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untitled
In an alternate reality, Excalibur, Dominic and the newly captured Newton are led back to the cells after they witnessed what appeared to be the deaths of Newton’s and Dom’s younger siblings Pandora and Rory. Meggan tells the guards to hold on. They have an injured man but Dom assures her he’s okay. The explosion just rattled him. Because Dom was protecting him, Newton moans contritely. He’s meant to protect Dom and the twins… did he see? When his Q-car exploded, they were vaporized.
The guard interrupts that they will pray for such a quick death when Maximus decides upon a fitting punishment for disrupting his entertainment. He’ll have to catch them first, Dominic retorts with a smirk and as if on cue the two guards are taken out by something invisible.
Addressing someone the others don’t see, Dom remarks the collar must have deadened his senses. He never heard them until they rushed the guards. Nah, they’re just getting good! comes the reply, as the twins reveal themselves.
He’s the Crimson Crusader, his sister is Imp, they just love Excalibur’s work, Rory gushes. Pandora adds that they met some other X-Men before. Phoenix commends them on the trick, but wonders how they survived the explosion. That instinct Newton told them about, Rory explains. Somehow their powers recharged and he made a forcefield that protected them from the blast without thinking. While everyone else was recovering they made themselves invisible so they had time to figure things out, Pandora adds.
Rory turns to Captain Britain, intending to get off the slave collar. Nervously, Cap tries to stop him and explains the collars are filled with explosives. No problemo, Rory assures and takes the collars off. He figured out how to make a grenade safe when he was working with his good buddy Spider-Man. By generating a point of intense gravity at the center of the explosive so the detonation can’t reach escape velocity.
The moment the heroes are free, the Inhumans attack. Cap orders the kids back. This is grown-ups’ work!
Flashback:
Always war, always battle…
El Alamein… Passiondale…Balaclava…Delhi, the Sepoy Mutiny… Shanghai, the Opium war … so much violence… so much pain.
Superimposed is the furious face of Walter in his monstrous form.
the present:
Horrified, the Omegan Noe breaks of his psychic probing of the captured Walter. Griffin commends him. Noe has proved that this Destine is at least 200 years old. Far older than he and his freaks will grow to be, Walter snarls. Griffin replies that while his clones may be imperfect, with the DNA of the Destines he will refine the template… then he too will become immortal.
Raee interjects that this is wrong. They worked to cure his albinism, not to torture these people so that he may become superhuman. Griffin admonishes the young woman not to question him, reminding her that he is her creator. His logic has been corrupted by ego and petty emotion, she protests.
The Rory clone warns her to get back. Angrily, she lashes out at him, shouting at him not to touch her. As a syringe is attached to her arm, she inadvertently first scrapes the Rory clone with it and the stabs Griffin. Griffin looks at the scratch with horror. The syringe was filled with the accelerated hybrid genome template. He begins to cry out as energy crackles from his form…
At the Zagross mountains in Iran, Adam tries to brave the energy display to get into Yden. Loudly, he wonders whether this is judgment for slaying their son. Has he proven himself unworthy?
Figures from his past appear. First Al Kadhdhaab, who tells him Adam’s is to be the destiny of which he dreamt… he is not like other men. He was wrong! Adam retorts. In vanity, he believed his lie, but he now knows himself to be as frail as any mortal. Yet though the shape of his sin caused him to neglect his love in his heart he has ever been true!
The spectre disappears to be replaced by Sujana Min Raghbash, who snarls: why does she love you, barbarian? She and he are one, Adam replies. It has always been so. He cries our in pain and passes through the energy wall. It will always be so, unto death.
In another reality, Excalibur and several Destines are battling the horde of Inhumans. For Rory, it is a dream come true as he can fight alongside one of his idols Captain Britain whom he assures that he has his back.
Dom asks Newton if he can’t teleport them out. The circuitry in his portal projector was damaged, the inventor explains. Dom orders him to fix it quick. They are being pushed back into the arena. It feels like a trap.
That moment, Gorgon stamps the ground, taking their balance and the Royal Family attacks, egged on by Maximus. Rory falls and Gorgon is about to stamp his face but desists, realizing he is just a child. This is wrong! he shouts. Maximus directly mentally commands Gorgon to kill him, but he fights back desperately.
Nightcrawler realizes that Maximus is controlling their minds. He teleports upward and tries to slug Maximus. Unphazed the mad villain tosses him aside, boasting they do not know who they challenge.
Unimpressed, Phoenix points out they are no lightweights either as she telepathically attacks. A moment later, she exclaims astonished that this is impossible. He has no psychic shield. Her blast should have put Maximus in a coma. Dominic shouts that he is in a coma. Low blood pressure. Brain cool. Limited nerve impulse… he is a virtual zombie.
Someone is using him as a puppet, Shadowcat concludes. Maybe Tral, Imp suggests. At the mention of that name, all Inhumans shout out No in pain. Imp seems to have hit a nerve with that name. Rachel senses a massively powerful telepathic form attempting to increase control of the Inhumans. She detects it originating from behind the throne wall, behind some heavy shielding.
Cap and Rory tear aside the wall and reveal the monstrous Tral. Calling them fools, he boasts that he has reigned here over six hundred years. None can defy his will. He tries to enslave them, which hits a sour note with Rachel. She was a slave once and won’t be again, she vows as she begins her telepathic duel with Tral in earnest.
Adam has passed the blue energy and hears Yden cry out in torment. Time itself is sundered, revealing shadow of his past. Adam during the crisis when last the land was in the grip of evil. Crying out in pain, he recalls that the land is a part of his beloved, a mirror of her glorious soul. At that the memory, the landscape shifts to an idyllic landscape where his three eldest children, Jasmine, Thaddeus and Albert, still children, are playing.
Undeterred, he stumbles onward toward a building reminiscent of a chapel.
Elsewhere, victory is decided as Tral died because his heart gave out. His whole body was failing though old age, Dominic explains to the others. Kitty asks Imp how she figured out the true villain’s identity. It was just a guess, she admits. Their dad told them about the Inhuman on their Earth. Obviously Tral still being alive is what made this alternative Earth different from others.
Freed from Tral’s thrall, the other members of the Inhuman Royal Family get busy freeing them humans. Medusa and Karnak thank Excalibur and promise they will try their best to make amends.
Standing next to Newton, Captain Britain asks him if his device can help them locate their Earth. Simple, Newton assures him. A simple scan will identify their bodies’ dimensional frequency. Uh-oh! he mutters a moment later. Time to go. He teleports his family members away with no explanation.
What did he say to upset Newton? Rachel asks annoyed. It wasn’t his fault, Cap defends himself. They were good guys, but weird, Nightcrawler muses. That’s for sure, Kitty agrees, nothing like them on their Earth.
A vibrational frequency away. The Destines have retuned to the grounds outside Ravenscroft. Newton explains that Excalibur were from their Earth but their frequency was temporarily misaligned. They were from the past. He is sorry, but the first rule of time travel is not to interact with the past. Great, Rory mutters. Now when they meet Excalibur again, they’ll hate them.
Dom stops them when he sees a weird light emanating from the cottage. Aw nuts, he forgot about the crisis here, Rory remarks, then staggers about as his powers are failing again Not failing, Dom observes. Being drained. By what? Rory asks.
The answer comes when a roaring green being steps outside the house. Dom perceives all kinds of energy flowing into it. And worse, Walter, Sam and Kay are hooked up to it like a battery pack. Rory wants to jump into action but Dom pushes the twins aside as they are almost hit by a light beam, courtesy of the evil clones of Rory, Pandora and Walter.
In Yden, Adam has reached the inside of the chapel to see his wife Elalyth floating helplessly, surrounded by energy. He reaches her and shakes her out of her trance. They kiss passionately and the energy swirling around them begins to glow brighter.
Back at Ravenscroft, the Omegans are unsure what to do. They worry that Griffin is now also absorbing the Destines’ life force, but they don’t know how to stop him.
Griffin gestures and captures Rory and Pandora, while the clones keep Dom and Newton busy. The clone Walter is about to take out his aggressions on Dom when suddenly a glowing hand stops him. Adam has stepped between the two of them. He assures Dom that he is safe now, then uses the energy burning within him to destroy the false Walter, announcing that these obscene monstrosities are an insult that cannot be endured and he has come to reclaim what they stole.
Griffin orders the other clones to stop him. As the twins fly towards Adam, they literally smash into dust against him. Adam informs Griffin that he has violated his family and stolen the essence of what they are to forge his abominable imitations.
Furious, Griffins calls Adam a murderer and tries to attack him. Calmly Adam points out that they were never truly alive. And in their creation Griffin inflicted pain and suffering on those Adam loves. He gestures and the captured Destines are freed. It ends now.
No, Griffin rants, this is the beginning! He is becoming the future. Griffin’s blind ambition has sullied something far beyond his ken, something glorious and good. For choice, Adam would see him die… but in the here and now he is but a conduit of one of infinite mercy… one who has granted Griffin a second chance.
He reduces Griffin back to a baby and hands him to the Omegans, a baby that has blue eyes and is clearly cured of his albinism. He orders the Omegans to not trouble his children any longer, and teleports them away.
What was taken has been restored. In time they will heal, Adam informs his kids. Mum? Pandora asks hesitantly, seeing the smiling figure now standing next to Adam. He tells them to take care of each other and they disappear, leaving only a crater and some energy remnants.
Where did they go? Pandora asks agitated. Walter explains she was never really here. She can’t … They were looking into Yden. While Pandora sniffles upset Newton decides that none of them is hurt badly, but they should all sleep. They’re all exhausted. Dom tells Pandora it will be ok. She knows, she explains. Mum smiled at her.
Later, Walter calls Veronique, telling her he couldn’t call back before due to a family crisis. All back to normal. Is that champagne still on ice? He’ll be there in ninety minutes.
Sam calls him and quietly leads him to the twins’ rooms. Both asleep, Rory with his hero log, Pandora with pictures she drew of her parents. You don’t need psychic powers to know they are happy, the older siblings decide. He has a good feeling Walter announces. Adam is back with Mother, Dom went with Newton to his private little world, Lord knows how he blackmailed Newton to pull that off, and Kay is chasing the nightlife with her vampire coven. Yes, all’s well with the world now, Sam agrees. She thinks it’s safe to relax now.
Outside the cottage, energy rises from the crater Adam left and is absorbed by the ground of Vincent’s grave. His headstone begins to crack…


