick tells Blob not to call him that. Why not, questions the Blob. He has the accent; is he ashamed of his heritage? Again, Maverick tells him to shut up. Blob laughs, as he puffs on his cigar and asks if he struck a nerve on the Nazi-boy.  Maverick slams one fist on the table and breaks Blob’s cigar in half with the other. Angry, Blob tells Maverick that no one insults him to his face and lives to tell the tale. The bartender pulls out a shotgun and tells the men that he doesn’t want trouble, so if they want to fight they should go elsewhere. Why don’t they take it outside then, Blob says, as he bats away Maverick with one hand, which sends the man crashing through the front window and onto the street.
Twelve Hours Earlier:
Elena slaps Maverick across the face and he suddenly realized that he asked a stupid question. Maverick admits that he deserved it and Elena wholeheartedly agrees. Maverick tells her to pardon is suspicious nature but, under the circumstances, can she blame him? Why doesn’t she cut him some slack? Knowing his history, says Elena, she will let this slide. How gracious, says Maverick with a smile.
Elena tells him not to be cute. Just because she knows what his mindset is doesn’t make his words hurt any less. She thought they got passed all that garbage. Maverick apologizes, but tells Elena not to think that she has him all figured out. If she knew where he was coming from, then she knows that, as long as Ginetta’s ghost keeps on coming back, he won’t be able to trust anyone ever again. While they are on the subject, it should be no surprise to her that she knows he dislikes the fact that she is running around with so much about his past in her head.
Elena is offended this time and asks if that is why he wants her to give up on Sabretooth. Is he afraid that Creed will find a way to get to Maverick’s dirty secrets through her? Maverick cannot believe that Elena is being so dense and asks if she has forgotten how he told her about Birdy, the last alpha-class telepath who tried to take out Creed. Before being killed by Creed’s father, she was bound by Sabretooth as his personal slave to use her psionic abilities to satiate his private demons. Maverick tells Elena, as he puts on his uniform, that he doesn’t want that to happen to her.
Elena tells Maverick that she is willing to take chances. Maverick explains that he won’t deny her the right to choose, but she may be letting her need to get revenge blind her to the obvious. If she is careless, she will fall into Creed’s hands. Just like how he fell for the machinations of Ivan Pushkin, Elena asks. Maverick tells her that it was a cheap shot, but she explains that she was making a point. Is he trying to tell her that if the opportunity presented itself, would he not go after Pushkin?
His situation is different, replies Maverick. Elena does not believe him and asks how it is. Maverick explains that, while Ivan is lying low now, he will come after them. Creed won’t come for them unless they make a move on him first. Elena gets angry again and tells Maverick that she doesn’t know that for certain. Who is he trying to fool? Ivan exploited Maverick’s Achilles’ heel and Maverick wants the man to pay. Maverick must face the fact that she isn’t the only one here chasing after shadows. Maverick puts on his mask and announces that he needs fresh air, as he gets his trench coat. Elena asks him where he is going, to which Maverick tells her that it is obvious. He is going out. With that, he slams the hotel room door behind him.
Present:
On the street, Maverick recuperates, as all that happened was that he had the wind knocked out of him. The Blob’s blow sent every cell in his body into overdrive and his body feels as if it is on fire with kinetic energy. Maverick tells Blob that he made a big mistake. Blob runs out of the bar and announces that Maverick should shut up and that no fancy costume or powers is going to save him. Maverick is not as sure, as he notices that the Blob is a little tipsy from all the drinks he had. Maverick packs quite a punch, as he hits Blob in the gut. Blob stumbles back against a wall and admits that he was not expecting such an attack but, now that he is anchored, he wants to see what else Maverick has to offer.
Maverick punches him again, but this time his punches are absorbed by the Blob’s blubber. Blob bear hugs Maverick and wonders how he likes it up close and personal. Maverick is disgusted, as he gets a face full of fat. As the Blob smothers him, Maverick gets an idea. Suddenly, Blob feels a burning sensation, which turns to pain. He throws Maverick back and finds two burns the size and shape of Maverick’s hands on his chest. Blob looks at the two burn marks on his chest and Maverick tells Dukes that the trash he is standing in smells better than him.
