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City of the Dead: part two: Angel of the Morning
The Graverobber commands his followers to bring the still-unconscious Tim to him. They do as told, but feel that they shouldn’t have left the other X-Men live. Arcadian seems to recall fighting with Del Ruiz’ X-Men in what passed for his previous life. He informs his teammates that those X-Men were a handful, and he is all for killing these new X-Men as well.
The Graverobber isn’t interested to see the X-Men dead at this point. He needs undamaged bodies to serve his needs. Serpentina tells her lord that she did what he required from her. The Graverobber knows that because he realizes that once he brought Serpentina back to life, she couldn’t do anything else.
Meanwhile, Tim floats around in his own mind. He recalls being shot by someone who looked a lot like Serpentina, but he knows that can’t be true. A voice explains to Tim that, sometimes, people come back alive by free will, but others are taken by force. Tim tries to get a clearer sight and, when he does, he can’t believe it: it’s Reiko, his former girlfriend he thought to be dead!
They hug, and Reiko continues to explain that the barrier between life and dead is only so much gossamer rippling the wind. She says that energy can’t be destroyed, only transformed. Tim still can’t believe it and tells Reiko that he missed her so much after she was gone; if only she knew how much. Reiko knows. Tim pushes her back, refusing to believe that this is reality. He knows that Reiko is dead, and so is Serpentina. He wants to know what’s going on.
Reiko confirms that she is dead, but… so is Tim!
Meanwhile in the executive suite of the Halo City administrative tower, the X-Men lick their wounds following their earlier defeat at the hands of the Undead. Morphine expected better of the X-Men and hates to hear that the Undead could get away. La Lunática doesn’t care what Morphine thinks and wants to go search for Tim.
Sham thinks that Tim might have been able to track the Undead back to their base somehow and must be there now. Shakti hopes that is true. She asks Meanstreak, who is behind the computers, if he was able to pinpoint Tim’s location. Unfortunately, Meanstreak couldn’t, because he could get no track from his X-Men badge or find any trace of his mutant energy signature. Meanstreak suggest that he takes a run over the city to find out if Tim couldn’t still be in it somewhere. Shakti doesn’t want to do that, because she knows that Tim is dead.
Luna doesn’t believe that, because she knows that Tim is strong and is confident that he can survive anything. Shakti wants to believe otherwise, but her senses tell her otherwise.
Shakti explains that her ability to perceive other mutants goes beyond simple recognition. She says that as she interacts with a mutant, the more sensitized she becomes to their individual presence. Shakti still knows that, when Serpentina died, she felt a void where once, there was a vibrant energy. And she now feels that same emptiness again. Luna can’t believe it and breaks some furniture. Morphine tries to calm her down, but Luna instead punches Morphine to the back of the room. Luna wants to go find Tim and, if nobody wants to help her, she’ll go alone. And she does so.
Morphine is surprised to find out that Luna truly loves Tim. Sham believes that whether Tim is dead or not, they best follow Luna’s lead and try to locate the Undead. They already blew up their clinic, and who knows what else destructions they might bring upon the world next. Meanstreak agrees, recalling that this is the type of threat why the city’s protectorate was formed in the first place.
He asks Shakti if the Undead really claimed to be mutants. Shakti confirms that, but also mentions that their adversaries mentioned to be dead. Shakti now sees that, once the Undead were able to spread Tim away from the rest of them, they seemed to be just toying with the rest of the X-Men. Shakti suggests they run the Undead’s general descriptions through Halo City’s mutant database, but doubts that they are registered in the Gate.
Shakti remembers that she found something after her fight with Arcadian. She found in a wall a card, with a “Death” character drawn on it. Meanstreak saw Arcadian and noticed him to be a guy with a Cajun accent, and that Arcadian even seemed to be a zombie as well. This raises some interesting questions to the X-Men, but they first want to know who is would be capable of digging up graves of deceased people.
The Sisters of the Howling Commandments staff many of the city’s medical polyclinics, including the one the Undead firebombed. Sister Margaret survived the attack and takes a look around together with Xi’an. Xi’an feels responsible for the attack, believing that the Undead only chose this attack because of his connection with the X-Men. Maragaret asks Xi’an if he desires revenge. Xi’an wants that, but knows that he has left the life of destruction and mayhem behind him, and wants to leave the fighting to the X-Men.
Margaret says that sometimes it is difficult to reconcile one’s spiritual beliefs with the secular chaos which surrounds them all. Margaret knows that it’s at times like that she remembers what Sister Naoki used to tell her, when the Bogota mission was being fragged by the cartels during the Narcowars. Xi’an wants to know what Naoki told Margaret. Simple, Margaret says. It was: “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!” She takes out a huge blaster and shows it to Xi’an.
Meanwhile, Gunnar Heywood, while crawling through an airshaft, tries to figure out what he has gotten himself into this time. He knows that he is here in Halo City on assignment for the Astronet, which is the last unaffiliated alternative news service on line. Gunnar came her, expecting to record the failure of Halo City’s noble experiment, what he calls one last ditch effort at a real democracy in a world of corporate aristocracy. Instead, Gunnar has been sidetracked by the appearance of the city’s first terrorists.