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[Assistant]
First Night (2nd story)
Second Story :At night, after the X-Men returned safely from battling Krakoa, Xavier sits in his office and thinks about his students. The original team were youngsters, and unsure in their powers; they learned to function as a team for years. The new X-Menm are older, more experienced and loners. It will be difficult to integrate the two groups. Xaviers senses that everyone is still up, despite the hour, and mentally checks on them.
Havok and Lorna are clearing the dishes. Alex says that he only stayed because they were needed, but now with so many members, he can follow other plans like completing his degree. Scott is the superhero in the family, not him, and Lorna agrees. They kiss, and Xavier pulls out, having heard enough.
Upstairs, Jean tries to convince Scott to join the others in the living room, but as always, he turns her down because of his leadership duties. Scott wants to finish his after action report on the X-Men’s battle with Krakoa, and he blames himself that the X-Men were captured so easily in the first place. Jean gets very sad and leaves the mansion. Outside in the owoods, she thinks about their relationship. She knows that Scott loves her, but he never really expresses his feelings, and Jean wonders how much longer she can take this behavior.
In the living room, Banshee is playing piano, while Colossus is drawing sketches of their battle for his little sister. Hidden in the shadows, Kurt congratulates him on his talent, but Piotr is startled by the voice out of nowhere and transforms into steel, thus ripping his shirt. Nightcrawler teleports into a spot where he is easily seen and enjoys himself. Bobbby has been observing them, and says that Kurt looks like a demon. He acts suspicious and says that it would’t be the first time that the X-Men were undermined by some of their enemies. Colossus asks why he is acting so aggressive, in fact they are all X-Men, but Iceman replies that only the originals are the X-Men, and they can’t expect to simply show up and run the place without asking them. Also he insults Colossus' Russian accent. Kurt and Sean back Colossus up, and as he is running out of arguments, Bobby angrily leaves. Colossus thinks about returning to Russia, but Kurt and Sean tell that they will stay, and that he too should, if he wants to develop. Colossus is not fully convinced, but at least wants to try.
Thunderbird is in one of the hallways looking at the many photographs of the originals. He understands that they are really close and it will be difficult to get accepted as one of them. Right then Bobby passes by. John tries to be friendly and asks for a tour through the mansion, but Iceman says that all doors are labeled so he could explore the rooms himself. As John tries to calm him down, Iceman encases him in a block of ice. Proudstar flexes his muscles and easily gets out, saying that he is here on Xavier’s invitation. If Bobby can’t handle their presence then it’s his problem.
In the woods, Jean is lost in her thoughts, as suddenly Logan appears behind her. She did not recognize his presence and is amazed by him. Logan says that he is attracted to her, and from her pounding heart and fast breathing he can tell that the feeling is mutual. Jean hesitates, but then says he is mistaken.
Ororo is soaring through the sky, exploring her new home. She is joined by Warren who tells her she is beautiful and Storm gives back the compliment. Warren then tries to flirt with Ororo, but she is not familiar with the concept and does not understand what the Angel is talking about. Suddenly Warren spots something below and dives down. He pulls Logan away from Jean, concerned that he was about to hurt her. Jean puts him back in his place, explaining that they were only talking, but the two men are too enraged and a fight starts. Jean places a telekinetic shield between them, but Logan gets mad and uses his claws. Finally they are separated by a lightning bolt from Ororo. She then calls up a shower to cool the tempers, but Warren still is upset, saying that Xavier must be crazy to allow such a lunatic into the school. Ororo says that Angel condemns easily but actually he struck the first blow. Logan is somewhat depressed. He tells Jean that Warren is possibly right, in fact he has killed in the past and probably not worthy of her attention. Jean however tells him otherwise and welcomes him to the team.
At dawn she enters Xavier’s office, who congratulates her on how she handled the two hotheads. In the professor’s opinion Wolverine is worth the effort, in time he might become a keystone of the team. Jean regrets that she won’t be there to watch, as she will leave the X-Men. She loves Scott, but can’t deny a certain attraction to Logan and also she wants to explore her other plans and dreams. She wants to marry, have a family, explore the world and live among humanity. Xavier understands and wishes her all the best.


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The Doomsmith Scenario ! (1st story)
First Friends (2nd story)
First Story :This main story reprints X-Men (1st series) #94.However there are some additional pages to the first chapter.A one page collage of Danger Room training has been replaced by two pages of Cyclops lecturing the importance of teamwork and various training sessions.Cyclops and Xavier talk about the progress that the new team is making. Most are doing fine, but Scott is convcerned about Logan and Thunderbird. They both have hot tempers and are always in competition. He knows that reaching them would need all his devotion, but Cyclops wonders how he then could continue his relationship with Jean. He doesn’t want to lose her.In Scotland, young Rhane Sinclair has missed the school bus, and Moira MacTaggert offers her to join her on her horse. Suddenly they are intercepted by Reverend Craig. He tells Rhane to get down and tells Moira that his ward can walk on her feet, they certainly don’t need help from the Kinross Clan. Moira feels sad for the little orphan girl, that is forced to live with the Reverend.Right then Moira receives a telegram from Xavier, asking her to come to America.Ororo finds Thunderbird leaping from a cliff, and pulls him to safety with a gust of wind. He saw Logan make the jump and he wanted to prove he could do it too. Storm tells him that Wolverine has unbreakable bones, and that he shouldn’t overexhaust himself. Thunderbird wants to be left alone.Second Story :Storm is flying over New York City. She wonders how eight million people can live in these towers of steel and glass and even call them home. Finally she recognizes Jean’s appartment from the description and lands on the terrace. Jean welcomes her, and shows her around in her new appartment. It used to be an artists studio, and she never could afford the rent alone, that’s why she is sharing the flat with a private investigator named Misty Knight. Both Ororo and Jean are quite nervous, but they want to get to know each other better, as they aren’t too many female X-Men.Jean expects Misty to be home soon and asks Ororo to change out of costume, as she doesn’t want their secret ID’s exposed. Storm activates the unstable molecules of her costume with a flash of lightning and stands there naked – making Jean spill her costume. From Jean’s expression Ororo understands that she did something unusual and explains that her powers keep her warm, and that being nude was natural in africa. Jeamn senses from her thoughts that Ororo really is not bothered by exposing herself like this, yet she tells her that in Amerioca she would draw attention and gives her one of her dresses. Misty comes home and introduces herself, she would like to chat with Ororo, but Jean says that they have to hurry and buy some new clothes for her.Much later, the two women are carrying lots of bags and are enjoying some ice cream. Suddenly a skateboarder attacks them from behind, grabs Jean’s purse and hurries away. Jean tells Ororo to watch the bags and follows him. There are too many thoughts in the crowd to get a fix on him, but Jean sees him entering a subway station, and follows. Ororo has picked up all the bags and attempts to go after her friend, but seeing the stairs leading sown to the darkness, she hesitates.Downstairs, Jean grabs the thief, as suddenly a train arrives and dozens of passengers rush outside. Jean is overwhelmed by the multitude of thoughts and emotions, and needs a moment to filter them out. In the meantime the kid is gone. Jean is angry at herself for letting the guard down, and returns to the street, where Ororo is still standing. She asks why she didn’t help, but the image in Ororo’s mind is so strong that she picks it up telepathically. As a child Storm was buried, with her mother dying by her side. Jean feels sorry for her, but now Ororo gets angry, feeling the privacy of her mind was violated. She lashes out with a hurricane, and takes to the air, but Jean follows by levitating herself. In the sky she apologizes and explains that sometimes the images are too strong and she can’t help but to read the minds of the people around her. They make up and land near their packages. Most of them have been damaged by Storm’s hurricane, but it’s no matter – as they have found a new friend. Jean takes Ororo’s hand and they enter the subway station together.