Blob tells Maverick to shut up, as he charges straight for him. Maverick runs off, leading the Blob away from the bar. The hero realizes that he shouldn’t have egged the mutant on in the first place. What was he thinking? He shouldn’t have let anything the Blob said get to him. Maverick must be more on the edge than he originally thought. Maverick runs into a junkyard and throws an iron he finds at the Blob. Maverick tells Fred that his two-bit career has taken a dip for the worse since his Freedom Force days.
The iron bounces off the Blob’s head, as Dukes tells Maverick that he doesn’t know if he has been given cosmic powers or is a mutant like him, but he is going to pulverize him. Blob punches Maverick, who goes flying into the air. Maverick lands in a pile of scrap metal and reminds himself to be careful next time he wants to recharge. He may be able to absorb kinetic energy, but he can still be impaled or crushed like any other guy. The Blob leaps on top of the scrap heap, but Maverick narrowly jumps away.
Maverick runs off into an abandoned building, as he notices that his whole body is tingling with kinetic energy that needs to burst. He runs up some stairs to higher ground, as he reroutes the energy to his legs and feet. Blob is right after Maverick and tells the man that he cannot hide forever. Calling from a hole in the floor several stories up, Maverick tells the Blob that he is up there, as he jumps down and slams his kinetically charged feet into the Blob. The impact sends Blob several feet into the ground. Blob finds that he is stuck. Maverick takes advantage of the situation and goes to take out Blob with one more kinetic kick but, at the last second, he realizes that his powers have cut out and he has not more stored energy to use.


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

[Assistant]
Hunters
It is the same nightmare she always has. As Team X agent Logan confronts her mother and father, Epsilon Red, another agent, Sabretooth, crashes through a wall as Logan’s cavalry. Logan is surprised to see Sabretooth and asks him why he is there. As always, the other man tells him that he just fought past elite KBG border guards and internal security teams to give Logan an abort mission order. Logan is surprised to hear this, but Sabretooth tells him that the order came from all the way at the top. They are not to murder Epsilon Red.
Sabretooth tells Logan that they have to retreat now, and Logan complies. Epsilon Red turns to Sabretooth and observes that he is much colder and harsher than Logan. Perhaps he will do a favor for Epsilon and end his existence. Cruelly, Sabretooth looks at the pregnant woman with Epsilon and tells him that he won’t kill him for he wants it too much. He knows another way to really bum him out. Sabretooth then shoots Elena’s mother to death to the horror of Epsilon Red. The dream then forwards to a short while later. Elena can hear the doctors decide that her mother won’t live. However, an emergency caesarian section can save the baby.
At that moment, Elena Ivanova wakes up covered in sweat. This is a nightmare that recurs for her. It is made even more disturbing, however, that these are memories she sees from when she was still in her mother’s womb. Elena breathes heavily for a few moments, and then cups her face in her hands and she swears revenge against Creed.
The next day in Kissimmee, Florida, Maverick visits retired Navy Seals officer Dr. James Keller. In Keller’s lab, Maverick thanks the man for opening up his office on a Sunday morning. Keller asks if Maverick is kidding and then taps his fake leg with his cane and reminds him that, if Maverick hadn’t pulled him out of the shark-infested waters when the recon mission in Australia went badly, Keller would have lost a lot more than a leg. As he has said before, he will help out Maverick and the Johnson kid with whatever they need, no questions asked. Maverick thanks James and asks for the prognosis. James reveals that Maverick’s body is straddling between remission and a full-blown relapse. Something about Maverick’s powers is serving as an anchor for his immune system and is retarding the effects of the Legacy Virus.
The two walk into Keller’s office, where he admits that the link is tenacious. Maverick may feel fine, but it is a façade. His condition can literally change at any moment. Maverick asks about Brian’s condition, as that is the man reason why he contacted Keller. Keller notes that Brian has missed his last few appointments, to which Maverick reveals that Brian has been purposely avoiding Keller. That is why Maverick dragged him there today. For the last few days, Brian has been complaining about a migraine, and Maverick suspects that his is linked to why the boy’s powers are now harder to control. His sudden outbursts of power have increased in frequency since his return from up north.