Gunnar’s sources led him to the maintenance tunnels underneath the undeveloped part of Halo City. Thankfully, Gunnar has a little high-octane pick-me-up to get him through his monotonous air shaft crawl. He drinks something and, when his bottle is empty, he leaves it behind and continues. A final drop falls on the shaft’s floor, making a little sound, which Gunnar can’t hear. Gunnar knows that everyone has got a vice. These days, Gunnar says, his is to devolve metal.
Gunnar suddenly hears voices ahead and turns immediately turns on the recording hardware that’s become a part of him. Every sight and sound and smell Gunnar experiences is transmitted to the Third Eye Information Satellite for later edit and broadcast. That is what Gunnar does for a living. Gunnar looks through the air vent’s roaster and notices Tim, who is being watched over by Arcadian and Serpentina.
Gunnar hears them talking. Serpentina feels sorry for killing Tim, who once was her friend. Arcadian tells Serpentina not to feel bad, telling her that she did Tim a favor, because Arcadian knows that the world of the living is nothing but pain. The Graverobber appears from the shadows and finds it understandable that the Undead’s youngest member is confused. He knows that Serpentina still harbors feelings from her previous life. But the Graverobber tells Serpentina not to worry, because he will resurrect Tim, because he is more of use to him alive than dead.
With the influx of every socially-challenged nomad and wild-eyed outlaw, the Negative Zone, which is the city’s entertainment district, has rapidly become ground zero for the release of local tension. As occurs right now. Nicolai and Ember fight on the street, destroying some fully armed Stark/Fujikawa battle droids. Meanstreak and Shakti arrive on the battle scene, surprised to find out that the droids got passed the gate security. But that’s a concern for another time, because the two X-Men want to stop their enemies before the entire city is destroyed.
Ember is not surprised to see Shakti, but promises her that she can’t protect her father from the Undead. Shakti doesn’t know why the Undead are after her father, but tells them that she ran away from her father ten years ago. Ember thinks that Shakti is lying. Shakti doesn’t care and takes out a neural scatter shotgun, which she fires upon Ember and he reels at the pain. Ember can’t believe this, because the Graverobber promised him that he would feel no physical pain.
Ember picks a surrounded Nicolai up and retreats from the fight, before the X-Men can bring them any more harm than they already have. Meanstreak quickly deals with the battle droids by running real fast around them. Thereby, he overloads the droids and makes them self-explode.
Meanstreak checks out their ashes and finds a chip. Shakti is more interested in finding out why the Undead want her father, because she truly ran away from him after she refused to be a part of his business and went to Hong Kong instead. Meanstreak doesn’t know why the Undead would believe that they would find a red market czar in Halo City. Zail Haddad appears, and corrects Meanstreak that he is a former red market czar now. And Zail is there because he wanted to see his daughter again, since it has been a decade since they last saw each other. Shakti is speechless.
Meanwhile, Krystalin has entered Morphine’s office. She wants to ask him some questions about the Council elect, but she notices him busy with something and asks what the thing is. Morphine explains that the thing he is using is a Kamikaze Brain Blaster, a gift he got from the Anthony Herod, the man who brought the world Captain America back, and who also put a contract out on every member of Doom’s former Black Cabinet.
Morphine explains that the Brain Blaster is a telepathic brain grown around an omnium charge, which is keyed to detonate once the brain identifies the neural pattern of its target. Right now, Morphine is using a few besterian tricks a psi-con taught him to block telepathic inquiry. Morphine keeps thinking of mathematical equations, fifteenth century Catholic masses, advert jingles. Diabolical stuff. Krystalin wants to know if since the brain is locked on Morphine’s mind, if the brain could be a treat to her. Morphine says that it won’t be, because any physical contact with the brain will trigger the bomb.
Krystalin suggests that she doesn’t touch the brain at all. Instead, they crystallizes a protective shield around it. Krystalin grabs it and throws it outside the window! As she does, the brain explodes once outside. Morphine thanks Krystalin and kisses her on the cheek. Krystalin thinks that Morphine better keep a lower profile from now on, but he doesn’t want to. Instead, he is going to tell Mr. Herod how he feels about this attack on his life.
Five hours later, the Graverobber is still trying to resurrect Tim. Gunnar is still watching, and doesn’t want to think that dead people can be brought back alive. It simply raises too many unsettling questions. Meanwhile, inside his mind, Reiko asks Tim to grab her hand and come with her. Tim wants to know what’s going to happen to him: is he going to heaven? Or to hell? Or is he going to be reincarnated. Reiko simply tells Tim to grab her hand. Tim wants to, but a black force holds him back! What’s happening to him?!