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Warhunt ! (1st story)
Mourning (2nd story)
First Story :This main story reprints X-Men (1st series) #95.However there are some additional pages.Cyclops remembering the events of last issue were left out, instead this space and an additional page show Nefaria talking to a government official by the name of Heggadorn via video screen. Nefaria tells him to pay the ransom or else the Doomsmith System won’t be stopped. Afterwards Cat-Man of the Ani-Men shows concern and asks Nefaria if he really will allow mass destruction or if he is only bluffing. Nefaria ensures him that the government will pay.Another sequence is added when the X-Men are about to enter the Valhalla base. The original plot contained a dangler / error, as Nightcrawler usually doesn’t dare to teleport to unknown places out of fear of materializing within something solid. In the added panels, Banshee uses his abilities as sonar to tell Kurt where he should teleport to.Second Story :Xavier is sitting in his wheelchair, in the beautiful landscape of New Mexico, lost in his thoughts. The X-Men have come here to bury John Proudstar. Jean Grey joins him, telling that she knows how the Professor is feeling. He stayed in mental contact with Thunderbird while he died, and years ago she experienced the same when her childhood friend Annie was run over by a car. Suddenly they are called back to the main building of the reservate.Piotr has discovered that John Proudstar’s body has been stolen from the coffin. Nightcrawler is shocked, as are most of the others, though Storm says that the spirit has long passed; violence on his body can no longer harm him, only those responsible. They decide to call the police, but Proudstar’s parents ask them not to. They thank the X-Men for having returned them their son’s body, but they would now prefer them leaving and letting them alone. Kurt wonders why they don’t care, but Ororo says that from their looks it’s obvious they do, only not as he would, but in their own way. Still Logan decides to find out what happened and tracks Proudstar’s scent, the other X-Men following and Jean and Xavier staying by the car.Walking through the desert, Logan scouts ahead and finds not only Thunderbird’s scent, but a similar one, his brother’s. He gets angry as Banshee continues to soar above, since his sonic scream alerts anybody of their coming. Miles behind, Nightcrawler and Colossus start complaining about the heat and Cyclops offers that they could return and wait with Jean and Xavier, but they refuse, since they are a team.(flashback)Weeks ago, Thunderbird was hitting a punching bag in the Danger Room, and Nightcrawler made fun of him that the bag would never cross words with him again. Thunderbird got even more angry and hit the punching bag so hard that it was hurled across the room. Colossus caught it and asked why he pushing himself so hard and constantly trying to prove himself. John answered that he kept asking himself why he was among the X-Men and if they had to battle villains for the rest of their lives. Nightcrawler asked if he truly felt that way, why stay, and Thunderbird wasn’t sure, probably because he got nowhere else to go.(present)Kurt gives himself a hard time. If he had listened closer, spent more time with him, things could have turned out differently. Storm flies above them and calls up a rain shower to cool them down. She says that Logan has already reached the mountains far head, impressing Scott. Ororo says that all of them are full of surprises.(flashback)Ororo had refused the room Xavier offered her, and instead settled in the school’s attic, which she quickly filled with plants reminding her of her african home. One evening she suddenly got aware of Thunderbird in her room, trying to prove that he could sneak in as secretly as Logan. Ororo asked why he was constantly competing, and John said that he can’t allow to let his guard down. Storm said that there was nothing to fear from her or the plants, but Thunderbird replied that plants can also be a jungle, and that beauty would lure one into a false sense of security. Ororo asked him about his home, about family and friends, and Thunderbird confessed that he could not wait to leave New Mexico, but when he did, he missed it. Surely he has family, but his friends he had to leave in the jungle.(present)In the mountains James Proudstar is giving his older brother a warrior‘s funeral, he is meditating, singing and dancing next to the body that is laid out on a wooden construct. Logan has been watching for an hour, and he is waiting for the others to catch up so that they can leave. Suddenly he finds a box that James must have thrown away. It contains medals and a picture of John and other soldiers in Vietnam. Logan understands that John must have lied about his age to join the army, and that the experiences in the war hardened him to become the bitter person the X-Men met. He goes back to his teammates and they return home.At the gravesite, James is holding one of his brother’s costumes and swears vengeance. Xavier called his brother Thunderbird, and it will be another Thunderbird who will claim Xavier’s life as payment for John’s death.


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My Brother, My Enemy ! (1st story)
Prison Of The Heart (2nd story)
First Story :This main story reprints X-Men (1st series) #97, However there are two additional pages :One page shows Alex wandering around in the mountains of Rio Diablo, thinking to himself: He randomly blasts bits of rock with his powers, and is quite happy with his live and his relationship with Lorna. He then hears her scream and runs back.The other added page is in the middle of the battle at the airport. Alex briefly snaps out of the mental control and fights Eric the Red, but he gets zapped by his hypno ray again, ensuring his loyalty.Second Story :Piotr is at Brighton Beach in Brooklyn and marvels at the cultural change he has experienced by coming to New York. He knew everybody in the collective he grew up in, and the tallest building he knew would not even be recognized in the skyline of New York, a city filled with eight million people. Here in “Little Odessa“, he at least gets reminded of his native russia, as he can taste the food and hear people talking russian with each other. Piotr is drawing a sketch of two men playing chess, as he suddenly gets aware of a girl being kidnapped.He jumps on the car that the girl has been pulled into and switching to steel form, he hammers through the roof. The gangsters shoot at him but the bullets bounce off his metallic hide. The driver thinks he can loose Colossus by running the car into a wall, but Piotr is unharmed and he lifts the front wheels in the air, so the car can’t move. The men call him a freak and decide to run away; Colossus doesn’t follow as he wants to check on the girl, who is unconscious in the back seats.Colossus reverts to human before she wakes up. He introduces himself and she thanks him for saving her. They return to the beach and the chessplayers have kept an exe on Piotr’s bag and sketches. They say that he is very talented and the girl, Anya Makarova agrees. She says she knows abouts art, as she is a famous prima ballerine. That too is the reason why she was abducted, she escaped to the US, but the russians are trying to get her back. Piotr doesn’t know what to make of it, he could never think of defecting from Russia, but Anya says the entire world is her home, and she has to do what her heart tells her.Later he visits the ballett she stars in and it’s an outraging performance. The crowd cheers at their newest star, and Piotr is told to wait for Anya at the backstage entrance. After two hours she comes out, holding a large bouquet of flowers. Piotr too has a present, a drawing of her while dancing. Anya is impressed and they start to fall in love. They spend the entire night walking around and talking and in the morning they again reach the beach of “Little Odessa“.They are met by the gangsters again, trying once more to kidnap Anya. Colossus transforms to steel and tosses them around, till they give up and run away. Turning back to Anya, Piotr finds that she is terrified of him. She says that he is not human and that he lied to her by pretending to be something he is not. Piotr says that it doesn’t matter, she should only look into his heart, but Anya gives him back his picture and says that a man of steel has no heart.Colossus stays at the same spot of the boardwalk for the rest of the day, thinking. Finally as it is night once more, he tears the drawing apart and says that Anya is wrong.


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Like A Phoenix, From The Ashes ! (1st story)
The Gift (2nd story)
First Story :This main story reprints X-Men (1st series) #101, however there are three additional pages covering the time between the scenes at Kennedy airport and the hospital :While Nightcrawler extends the range of his image inducer to render the X-Men invisible to the firefighters and medics, Peter Corbeau lets himself get found as the sole survivor of the crash. He makes up a story about the space station having been hijacked by terrorists, and all of the crew besides himself were killed. Storm uses her powers to blow the smoke in their directions, so that the X-Men can leave secretly.Storm flies to the mansion and swiftly packs some civilian clothes for everyone to wear. She flies back to meet with the others in Manhattan. Along the way she thinks about Jean and wionders what happed to her, if she now is no more a human being, but a goddess like she was worshipped in Afrika.The X-men take a limousine to New York hospital, where Xavier has friends among the staff. He uses his telepathy to ensure that the driver thinks of them as a normal fare. Cyclops wonders how they will take off Phoenix’s costume for examination, as it is appartently one pice from neck to toe. Suddenly the costume changes into normal clothes. Xavier is impressed by this act of molecular reorganisation.Second Story :It’s 3 a.m., and the X-Men are at New York hospital, waiting for any news on Jean’s status. Their teammate and friend remains unconscious in a coma and it is unknown if she will survive. The X-Men are either asleep or lost in thoughts. Kurt looks out of the window and sees a young boy sitting on a bench beneath a tree. He wonders what a child is doing out there at this time and decides to investigate. He teleports out, on top of a street lamp and watches as the boy gets spooked by a bird that was making noise in the tree. The kid gets angry at the biord, and also is happy that noone was around to see and laugh at him, but suddenly Kurt laughs on top of the lamp. With his dark skin, the X-Man is barely visible and suddenly he teleports away, only to appear behind the boy and now looking human thanks to the image inducer.He asks what the boy is doing there in the middle of the night, and he replies that he is waiting for someone. Kurt assumes that a relative or a friend must be a patient in the hospital, and asks him to get inside, but the boy says that kids aren’t allowed into the hospital, only when they are sick. Kurt is unsure what to do, he can’t leave the child there, but he doesn’t where he belongs. A security guard finds them, and says that the plaza is closed for the night and they should go elsewhere.Kurt takes the boy to the hospital’s cafeteria. They introduce each other, the boy says his name is Daniel Cameron. Kurt offers him cocoa and food, but the boy doesn’t want any. Kurt tells him that a good friend of him is in the intensive care ward in critical condition, yet she is lucky in some way, as she is unconscious and doesn’t have to spend the time waiting. Daniel says that it isn’t much better when you are sick, only there is more at stake than losing a friend. Kurt understands that the boy must have been sick himself, and says that he really shouldn’t be up and around at that time, but Daniel replies that he was the perfect little boy who stayed hom his whole life, though it didn’t do him any good. When asked about his parents, he says that they know where he is. Kurt doesn’t believe him, and says that he will take him home.Yet they can’t find a taxi, but when Daniel says that it isn’t far, they decide to walk. Nothing that Kurt says seems to reach the boy, but then he has an idea. He tells him of the circus and to prove he walks on his hands. Daniel is impressed, but then suddenly runs into Central Park, saying that it’s a short cut. Kurt teleports across the park and waits for Daniel to show up. The boy sure is suprised, but runs one more, only to find Kurt again waiting for him on a bench. Daniel finally stops and asks how he manages to outrun him every time and Kurt says it‘s magic. Kurt then pulls a few tennis balls from his pocket and starts juggling, and he makes the boy try it too.Time passes and the sun rises. Danial is trying to hard and can’t juggle, but Kurt tells him to try once more before the go and this time he manages to keep the three balls up. Finally Kurt has achieved what he was trying to do, Daniel is laughing. He takes him home, and they agree to meet later again at the hospital. Right before the boy goes inside, Kurt asks him to stop. He switches off the image inducer and reveals his true appearance. Daniel is not shocked at all, in fact he finds it impressive and fantastic. They hug, and Daniel says that Kurt’s friend at the hospital will be fine.Later that day, Kurt is at the hospital and asks a nurse about Daniel Cameron, but she says that he is too late. The boy died of cancer the last night. Kurt understands that he was talking to a ghost, and that it was not him who cheered up the child, but the other way around.