Keller takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes. He admits that he is not surprised. While Brian is recovering from a case of acute bronchitis that he picked up at school, the Legacy Virus appears to be spreading quickly through his neural system. Unfortunately, once it consumes his cerebral cortex, Brian will die. Maverick asks James what kind of time-frame he is talking about. Six months? A year? Keller apologizes, but Brian’s mutant physiology makes it impossible for him to determine. Maverick mutters that they are all sorry about this, then thanks the doctor for his help. Keller asks if he should tell Brian’s parents, but Maverick tells him that he will.
At that moment, Brian, formerly known as Chris Bradley before having to relocate to hide from the Friends of Humanity, walks in and apologizes for barging in, but he was getting antsy waiting in the other room for them. Suddenly, Brian stops dead in his tracks and looks at Maverick’s face. He is shocked to see that all the scars on his face have healed up. Concerned, Keller asks Maverick if he hasn’t told Brian yet. Confused, Brian asks Maverick what is going on.
To himself, Maverick thinks about how he was able to keep his remission a secret without blatantly lying to Brian, but now he has no choice. Brian is not stupid and knows something is up. What is he to do? Should he tell Brian the truth? Doctor Keller excuses himself from the room to give the two men some privacy. Maverick thinks about making up some elaborate explanation as to why his scars are gone, but then decides that he is sick of lying. He has to fess up and deal with the consequences now.
Maverick breaks the silence and tells Brian that the cat is out of the bag. The boy is still confused and asks Maverick again what is going on. Maverick asks Brian if he remembers how his mutant powers recently resurfaced. Brian recalls and asks what this has to do with anything. Maverick explains that, when his powers came back, they came back with the vengeance and somehow altered his body chemistry. Starting to see where this is leading, Brian asks how his body has changed. Maverick doesn’t even have time to answer when Brian realizes that Maverick is no longer dying of the Legacy Virus.
Maverick confirms this, though it is more complicated than that. He is in remission, but his condition is far from stable. Brian asks Maverick how long he has known. Two weeks, replies Maverick. Brian suddenly feels like an idiot, as he assumed Maverick had been keeping his mask on so he would not see what would happen to him too. Angry, Brain tells Maverick that he never thought to question his motives, especially after that speech Maverick gave about them being friends. Was that all a lie too? Shocked, Maverick tells Brian that they are friends and that he never meant to hurt him. Keeping quiet is no better than lying, replies Brian.
Maverick agrees, but explains that things have been hectic lately for him. More angered, Brian asks if he didn’t have two seconds to tell him that he was cured. That is a load of bull. Did Maverick really think that Brian would be unhappy about this? Maverick explains that it isn’t like that, but Brian interrupts and asks if Maverick thought that he would fall apart after finding out the truth. Brian has news for Maverick: he is nobody’s charity case.
Suddenly, Maverick gets a call. The man on the other end replies that he got the message and demands to know what Maverick wants. Maverick is glad that his contact, Gregor, has responded. He then asks if Elena Ivanova has contacted him in the last twenty-four hours. Gregor confirms this and adds that Maverick’s old partner was there too a few days ago. He wanted a few copies of some maps and, of course, Gregor sold them to him. He was terrified that he was going to be gutted on the spot whether he helped or not.
However, the man didn’t lay a claw on Gregor and simply left. Concerned, Maverick tells Gregor to lock his doors. He will be there as quickly as possible. Gregor admits that he is still scared, but Maverick ends the communication. Maverick apologizes to Brian, but he has to go. Brian tells Maverick coldly that he knows the drill. They will talk later. First, though, Maverick needs to take him home.
In New York City, Gregor Kokoschka hides in his apartment. Many years ago, he broke his ties to the Soviet Union and left his job as a KGB tactical analyst. He fled to America for asylum. After rigorous screening, his request was granted by the United States government. Since then, Gregor has taken a job as a cartographer for the private sector, all the while maintaining some government contracts with the city’s department of public works.
In his apartment, Gregor regrets telling Elena anything about Sabretooth. He is no snitch really, but he owed her a favor. Gregor hopes he didn’t sign his death warrant by helping her. Ever since she came, he hasn’t been able to shake this feeling in his gut. Suddenly, Gregor hears a sound and realizes that Sabretooth is there. The man turns to see the feral mutant in his apartment. Sabretooth laughs and tells Gregor that he is proud. The man played his part well. Gregor is confused, but Sabretooth grabs him by the throat. Gregor should have stuck to his instincts and skipped town when he had the chance. Sabretooth tells Gregor that this isn’t a social call, if he catches his drift. Gregor begs Sabretooth not to kill him, right before the mutant begins to slash him open.