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[Assistant]
The Fall Of The Tower (1st story)
Hope (2nd story)
First Story :This main story reprints X-Men (1st series) #103, however there are two additional pages :The first additional scene shows Xavier at the hospital in New York, feeling Storm’s agony as she is tortured by Black Tom. He tries to summon Cyclops, but again sees the alien figure. He rages out at the figure, stating that he wants to be left alone, but actually it’s moira MacTaggert he is yelling at. Moira comforts him, as Xavier fears he is going mad.The other page is just an extension of Storm battling the castle blasters and Colossus getting thrown rocks at by Juggernaut.Second Story :Writer Phil Halloran is having a blockade. For over a week he has been unable to write anything useful and his editor keeps calling him to remind him of the deadline. Phil keeps staring at the white page in front of him, and finally has enough. He throws his typewriter of the desk, and wonders why he doesn’t care anymore. He sits in the darkness for some time, hoping that anything would change, but it doesn’t, so he leaves. He takes a walk through London and thinks of happier days, when words came to him like breathing. It didn’t matter where he was, as in his imagination he could go anywhere and write about it.Phil passes a newstand, the headline reads “Woman Killer Escapes“. Wandering around the city, Phil Halloran finds himself at GPO tower, the tallest building in London. Phil remembers that his parents had promised him to have a birthday dinner in the restaurant in the top of the tower, but unfortunately it was closed because of continued threats of terrorist bombing. Phil tries the door and finds it open, so he ventures inside. Usually he would obey the rules and not break the law, but he doesn’t care anymore. Philö explores the tower and wonders where the guards are. He checks the view acrtoss London from the former restaurant, but finds it’s not worth the anticipation. He finds another stairway, leading to the roof. He ventures near the edge and thinks about jumping off, the fantasy charcters he writes about can fly, and he has always wanted to try it himself.A voice from above warns him that he might fall off. It’s Storm, who is just flying by. She lands at the roof and they talk. She recognizes him as the famous writer whose stories she has only recently discovered, but Phil asks her to leave him alone. Ororo replies that she senses deep sadness within him and thinks it’s her responsibility from one human being to another to reach out and help. She explains that in her life she has seen death many times and also thought of giving in, but it’s better to fight and live and create and grow. The end will come quickly enough anyway, so why hurry it along. Halloran asks what to do when one no longer can create and grow, and Storm takes Phil into the air.At first he screams and shouts, but when he gets used to it, he enjoys floating high above London. He wonders why they aren’t freezing as it’s winter, and Storm explains that she has complete control over the elements and that she calls up warm winds. However for all her power she can only show the beauty of nature first hand, but she can’t describe it with words – that is Phil’s gift. As they land again on the tower, Phil says that he can’t write anymore, so he lost his gift. Ororo suggests that he finds something else to do, but Phil compares it to Ororo having taken away her powers. Could she truly live a normal life and deal with the loss ?As she doesn’t respond, Phil looks around and finds her lying on the ground, a man in a guard’s uniform standing over here. He knocked her down with a riot stick. Phil sees how poorly the uniform fits, and remembering the news stories he realizes that this is the serial killer that is on the loose. The killer says that he is right, but why should he care as he was about to kill himself. They should both mind their own business and he drags Storm inside. Phil is left behind. He finds Storm’s tiara with blood on it, and wonders what to do. She stopped by because of him, but if he tries to help he might get killed , yet isn’t that what he wants ? If he saves her, Storm will stop him from commiting suicide.Phil makes his choice and goes after them. He finds the killer about to do some nasty things to Ororo and fights with him, though is loosing. Ororo comes around and barely conscious she manages to manifest a lightning. Then she blows the killer into a wall. Phil tells her to rest as she has a concussion. He will tie up the killer and call the police and an ambulance. Weakly Ororo asks what he will do afterwards, and he says it’s his life and he can do with it what he pleases. She reminds him that while he lives there is always hope, always possibilities. Phil Halloran walks away still unsure which choice he will make.


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[Assistant]
The Gentleman’s name is Magneto (1st story)
 A Fire in the Night (2nd story)
First story :This main story reprints X-Men (1st series) #104, however there are three additional pages to the first chapter:After the X-Men’s hovercraft explodes, the metal parts proceed to attack the X-Men. Storm is grabbed by tentacles and almost drowns, until Wolverine cuts her loose, sneaking in a kiss in the process (only to share oxygen, of course). Nightcrawler, who finds that some force is preventing him from teleporting is saved by Banshee, until both are drenched by a huge wave. The spectacle is watched by Magneto via a screen. Sitting in what appears to be Xavier’s office on Muir Island, he muses about the new team’s powers and skills and admits that he could kill them now, but wants it to be personal. Taking a picture of Charles that shows Xavier, Magneto and Gaby Haller during the early days in Israel when they were still friends, he calls Xavier a fool and claims that Xavier was trying to use his powers back then to influence Magneto. He has learned the hard way that he is the only hope for mutantkind and all traitors, such as the X-Men, will receive the fate they deserve, Magneto swears.
Second story :
Paris, the city Magneto came to after being turned back into an adult by Eric the Red. He tosses and turns in his bed, drowning in memories. Eric the Red restored him to the prime of life, but the price is a flood of memories, exploding from a mind as keenly rejuvenated as the body that houses it.
Dream/memoriesIn his dreams, Magneto is back in the death camp, Auschwitz, at the end of World War II. The Nazi guards knew that the war was as good as lost and were determined not to leave any witnesses. As one of the guards is about to shoot an emaciated young woman, the equally emaciated Magneto hits the Nazi from behind with a piece of wood. He grabs the gun, takes the woman by her hand and they make their escape. Some distance away from the camp, they huddle exhaustedly around a campfire young Magneto built for them. Magda wonders if they will survive, weak as they are, if there even is a point: her whole family, everyone she knew died in the gas chambers. She doesn’t want to be alone. Magneto urges her to not give up and promises to protect her as he did in the camp.
The couple wanders south into the Carpathian Mountains, where Magneto finds work and friends. Eventually, he and Magda learn to live again, they fall in love, get married and have a daughter, Anya.
Magneto is a highly intelligent man with an insatiable hunger for knowledge. So, a few years later, the small family moves away from their village and to the Ukrainian city, Vinnitsa, in the Soviet Union, hoping to win a place at the university. Magneto leaves his family at their new one-room apartment to look for a job and finds work at a construction site. However, his boss tries to cheat him out of money. As Magneto protests, a crowbar suddenly flies towards the other man. Scared, he gives him the rest of the money.
Magneto is still mulling over the incident as he reaches the inn where they live, only to see that a fire has broken out on their floor. Anxiously, he runs inside to find Magda, who has just come back from shopping for supper, but the child is still upstairs.
Frantically, the couple wondered what to do. As he flames close in on them, Magneto instinctively raises up a force bubble to protect them from the fire and the falling wreckage. They run outside. A frightened Anya leans out of their room’s window, calling out to her parents. Magneto realizes that he can save his daughter with that newly found power of his. But, as he still wonders how to make the power work, he is suddenly grabbed by policemen, who accuse him of extortion and assault.
Over his protests that he has to save his daughter, the men repeatedly hit him, while his boss from the construction site looks on and mocks him. The burning child finally jumps from the room and the foreman cynically gives his condolences. The world blacks out for Magneto as he shouts out his denial. When he can think clearly again, everybody on the street save for him and Magda is dead. The horrified Magda shouts that he isn’t human, that he is a monster and runs away in terror.
(present)In his bed, Magneto awakes from his dream, remembering how much that day hurt, how he was too weak to follow Magda until it was too late. They never saw each other again. Magneto looks out of the window to see a burning building across the street. He assumes that the smell of smoke prompted his dream. He sees a family in an upper story apartment calling for help and realizes that the fire brigade won’t be in time. Not his problem, he tries to convince himself, as he draws his curtains shut. He only cares about his people, Homo Sapiens Superior, after all.
Across the street the desperate mother decides to jump with her child, preferring a quick death and hoping her body will shield the child from the impact. But, at that moment, the walls explode inwards and Magneto enters protected by a forcefield. He extends the field to the family and lowers them all safely to the street, secretly wishing that he had such skill a lifetime ago. How different the world would have been. The husband hurries to thank Magneto telling him he can never repay him. Actually, he can, Magneto replies, by telling the world that Magneto the villain, the terrorist, the mutant, saved the family, that he chose life over death. As Magneto leaves, the man stats that Magneto may be all those things, but first and foremost he has prove himself to be a man.


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[Assistant]
Phoenix unleashed! (1st story)<BR> Lifesigns (2nd story)
First story :This story is a reprint of X-Men (1st series) #105.
There are, however, three additional pages.
After their fight with Magneto, the X-Men fly back to New York City on Cyclops’ orders. The team – especially Wolverine – is still angry that Cyclops ordered them to run from Magneto, but Cyclops reminds him that Professor Xavier’s life is in danger.
In space, Lilandra still finds herself chased by her mad brother’s troops, afraid that she cannot withstand more enemy fire.
In Jean’s apartment building, Xavier again experiences what Lilandra does, still believing these images to be nightmares. Jean shakes him out of his reverie, worrying about his seizures. She comforts him, telling him that if this is some sort of attack then they will face it together. She asks him if he still wants to spend the evening with her and her folks. Xavier assures her that he wouldn’t miss it for the world. Telekinetically, Jean transports him up to her fifth floor apartment. Both are unaware that they are being watched by Eric the Red, who swears that Xavier will die soon and, with him, Princess Lilandra’s last hope.
Second story :Jean Grey is spending the weekend with her roommate, Misty Knight, her partner, Colleen Wing, and Misty’s boyfriend, Danny Rand AKA Iron Fist, at Danny’s beach house.It’s late at night. Jean sits at the beach, staring into the fire they built, perceiving electrons spinning around atomic nuclei, all the building blocks of life. Ever since she recently became Phoenix, every experience has been brand-new to her.
Nearby, Misty Knight reaches the shore after her swim and sinks down exhausted, already half-asleep. Too tired to shut off her telepathy, Misty’s thoughts are an open book for Jean. As Misty drowsily wonders where Danny and Colleen are, Jean automatically send her images of the two others in the house gathering a midnight snack. Misty starts to dream and Jean watches as, in her friend’s dream, the beach gives way to the city, gloomier and more threatening than it could be in reality, filled with danger and predators. In one of the alleyways stands Colleen in a Japanese-style battle outfit, katana drawn. She tells Misty that this is their world. They are the Daughters of the Dragon. It is up to them to protect the helpless from the sharks.
Energy seems to crackle from Colleen’s hands and Misty suddenly stands clad in a warrior outfit, similar to Colleen’s. She hesitates. She knows that Colleen wants her to be like herself; a born warrior with armor around her heart and soul. But part of her looks the other way. To see Daniel Rand aka Iron Fist in a lovely landscape: His world is as filled with joy and possibilities as Colleen’s seems bereft of them. Misty reaches for Danny with her other arm, half of her armor giving way to a summer dress, yet she cannot abandon Colleen. As she is torn between her two loves and her two worlds, a voice demands what about her? Before Misty, the full-fledged Phoenix effect manifests, as Phoenix asks where she fits in. Misty finds herself crying out "What are you?" "A friend who needs a friend," Jean replies, but Misty wakes with a cry of denial on her lips.
Jean pretends not to have perceived any of this, even though she can probably "hear" of thoughts and feelings Misty isn’t even aware she has. Before, so total a psi-scan was beyond her capabilities. Now, it has become as natural as breathing and she is terribly aware how thin the line between looking and manipulating is.
Jean asks Misty what’s wrong. "You," the other woman replies bluntly and huddles close to the fire opposite Jean. Misty tells Jean that, while they haven’t known each other long, she figures they’ve become good friends, but lately Jean has changed. When Misty visited Jean in the hospital, Jean asked her how she’d feel if she’d died and brought herself back to life. That’s what happened to Jean, hasn’t it? Jean agrees, though she concedes that she doesn’t remember much. She’s no longer the woman she was. She feels like Jean, but there’s always a "but" and that scares her.
Jean’s attention is suddenly diverted. Telepathically, she perceives a cry for help, a family being cruelly attacked at sea. She tries to pinpoint the threat but finds its consciousness too primitive to influence. Instead, she runs for Danny’s boat and telekinetically starts its motor. Misty shouts at her to wait – she can’t go alone. Instead, Jean grabs Misty telekinetically and takes her along. In a matter of minutes, they have reached the right position. Misty wonders why she neither hears nor sees anybody, but Jean does. She tells Misty to stay put and dives into the sea.
Alone, Misty is nervous. She hates the ocean. She hates the waiting. Suddenly, she sees a shark fin and cries out a warning for Jean. There’s no answer. Assuming Jean didn’t hear, Misty dives into the sea to cover for her friend, thinking that Jean seems to have limitations after all. She punches the shark’s nose with her super-strong, bionic arm. Instead of giving up, though, the beast rams into her back. Disoriented, Misty sinks again, floating straight towards the shark. But then, out of nowhere, a dolphin comes, hitting the shark’s side again and again until it loses interest in Misty.
Relieved, Misty climbs aboard the motorboat to find a worried Jean waiting for her. They are joined by the dolphin and Jean tells Misty that she was too far away and too busy to help, so she asked the dolphin to pitch in. Sharks are their enemies and, since Jean and Misty were risking their lives for his family, he wanted to return the favor. Misty finally realizes that this rescue mission was about saving dolphins. Angrily, she asks Jean whether she just almost got killed for a bunch of fish? Jean corrects her. Dolphins are highly intelligent mammals, not fish. Misty’s still not convinced that they are worth a human life. That’s a matter of perspective, Jean replies and then places Misty’s consciousness in rapport with the dolphin allowing her to experience the dolphins’ lives and way of being. With them, she realizes there is a harmony to the world, where everything including the shark has its place. And, Jean concludes, bringing Misty back, everything has its place, including Phoenix. Misty’s still scared of her friend’s power. But she’s stuck with it, Jean explains. That’s why she needs a friend to accept her as she is. After what she’s experienced that evening, Misty cannot refuse her.


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[Assistant]
Armageddon Now! (1st story)
 Starjammers aloft (2nd story)
First story :This story is a reprint of X-Men (1st series) #108. There are, however, three additional pages:While Corsair still struggles with the realization that the unconscious Cyclops is his son, Phoenix enters the M’Kraan crystal, fearing what she is trying to do is mad and realizing she is holding the universe’s fate in her hand.
She finds that, in spite of all her power, she can not quite manage to fix the lattice holding back the neutron galaxy until she mind-links with all the X-Men, giving her the strength she needs to re-energize the energy matrix. As she calls out in triumph, she suddenly sees a vision of the other half of her being, the half that will one day become Dark Phoenix. Angrily, she denies this part and, as she leaves the crystal exhausted, she no longer remembers what she saw.
Second story :Somewhere on a Shi’ar penal colony, Christopher Summers is one of the prisoners put to do hard work. His current fate a stark contrast to science fiction adventures he dreamt of as a boy. Suddenly, a Mephisitoid female runs out of one of the many caves, followed by two guards. The woman crashes into Chris and both fall. While one of the guard grabs the women, the other swats Chris aside, before cruelly hitting the woman threatening that they’ll devour her alive. Chris unexpectedly protests that they can’t do that.
Punishment follows immediately as the fatter guard hits him with a neuro-lash, a device that causes extreme agony without actually causing physical damage. He grabs the crouching human by the throat, asking if he’s learned his lesson. Chris utters a weak “yessir” and the guard throws him down, calling him “grub” and ordering him to clean up his mess. They leave with their prisoner having lost all interest in him, gloating that his spirit is broken. More shamed by their comment than physically hurt, Chris remembers a happier time.
(flashback)Major Chris Summers, his wife Kate and their two sons, Scott and Alex, were flying out to his parents in Anchorage. Scott curiously asked if it was true that his father was going to become an astronaut. Chris told him he’d been selected for the program – a big first step, so maybe one day soon “Corsair” would be waving hello from the moon. “Corsair “ was his fighter call sign, an homage to the freebooting swashbucklers of old. He never dreamed that he’d fall victim to one, as their private plane was grabbed by a tractor beam. Since the plane only had a single parachute, Kate strapped Scott into it and told him to hold onto his brother.
A little later, prisoners aboard the Shi‘ar ship, the two parents saw in horror how their sons’ parachute caught fire, believing their sons to be doomed. They learned that the ship was collecting zoological specimen for the emperor’s collection. D’Ken took a fancy to Kate. Corsair tried to fight him and to punish him D’Ken murdered Kate and had Chris sent to the mineworld, Alsibar.
In the beginning, he fought, but eventually he realized that there was no escape from a prison that spanned an entire world and he resigned until he saw the courage of the catwoman, which recalled all the dreams and memories he was trying to forget.
(present)Suddenly, Chris is broken out of his reverie as a giant reptile being crouches in front of him greeting him politely, at his side a cyborg warrior. Chris reacts panicked. The reptile introduces himself as Ch’od and his friend as Raza, telling him that they are looking for their friend, the catwoman. They’d followed her trail to this tunnel. Has he seen her? Chris stutters out in half sentences that he has seen nothing and has work to do.
The two men know that he lies, probably because of the Neuro-lash, Ch’od realizes, feeling sorry for him. Raza reasons they should put him out of his misery or he might betray them to the guards. Ch’od tells him that wouldn’t make them better than their foes. Occasionally, it is better to do the foolish thing and show mercy. They leave the tunnel while Raza tells his friend that they are not doing the man a kindness. Whatever he was, he is now no more than a grub. This insult hits a nerve with Chris, as he shouts out his denial.
Later, in the guards cavern, the female prisoner has been chained to the wall, while her friends are hiding above in the shadows. Raza points his friend’s attention to Chris, who is nearing the guards, no doubt to betray them. Ch’od, however, feels there is something unusual about the man’s aura.
Chris finds that the guards are ignoring him as he sneaks up to he woman, a “grub” being beneath their attention. Suddenly, he stabs one of the guards into the back with the crystal blade he carved, then grabs his neuro-whip and uses it against the others, knowing that he stands no chance. Another guard jumps at him, knife in hand but, before he reaches Chris, Ch’od and Raza interject, deciding the fight in their favor. Chris runs to free the woman. When she asks him why he helped, he tells her that he doesn’t know himself, but that something in him snapped and he remembered that he was a man, for what’s that worse. It’s worth the world to her, she states, there’s a blood bond between them now. They are comrades until death, which probably won’t be very long in coming though.
The other guards will never quit hunting them after they killed some of them, she predicts. Their only hope is to leave the world, but for that they’d need a pilot. He’s a pilot, Chris offers. He could learn how to fly a starship and he’d like to accompany them if they’ll have him. The others quickly agree and ask what his name his. Chris tells them to call him “Corsair.”