Some time later, Maverick arrives at the apartment of Gregor and recalls how he is one of Elena’s few contacts in the United States. Most of her other associates were called back to Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. It makes sense that she would call Gregor to find Sabretooth. Maverick is just surprised that he was actually able to lead Elena to the murderer’s whereabouts. It’s an odd coincidence that Gregor and Sabretooth even know one another. As Maverick reaches Gregor’s door, he realizes that this smells like a set-up.
Maverick walks into Gregor’s apartment and finds the place trashed. In the center lies the body of Gregor, which has been carefully suspended in an elaborate rope cat’s cradle. Fortunately, Gregor is still alive, but Maverick observes that if the cradle is disturbed then it will choke the man. On the wall is written a message: Come Get Me Rico, if you dare. Maverick notices a standard CIA-issue anti-disturbance mine rigged to the cradle. Maverick realizes that he inadvertently activated it when he walked into the room.
After a tense moment, Maverick is able to position himself on the fire escape outside of Gregor’s window. He pulls out a short stick, which he is able to extend. He carefully maneuvers it through the cradle, making sure he disturbs nothing, as it will set off the bomb. Once it is armed, it will be impossible to disarm. Maverick’s stick reaches the bomb and he is able to disable it from a distance. Suddenly, the cradle safely collapses. Maverick realizes that removing the safety pin did this, and that Creed is toying with him.
Maverick finds that Gregor has fainted. He calls an ambulance and gathers all the information that he needs. He finds the map that Gregor mentioned earlier, which Sabretooth seems to have purposefully left behind. Maverick sees an X marked on the map, which prompts Maverick to wonder why Sabretooth wants him to follow. Maverick suddenly realizes that Sabretooth knows that Elena is after him. He knows about her KGB connections and knew to use Gregor to flush her out. Elena is running straight into an ambush! Creed wants Maverick to know this as part of some twisted game. He is taunting him to save Elena before Sabretooth finds her.
Moments later, in Saint Jean Sur Richelieu, Canada, inventor Isabel Ferguson feeds her baby daughter, Madeline. Madeline throws all her food around, including in her mother’s face. She suddenly gets a call and discovers that it is from Maverick. Worried, Isabel reminds Maverick that she told Michel she would sever all times with him. Why is Maverick calling her now? Maverick tells Isabel that she knows what she told Michel, but he isn’t calling to stir trouble. Elena’s life is at stake and he needs customizes weapons to do this. Isabel asks what kind of hardware he needs, and finds out that Maverick has e-mailed her already with the list.
Isabel ponders about the list and Maverick asks her if there is a problem. Isabel admits that he is requesting some specialized gear, which is very expensive. When does he need it by? Maverick tells her that he needs it now, the latest by the evening. Isabel tells him that it will be difficult. Maverick adds that it isn’t impossible. He already knows that she has couriers who make daily trips into Manhattan. He has the cash to cover any extra expenses. He will wire her the cash after they talk and Michel will never know that this exchange happened. Can she do this for him?
Isabel admits that she is a softie, but pleads to Maverick to never put her in this position again. She cannot keep on doing this. Michel is playing hardball and she doesn’t want to lose custody of Madeline. Maverick tells Isabel that he understands and that he will not bother her ever again… or at least until they have figured out a way to keep her ex-husband from having fits every time he hears Maverick’s name. Maverick thanks Isabel again and tells her to take care.
Elsewhere, Elena Ivanova finds herself seventy stories beneath Manhattan. As she trudges through the sewers, she complains to herself on how exasperating this all is. It was bad enough that she had to wait for all the workers to clear out of the day, but she never realized the sewers were huge. This maze goes on for miles. There are so many passages and interconnecting ducts that it is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Her air tank weighs a lot too, but she cannot afford to ditch it. Gregor did warn her about all the organic waste forming a potentially lethal gas as it decomposes. Sabretooth’s healing factor keeps him safe, even when inhaling hydrogen sulfide or methane, but she isn’t as lucky.