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[Assistant]
Magneto Triumphant! (1st story)
Stalking Life (2nd story)
First story :This story is a reprint of X-Men (1st series) #112. There are, however, three additional pages.
A two-page spread shows the thoughts of the eight assembled X-Men and also those of Magneto, as the protagonists face each other at the beginning of the issue. Magneto feels he is a fool to challenge the X-Men so soon after his resurrection. He defeated them in their previous encounter but only the five newest members and only by catching them by surprise. Now, he faces the full complement of Xavier’s accursed students. However, he wonders what use is a restoration to youth and vigor if he remains no match for his oldest, deadliest foes. He must avenge his previous defeats that eat away at his soul like a cancer. He wonders if he is a better man for all that he has endured. His answer must come from this throw of the dice.
Cyclops knows that, with the odds of eight to one in their favor, this probably makes it a fair fight against Magneto. He knows however that he wouldn’t challenge them so openly unless he was confident of victory. His arrogance has proven his undoing before, though. He calls to Phoenix and asks her to establish a psilink among the eight of them. If possible, he asks her to pick Magneto’s brains as well, so they can get an idea of his plans. Phoenix can hear Scott, but there is intense psychic interference blocking the thoughts of the others from her. She apologizes but she needs more time to gather her strength.
Beast can’t believe he skipped out on the avengers for this. His friends probably think they can handle this by themselves but he knows Magneto is formidable and, the first chance he gets, he’ll make a beeline for the hidden Quinjet. He’ll call in reinforcements. The X-Men’s pride will be hurt but it should also guarantee their survival.
Banshee thinks about how their lives seem to be a never-ending jump from one frying pan into another one and back. Magneto’s radiating such power; the only time he’s felt anything comparable was when Phoenix saved the universe. He wonders if she can do the same for them. Wolverine’s thoughts are more primal. He figures Magneto’s just a man and will bleed like anyone else. If the others keep him busy and draw the heavy fire, maybe he can finish him.
Nightcrawler offers a prayer to his Lord. This is no place for a glorified acrobat, even one who can teleport. Yet, Hank has no more power than he, yet he seems unafraid. His courage shames him. Colossus wonders exactly why they are enemies. Mutants have the power to reshape the Earth. There is so much good they might do, yet they spend all their energies battling amongst themselves. He knows that Magneto speaks of his desire to rule the world. But, what would he do if he succeeded? Is he truly a madman, truly evil?
Storm thinks back to the last time they fought Magneto. He tried his best to slay them and very nearly succeeded. His hatred for the X-Men forms a palpable presence within him; almost a living thing unto itself. He will offer no quarter and she fears to stand against him. They must do the same but how can they remain true to their calling as heroes?
The other extra page comes during the battle between Magneto and Phoenix. Magneto feels the power of Phoenix and has to defend himself against an onslaught. Jean feels that she is managing to force him back and, for the first time in any of their battles, Magneto actually looks scared. He uses large lumps of metal to try and stop her but she destroys them with ease. The two giants continue their fight. Jean feels that the power is a song within her, filling her with primal glory. The gloves are off. There’s no more fooling around, as he’s fighting back. She wonders if she could have risked a confrontation earlier in the wagon and kept the X-Men from falling to their deaths.
Her power fills her more and more with an inhuman joy as she uses it. Magneto is forced to kneel down on one knee, as Phoenix continues to pour energy at his Magnetic force field. Jean realizes that her abilities are unknown. People say she saved the universe but she did that mostly on instinct. It was Phoenix’s doing; Jean Grey was simply along for the ride. Magneto has strength, plus decades of experience. She is equal to the one but not the other. In too many ways, it’s as if she’s just been born. As her celestial song crescendos within her, she finds herself pushing herself too hard. She’s running before she’s learned how to walk. What choice does she have, though? Suddenly, she feels Magneto managing to draw even more power to himself, using the magnetic forces of the Earth itself. She needs more power but her energy finds itself expended abruptly and there is nothing more left to give.
Second Story: Jean Grey sits alone in the woods, tending to a small fire. Nearby is her tent but also an unseen opponent, stalking her as she loses herself in her thoughts. She’s glad to be there, alone with nothing to be afraid of. The X-Men won’t know where she is, or be able to follow her. She’s pleased with herself for getting the fire started first time. If she can only make it on her own, just doing little things like this, then she thinks she’ll be past the danger point.
Her stalker pulls out a knife from its sheath as Jean sits back and relaxes, letting the warm fire comfort her. She thinks it’s time for a cup of coffee and stands. Her stalker makes his move, dashing stealthily towards her, making no sound as he approaches fast. Jean needs something to carry the water in and so bends down to pick up the coffee pot at her feet. Her attacker leaps at her but, because of the unexpected bending over, he misses and sails straight over her.
He lands well, spinning around and standing to face her, though by now the advantage of surprise is lost. Jean immediately switches to her Phoenix state and looks at her foe: Wolverine, dressed in his civvies. Too late, he thinks. “It was too late before you even started, little man,” replies Phoenix. She telekinetically removes the knife from his hand and keeps it hovering in mid-air. She asks him if he really thought he could come after Jean Grey and not have her turn into Phoenix at the first sign of trouble. As far as Wolverine is concerned, that first sign came when she took off. She left without a word to anyone where she was going, or why.
Phoenix asks just what he thought he was doing by hunting her. He replies that maybe he wanted to see if she’s really as good and as dangerous as they say she is. He is a killer and what he wants to know is, are they really two of a kind? Phoenix spins the knife and asks if he really thought he could find that out by coming after her with this, toy? Wolverine pops all his claws. He replies that after going to the trouble of keeping his thoughts on a primal level to mask himself from her, he’d have to a real amateur to let her hear him unsheathing his claws. The ‘snikt’ is a real giveaway.
She tells him he was smart to figure out how to outsmart a telekinetic, telepathic runaway. The trouble is, since he tripped himself up, his partner in this little crime has been so interested, he’s forgotten to shield his thoughts from her. She lifts a hand and Banshee comes floating out of the thicket, helpless in her telekinetic grasp. As she slowly lowers him to the ground, she presumes they wish to know exactly what she’s doing, out in the middle of nowhere. Wolverine says he thinks he knew that before she took off. She wanted to be alone and, right now, that’s the worst thing for her. Banshee finally makes the ground. He is accustomed to using his own sonic power to fly and having someone else in control of his flight will take some getting used to.
Phoenix asks them why they would think that they know what’s good for her. Wolverine replies that they’re friends and because that’s what being part of a team is all about. She hasn’t had the Phoenix power for long and it still scares her. That’s why she ran away, he adds. She raises the coffee pot and holds it a few feet away from her. It’s not the power that scares her exactly, she informs them, it’s herself. There’s so much power at her disposal, and she… she likes using it. She keeps doing bigger and bigger things with it. She’s so afraid sometimes of losing control and doing something destructive, when something little will do. Maybe, she’s here to practice her fine motor control. Sean says that they’re friends and they’re here to remind her that she isn’t wrestling with this problem alone. He reminds her that they startled her but she managed not to hurt either of them. “This time,” she replies.”
Wolverine says that this is the kind of thinking that’s gonna lead her right where she doesn’t want to go. She shouldn’t let her fear of herself isolate her or, in the end, she’ll find herself left alone with what she is. That means the power has won but he doesn’t think it will. It’s up against a pretty tough lady. “Maybe you’re right. Anyway, she’s a lady with very stubborn friends,” she replies. She adds that she was about to make herself a coffee when they arrived and offers them some. Banshee says sure and finds the coffee pot sliding into his hands. He doesn’t think he’ll ever get used to that.
She asks him to hold the pot while she gets some water. She asks them if this will be enough. The two X-Men look startled as they peer upwards and find the entire lake, thousands and thousands of gallons of water, floating above them. “Jeannie!” exclaims Wolverine. Don’t worry, she replies; she’ll put most of it back. She just wants to remind them what they’re up against here.
She lowers the lake so the water rests a few feet above her head. For her, the lifting of the lake from its bed and holding it intact is no more difficult than getting one quart of water, with or without the coffee pot. In some ways, she continues, the quart would be harder because is requires more judgment and self-control. Sean looks at a fish swimming in the water. Wolverine smiles and points out that, the thing is, she has plenty of self-control when she’s alone and planning every move. She has to practice her control when she meets up with distractions. At that moment, Jean turns to see Nightcrawler appear in the tree beside her. “Boo!” he says with a Cheshire Cat grin. His fellow teammates can see what’s coming. Wolverine calls for him not do it but he slides down the trunk and tells Jean to think fast.
Kurt’s face turns to one of horror, as the water engulfs him and he is thrown about amongst the marine life within. As the water crashes to the ground, he teleports and finds himself clinging to a tree branch, soaked to the skin. “Mein Gott,” he says, “She’ll be glad to see us, they said. It will be just like a game of tag, they said.” The equally bedraggled Phoenix says, “Now look what you made me do!” Wolverine, however, finds his adamantium skeleton is weighing him down. He isn’t the greatest swimmer and it takes a telekinetic life from Jean to pull him free of the current. He has a dig at Kurt for startling her when she was holding the entire lake. He points out that he teleported there from miles away so she couldn’t read his thoughts. He didn’t know about the lake. What a mess!
Jean says she sometimes wonders if that’s all the Phoenix Force ultimately is; a destroyer. Kurt apologizes for startling her, saying he would never have attacked if he had known. However, he says that what she has the power to do, then she must have the power to undo. Banshee agrees with his German friend. He asks if that isn’t just the kind of precision task she came out here to set herself. She admits it’s a little bigger than she had in mind but, when it comes down to it, every job is made up of a lot of little ones. She whisks the water back into the air and funnels it back gently into the hole it came from with assured precision.
The others congratulate her. Jean says, by rights, it should have been they who cleaned up the mess, as it was their fault. Kurt says that it was however a good test for her. Wolverine asks how they could have possibly undone it. Jean smiles and says that they couldn’t, but they still owe her a forfeit. So, she’s going to let one of them cook dinner and get the water for the coffee.


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

[Assistant]
Showdown! (1st story)
 I, Magneto! (2nd story)
First story :This story is a reprint of X-Men (1st series) #113. There are, however, three additional pages.
While the X-Men are prisoners of Magneto, tended to by Nanny, Storm decides that she has to act before they all go mad. The situation is the hardest for Wolverine, who is afraid that he’ll slip into berserker mode and will never return again. Nightcrawler wonders why Xavier isn’t doing anything to help them, as he had told them that he had a constant telepathic rapport with them.
In the meantime, Magneto is on Asteroid M, his home where he examines the new scope. After Erik the Red returned him to adulthood, his powers seem to have made a quantum leap, both in strength and sensitivity. He notices that he’s worked too long and is hungry and remembers that this always used to happen when he was married to Magda. Remembering his dead wife and daughter and how he lost them both, his grief and rage are fueled. He decides, though, that Magda was a fool. And proof that no human can truly accept mutants. Therefore, his only hope for survival is a world where they are the rulers. His thoughts turn to his former friend, Charles. He regrets their parting of ways but his students are Magneto’s now and will remain so until their deaths. As Magneto has been subtly altering Earth’s magnetic field to inhibit any long-range telepathic scan, Xavier will never find them.
Second story :A few decades ago, somewhere in South America stands a fortress, inhabited by Nazis soldiers who escaped justice. Until now. One of the guards notifies the sergeant of a stranger coming close on the main road. The sergeant decides that the guards can use him for target practice. Seeing the armed men, the stranger only smirks. A moment later, he glows and the fortress’s walls come tumbling down. Magneto deflects all their shots and quickly makes short works of tanks and whatever other weapons they have. Magneto turns his attention to one particular sniper: Obersturmbahnführer Hans Richter, late of the Waffen SS. His presence was sorely missed at the Nuremburg war crime trials, he informs the Nazi. He’s here to rectify that oversight.
He easily takes Richter prisoner. When the Nazi does the ‘I was only following my orders’ spiel, Magneto tells him he needn’t convince him; he is the hunter, not the judge and happy to leave that duty to the courts in Israel. Ignoring Richter’s protests, Magneto opens his vault and is disgusted to find treasure taking from the Nazis’ victims.
At that moment, he screams, overwhelmed by indescribable pain. Most of it passes it quickly and he thinks to himself that the seizures now strike whenever he uses his powers. Richter silently notices the agony Magneto suffered and wonders how to make use of that. Magneto peruses the files he found and gleefully informs Richter that this should enable him to smash several Nazi underground organizations. He makes a phone call to someone called Control and notifies him of having captured Richter. Control seems surprised at this, apparently not having expected Magneto to go after this particular Nazi.
Rio de Janeiro, two weeks later. Magneto sits at a café table near the beach, reading a newspaper. Impeccably dressed in a three-piece suit, his formality stands in contrast to most other people, who are dressed in summer clothes or bathing suits. Magneto is engrossed in an article about his old friend, Charles Xavier, who has made a name for himself as the foremost authority on genetic mutation. Still the idealist, Magneto mocks gently, still dreaming of coexistence. Magneto regrets he and Xavier haven’t corresponded in quite some time. Perhaps it’s time to reestablish those ties. Perhaps Xavier could even help with those strange pains he’s been having.
Suddenly, he’s addressed by a beautiful, black-haired woman, dressed in a colorful bikini top and matching skirt, who mocks him in a friendly way about his formal wear on the eve of carnival. This is as uninhibited as he gets he replies. The woman, Isabelle, Magneto’s physician, apologizes for being late and Magneto commends her outfit.
Later in the evening, in an apartment, they share a passionate kiss, but suddenly Magneto draws back. He apologizes, but when he holds Isabelle he can’t help but think of his wife, Magda. He tells her how he lost his wife and daughter. His wife called him a monster before she left and he wonders what kind of man he is to inspire that kind of reaction in the woman he loved. A good one, Isabelle assures him. At this moment, he suffers another seizure. He should go to a hospital, she tells him. To what end, he asks. Her tests could find neither cause nor cure for his condition.
While giving him a massage, she wonders about his tenseness and theorizes that the manipulation of all those energies that flow through his body may have an untold effect on his central nervous system. A moment later, she gasps, as someone holds a blade to her throat. A split-second later her blood splatters onto Magneto He turns around to see the killers and his companions, their leader being the man known as Control.
Magneto doesn’t understand. Control asks him why couldn’t he simply have done as told, instead of going off on his own. Now instead of sanctioning their Nazis, he caught one of their own. Richter was a very important asset. Magneto still doesn’t understand. They are Nazis! War criminals! Control scoffs at his naiveté. The Russians are the enemy now and they’ll work with whomever they have to in order to beat them. If they need ex-Nazis for that, them’s the breaks. They’ll use them, the same way they will use muties.
Enraged, Magneto shouts that he trusted Control. But he is worse than the Nazis. He tries to lash out with his powers but finds they are turned back on him. Control cynically tells him that he knows what Magneto can do. He spoke with Richter. So he had the scientists rig up a means to counter his powers. If he uses his powers on him or one of his boys, it reflects back on him amplified tenfold. But if that’s the way he wants to go…
Why did they have to kill Isabelle, Magneto asks. Why not wait until he was alone? Their “associates” wanted their pound of flesh, Control replies. The men point their guns at Magneto and Control cynically adds that at least he soon will be rid of those pesky headaches.Furious, Magneto lashes out with all his power. He won’t be killed here, not by such as him.
The penthouse practically explodes and only Control and Magneto are left, the latter floating and back in control of his powers. Does Control know whom he is dealing with? he demands. He is Homo Superior, the next generation of humanity. Heir apparent to this paltry planet. As Cro-Magnon supplanted Neanderthal, so shall mutants supplant ordinary humans.. And he has Control to thank for showing him the true path. He is insane, the man protests. No, enlightened, Magneto replies, as he grabs s him by the lapels. Humans are like children. Intellect and power without the maturity to use either responsible, unfit to rule lives or world. Better to be ruled instead by one who will make sure that they know their place.
He tosses Control away and to his death before adding: It is neither Communists nor Nazis you have to fear, Control—it is we, who your shortsighted stupidity will make your foes.. It is I who shall lead my people to the glory they deserve, I, Übermensch. I, Mutant! I, Magneto. Looking down at Isabelle’s corpse, he repeats his last words softly.


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

[Assistant]
Desolation (1st story)
 Mother of the Bride (2nd story)
First story :This story is a reprint of X-Men (1st series) #114. There are, however, four additional pages:
When the tunnels of Magneto’s subterranean basis are flooded with lava, the X-Men act in tandem to create an escape route. Cyclops orders Wolverine to point them south-by-southeast, then Cyclops and Banshee take turns at using their powers to dig a tunnel towards the Savage Land, while Storm, who is suffering from Claustrophobia, keeps on cooling down the lava rushing in behind them. Together they succeed.
In the meantime, Beast and Phoenix, who were split off from the rest of the team, have been brought to the American Antarctic research base nearby. Beast makes a call to Captain America and explains why he took off in a quinjet without any word. Phoenix, in the meantime, has tried to scan for the X-Men. Magneto’s messing with the Earth’s magneto field to inhibit longrange telepathic scans made things harder, but Jean managed to reach Magneto’s basis – and found nothing. She believes the X-Men are dead.
Later, in the Savage Land, after Cyclops and Storm had an argument about his inability to mourn for Jean, Cyclops wonders about the changes in Jean and, even more importantly, if he loved Jean more as a symbol of a normal life than as a person. He agonizes over his inability to mourn for her.
Second story :(Storm’s dream)Dressed in white, Storm stands before an altar, at her side a handsome, moustached man. She is about to be married. In the aisles sit her friends, the X-Men, an unknown elderly lady and Professor Xavier, in lieu of a father.
The marriage is performed but, when the groom reaches for Ororo, he seems little more than a leering, walking corpse. It is not only him, all the wedding guests, including the X-Men, have transformed into horrible walking corpses. Ororo is backed into a corner. Finally, she uses her powers and flies to safety.
(reality)A moment later, she snaps out of her nightmare but things are not alright. She is dressed in her costume, hunching in the corner of an unfamiliar, rundown building. She is exhausted, feverish, her arm is injured and she has no idea how she got here.
Suddenly, the door is kicked in. A walking corpse like the ones from her dream enters, in his hands a knife. But it was only a dream, Storm protests and screams a moment later, when something smashes through the wall behind her. More undead hands, wielding knives, hammers, all kinds of weapons. Cornered, Ororo gazes at the zombies and at the sneering man behind them, the “groom” from her dream. And suddenly she begins to remember.
(Flashback)Ororo had gone on a tropical vacation after one of the X-Men’s adventures. She was relaxing at the swimming pool, when she noted the sad elderly lady in the deckchair next to her, who seemed lost, gazing at a photo. Noticing how depressed the woman was, Ororo asked if she could help. Alice Norton told her that she was depressed to be in such a beautiful place without her Jack. They’d been married for twenty years and the last three he’d been gone, working here on the island as a foreman for Twelvetree chemicals. He never allowed her to visit and, suddenly, he died, probably poisoned by the things they make here. Twelvetree paid for Alice’s trip here but they wouldn’t let her have the body or even see it.
Alarmed Ororo paid a visit to the Twelvetree factory and met Richard Twelvetree. The suave businessman explained that he felt sorry for Mrs. Norton but they had invited her here to relax, not to spread rumors. Why wouldn’t they let her see her husband, Ororo inquires and Twelvetree tells her that they were only thinking of Mrs. Norton as the results of industrial accidents are not pretty. He goes on to rave about his company’s newest product, YK-23, light as plastic, strong as steel, cheaper than either. At that moment, the door opens and a zombielike looking man enters, carrying a tray. Twelvetree shouts at him that isn’t supposed to bring the samples here. Even while he tells Ororo that he is employing handicapped people, Ororo sees the name Jack on the man’s overall and, despite his changes, recognizes him as what’s left of Alice’s husband.
Twelvetree realizes this and orders Jack to attack her. Storm whips up a wind to keep them away but not before Jack bites her. Storm flies away but the injury does its part and she collapses in the shack in the jungle.
(the present:)Storm’s cornered in the shack, with several zombies waiting to attack. Twelvetree calls her a fool. Did she believe he had only one of those unfortunate creatures? Jack wasn’t the first to die from it. Or even the fifth. While he keeps on raving, Storm produces a thunderstorm. She is too weak to fly, yet she hesitates to call down lightning on those creatures, as she has vowed to never take another’s life. She calls out to her goddess for help and her cry is answered as lightning strikes them all down, including Twelvetree.