Despite her hatred for Creed, Elena admits that hiding down there is ingenious. The tunnels are not easily accessible to the outside world and conditions make psi-scans inaccurate. Sabretooth also knows that only a fool would bring a conventional weapon down here. With so many highly combustible gases, the whole underground could easily explode. Live ammo is pretty much suicide. That means Elena can only use her psi-powers and a neural disrupter against Sabretooth. That suits her fine. Things will be simpler and primal as they should be. Elena’s mother’s death was the single most traumatic experience in her life. She has looked forward to getting back at Sabretooth for so long. In fact, the anticipation is killing her.
Suddenly, Elena notices something. She aims her flashlight to the side and finds a dead body, hanging from the ceiling. Elena is disgusted to see that Sabretooth has gutted the man. It seems the man knows that she was coming. She has been set up! Angry, Elena screams for Creed to cut to the chase and to show himself. Sabretooth leaps out of the shadows and tells Elena to keep her bravado for someone without hyper-keen senses. He can smell her fear from a mile away.
Elena tells him to shut up but, inside, she knows that her adrenaline is pumping overtime and her heart is racing. Elena tries to keep herself focused. Elena informs Creed that she is putting him out of his wretched existence forever. You and what army, taunts Creed. Elena asks the man if he really thinks he can get away with just slaughtering people, before she pulls out her neural disrupter and fires. Sabretooth evades the fire and tells Elena that no one can stop him. She should have just died with her mother. He supposes it is time he rectified that.
Elsewhere in the tunnels, Maverick makes his way down. He is amazed at the size of the tunnels and recalls once how he read about there being thirty-two million miles of color-coded utility lines running beneath the city. He never believed those figures until now. He might as well as keep track of what colors represent what, which might be an advantage when he fights Sabretooth. It seems that orange is electric, red is gas, yellow is stream, and black is television cable. Lastly there is pink, which Maverick surmises is the phone line.
Maverick finally reaches the bottom and seals up his suit to protect himself from the gases. As he turns on his flashlight, Maverick wonders if Creed knows that he has his powers back. It doesn’t matter, though. Thanks to Isabel, he has a few surprises up his sleeve.
Elsewhere, Sabretooth leaps at Elena and tells her that, when he is done, she is going to wish that she was never born. Elena drops her gun and finds that just trying to survive Sabretooth’s attacks is preventing her from concentrating hard. Elena takes off, realizing that she needs to put a distance between herself and Creed, so she can focus and hit him with a full psionic assault. She hits Creed with a small psychic attack in order to slow him down, but finds that it does very little. Smiling sadistically, Creed tells her that he no longer needs a telepath to satiate his homicidal hunger. Wolverine took care of that when he popped his claws through his head.
Elena succumbs to fear and runs for her life. Sabretooth chases after her and yells that there is no use in running. No matter where she goes, she is his. Unfortunately for Elena, this is true. She reaches a dead end and jumps up to grab onto a suspended ladder. This gives enough time for Sabretooth to catch up to her and to slash her in the back, inadvertently also disconnecting her oxygen tank.
Very close to where Elena is, Maverick continues to trudge through the sewers. Still not spotting her, Maverick wonders if she is even down there. Maybe she realized that it was foolish of her to come down here by herself and went back up to call the cavalry. Realizing how unlikely that is, Maverick forgets the silly notion. Suddenly, he is overcome by pain and collapses.
Maverick gets up and wonders what is happening. It feels as if hot pokers were being jabbed into his head. However, just as suddenly as the pain came it left. This is definitely weird for Maverick. Ever since contracting the Legacy Virus he has had seizures, but nothing like this. He then realizes that he cannot bother himself now with his health problems when Elena’s life is at risk.
With his map, Maverick reaches a fork in the tunnel and follows the correct path. Maverick then reaches a passageway and realizes that according to the map Creed’s lair is through the passageway on the right. He travels through it and is presented with a horrific site. Standing in the tunnel is Sabretooth, who holds by her hair the still body of Elena Ivanova. Creed tells Maverick that he is late as usual. Sabretooth then invites Maverick to join the party. The more the merrier…