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

[Assistant]
Visions of Death! (1st story)
 First Love (2nd story)
First story :This story is a reprint of X-Men (1st series) #115. There are, however, three additional pages.
At Xavier’s Institute for Gifted Youngsters in Westchester, Jean packs her bags. She thinks it’s funny that, of all the X-Men, she has been associated with Professor Xavier the longest. She knew him when she was a kid, long before he formed the team. Yet, this house was much more of a home to Scott. She looks at photographs on the desk of her friends at various times and thinks that this is really the only home Scott ever had and the X-Men his only real family. She’s never known anyone so lonely.
She runs her fingers across the photographs. Scott tried so hard never to let that show. He wanted so badly to be the rock on which they all stood, the strength to sustain them no matter what. He did his best, and she wishes she could say the same. As she becomes frustrated, energy begins to trickle from her fingertips and she turns away. When the X-Men needed her strength, where was the much-vaunted power of Phoenix? She transforms into Phoenix, furious that she managed to save the universe, yet she couldn’t save the man she loves. What’s the point of having so much power, if she can’t use it?
With the rage, comes a prelude of things to come. She finds herself inadvertently delving directly into the mind of Charles Xavier, who sits writing at his bureau. He looks so alone, lost in his grief. With this grief, comes distraction, and he doesn’t notice Jean prying into his thoughts. He is thinking about Jean, of Lilandra and his X-Men. His sense of failure is pronounced, yet Jean thinks she is to blame, not he. She cannot stop herself from prying and wills herself not to see his secrets, but finds the temptation too much. What defensive barriers his mind maintains, she knows she can smash.
She then finds herself in the mind of Lilandra, who occupies herself with physical tasks to keep her battle-ready. Her thoughts continue into Salem and Jean wonders why everyone must think so loud when she cannot shut out the noise. She doesn’t want to know and, as her power reaches a certain point, she screams, “Leave me alone!” She finds herself back in her normal clothes. A kind of circuit breaker, the same as when she almost defeated Magneto has cut in, preventing her from accessing the power she knows exists. She can’t touch it, yet. She also knows that she can’t handle this by herself, but how can she turn to the Professor? The moment they mindlink, he will know what she did and it will hurt him terribly. But, without him, without Scott, whom can she turn to? What is she to do?
Second Story: Wearing only a loincloth, Piotr surveys the magnificent Savage Land in all its glory. It is a place where time, sort of, stopped millions of years ago. It’s a primordial enclave where dinosaurs still roam. Piotr Rasputin, better known as Colossus, hates it. The heat is unbearable. Even his mother’s kitchen after an afternoon of cooking was not half as hot as this. The clouds that hide the land from detection also mask the sun but they prevent its heat from escaping. The land below becomes like a steam bath.
Piotr is soaking from head to toe. The paper on his drawing tablet is so saturated that the pencil cannot make a decent imprint. All this greenery, he thinks, is so unlike his Rodina, his motherland. It is winter there at the moment when snow covers the Earth and the air is blessedly cool.
As he looks over the verdant fields, he wonders if he is dreaming. He sees Anya and his sister, Illyana, although his sister is just a child and the girl he sees is almost as old as he. Sweat pours down his forehead and he realizes that it’s only the heat toying with his imagination. It is actually three girls from a local tribe, each sporting a Mohican haircut. He thinks about Anya. It’s been months since they parted, yet he still misses her. She was so afraid when she saw him transform into Colossus. He looks at his half-finished drawing of Anya. In that instant, he became a monster.
His thoughts are brought to an abrupt halt by a scream. He instinctively heads in the direction the girls had been heading. As he rounds a corner, he sees them hiding behind a tree as a huge Tyrannosaurus Rex hunts its prey. The girls are armed with axes but they are hardly the tools to fend off such a creature. Piotr tries to change into his steel form but finds he is unable. He feels it’s probably the heat affecting his concentration. There’s no time to worry about that now though. He needs to distract the creature. He picks up a large rock and hurls it at the dinosaur. It makes contact with its jaw and it instinctively swings its tail in defense, knocking Piotr clear into the river.
He climbs out, bloodied, knowing he should have anticipated that move and reacted faster. He’ll hurt like the devil tomorrow and have bruises all over. He clambers ashore and grabs an axe. Behind the tree, one of the girls is facing the creature in the open, hoping to draw it away from her friends. Piotr must hurry and he ignores the aches and pains. He climbs a tree, using the vines to position himself above the creature and then he leaps, swinging on a vine and onto the creature. As he does so however, the creature grabs the girl in its huge mouth and bites. Piotr hacks away at the creature’s eye with the axe and it releases its vise-like grip on her. She falls to the ground, bloodied and helpless.
Piotr tries to take out the other eye but the dinosaur reels in pain and Piotr has to grab the vine again, as it dashes away in panic. It runs straight into a bog and Piotr hears his heart hammering, as much from fright as exertion. He figures the creature won’t be back as the mud drags it under. It’s a good thing too, as he doubts he could have lasted much longer. The air is so humid; it’s like being underwater.
One of the girls approaches him and places her hands on his muscular chest. “My brave warrior,” she says. “You saved us! I am Nereel.” Piotr gives her his name and she knows him to be one of the outlanders. Piotr asks about her friends. She turns and Piotr sees Fahe kneeling down with her face in her hands. Fahe is well but lying beside her is Shakani, who was not so fortunate.
At midnight, the tribe cremates their fallen warrior on a pyre. The change from night to morning symbolizes the casting off of Shakani’s fleshy incarnation and the union of her spirit with the eternal, infinite cosmos. Piotr and his fellow X-Men watch, thinking of their own recent losses; friends they’ll never see again.
That night, Piotr doesn’t sleep well. The great predator stalks his dreams and it wears Shakani’s face. He tries to fight but his armored skin tears like flesh. He tries to run, only to become mired in bog. Fangs close in on his face. He can’t even scream. In the morning, he suddenly awakens, startled by the presence of Nereel and Fahe in his room. Nereel tells him that there is a last ceremony. “A memorial to Shakani we must perform,” adds Fahe. Piotr stands and the two girls lead him outside.
As they walk, they come across Wolverine, who is stitching his uniform back together. Piotr asks him if he’d like to join them. “Well, I’ll be,” Wolverine replies, “Is this the Petey Pureheart I’ve known and loved?” He says he’s much obliged but thinks he’ll pass. Besides, he wouldn’t want to crimp his style. As Piotr carries on, he wonders what Wolverine meant by that, and why are the girls giggling?
He thinks about the people on his home collective who still follow religious ways. They seem much more serious than this. Different lands, different customs, he figures. They climb onto a raft and Piotr rows them to a nearby island, an island close by the bog where the dinosaur fell. Once they’re on the island, Piotr finds that the two girls have more than a ceremony in mind. He asks what he must do and Fahe says he should simply be with them. Their attentions actually make him blush. He says he cannot but Nereel asks why. Piotr asks what of their memorial and Nereel asks what better way to honor a fallen friend than by hopefully creating a new life?
Piotr is taken aback by the suggestion and her attempt to kiss him. He tells her that she should not be with him, but with one of her own, a man who will care for her for the rest of her days. She replies that children are the charge of the entire village. The tribe is their family. There is no shame in joining with an outlander, especially one of such nobility and courage, for his blood makes them stronger. Piotr struggles, as much out of embarrassment as of his lack of belief in their ways.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, the injured T-Rex appears and roars at the three humans standing before it. Piotr tells them to scatter, to the trees and the deep water. It’s him the creature wants. Fahe says they won’t leave him but Piotr orders her to do as she’s told. The creature lunges at him and he realizes he has no weapons, no rocks handy to slow it down. As Nereel watches the creature’s attack, she is amazed as Piotr finally manages to change into his steel form. The crackle of energy as he changes comes as a relief. Yesterday, when he couldn’t change made him afraid. He extends himself to full stretch between the jaws of the giant dinosaur, far enough to cause the jawbone to crack. The creature falls and Piotr leaps to the ground. He can hear surprise and alarm in the voices of Fahe and Nereel, and wonders how long before that turns to terror.
He would love to put an end to that kind of unreasoning fear, as easily as he does the beast. He launches a fierce attack, punching it with all his might until it fights no more. The two girls approach and Piotr tells them that this is what he is, as much as he was when he was flesh and blood. He is not as they are, or other humans. He is a mutant. Nereel asks why there is sadness in his voice. Without his power, it is they who would lie slain, not the thunder lizard. Piotr replies that he knows. He was just thinking of someone he once cared for and how she fled when she saw him like this. He feared they might do the same.
Nereel says she was foolish; they are not. They see nothing in him to fear, as would anyone with enough sense to follow the dictates of their heart. She leans forward and holds Piotr, kissing him on the lips. Piotr is still nervous and says that, when his fellow X-Men leave, he must go with them. Fahe joins her in embracing him and Nereel says that they must then cherish the moments ‘til then. “You mean that! You truly care?” he asks. Silly boy, Nereel replies, let us show you how truly much we do. Suddenly, Piotr Rasputin finds he’s smiling with a wild light-hearted joy he’s never felt before. He knows that, for the first time, he’s discovered love.