Tim desperately tries to reach Reiko’s hand, wanting to stay with her. But he fails to and gets surrounded by lots of fire. The Graverobber tells Tim that he belongs to him now. He will better be grateful, and obedient as well. Tim’s body doesn’t move, only his hand a little. Serpentina thinks that Tim might beyond their reach.
Meanwhile, Ember appears behind Gunnar and attacks him with full flame-force and kills him. Below, Tim awakes and is angry. He knows that he was dead, and that Reiko was waiting for him. But those memories are already fading away from him. Tim wants to know who did this to him. The Undead gather around him and introduce themselves. The Graverobber says that he brought Tim’s life back, and that he belongs to them now. Tim is one of the Undead!


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[Assistant]
City of the Dead: part three: Funeral Party
Sham takes Quiver to a music festival. The group performing is “the Disinterred.” Quiver doesn’t like being out of the Archive because they are dealing with heavy problems there. Quiver isn’t happy to be in such a large crowd, but Sham calms him down, because they are surrounded by nothing but jerries.
Quiver asks what the history behind these “jerries” are. Sham knows that they have been following the Desinterred for several decades now throughout the sand. Sham also mentions that, after their plane went down in the Rockies in the thirties, it was one of the first generation of jerries who salvaged what remained of their bodies, and gave the band the Deathlok treatment so that they could continue their tour.
The entire public puts on headgears, so that they can experience the concert to their own preferences. The Disinterred make their impressive entrance and begin to sing their songs. Suddenly, one of the singers is attacked from behind and falls on the ground. Quiver first believes that it’s part of the show, but soon finds out otherwise because… the Undead strike again!
Sham recognizes the villains from their earlier encounter, but can’t believe when she sees that Tim is with them! Security drones warn the Undead to leave immediately or they will get arrested. Tim isn’t impressed by it and destroys the drones using his powers.
Quiver uses his powers to clear a path through the crowd so that Sham can get to Tim. The plan works and Sham asks Tim what he thinks he is doing. Tim hesitates and seems to recognize Sham, but is confused. Tim slaps Sham in the face, warning her that he isn’t responsible for his actions.
The Graverobber enters, and offers the entire crowd to join him and his cause, or else they will die. The Graverobber explains to the panicking crowd that before they can join him they will have to go through some tests first. The first test is to bring the butcher Zail Haddad to him, whom the Graverobber knows is hiding in Halo City. The Graverobber wants Zail within the day, or else he’ll kill everyone in Halo City! The Graverobber and the Undead teleport away, leaving a startled crowd behind, but not before killing the entire Disinterred band. Some of the crowd thinks that the entire thing was part of the show, but Sham and Quiver know better and go to warn the other X-Men about this.
They go to Morphine’s tower, where they tell the entire story. Krystalin and Meanstreak try to trace the Undead, but fail. The X-Men can’t believe that Tim is still alive. Sham isn’t sure if “alive” is the correct word to describe Tim’s current condition. Morphine refuses to let his city be destroyed, and now the X-Men also know why Shakti’s father was hiding in the city: he was running away from the Graverobber.
Shakti and her father enter the room. Zail sarcastically congratulates Morphine on putting him out of business. Zail knows it will take him years to re-start his genetic marketplace. Shakti tells her dad that, if he wants to go through with those plans, he will have to do it without her, because she refuses to be a part of exploiting on humans. That’s why she left home ten years ago.
Zail finds his daughter to be a disappointment. He knows that Shakti had the potential to be one of the greatest bioengineers to ever life on the planet. He hates to see Shakti wasting her talents like this. Meanstreak tells Zail to stop talking about Shakti like that, or else he’ll make him pay for it.
Meanstreak hasn’t forgotten how Zail’s men raided poor neighborhoods to collect organs and tissue donors to supply the rich chain. Zail only knows that he gave the poor people he used a purpose in life, which in his eyes they didn’t have before he took them off the streets. Shakti doesn’t want to discuss that now and instead is more interested in finding out why the Graverobber is after her father.
Zail begins to explain. He claims that his business didn’t involve preying on human frailty. He says that his company, the Golden Harvest Corporation profited by maximizing the human potential. Zail commanded his employees to take the terminally ill people away from the streets.
Later on, he augmented them in cybernetically, in order to perform toxic clean-up operations where robots were technically or financially too expensive to use. Zail remembers how during one unfortunate mishap in a Sanjuan Biowaste transment plant, he lost a crew of almost two dozen cyborgs. The lone survivor, Garth Simenon, blaimed Zail for the disaster and the loss of his friends.
When Garth crawled out of the plane wreck, it turned out that he was a mutant, whose latent powers had surfaced as a result of the accident, and he had the ability to reanimate dead tissue. He became the Graverobber, and resurrected a handful of his now dead companions and formed an army with them. Together, they sought out and destroyed Zail’s company, and most of New Jersey’s bioprocessing factories as well. It was at that time that the graverobber found a quartet of some long dead mutant corpses in Zail’s factory, and decided to form the Undead.
Meanstreak wants to know if some of them are truly X-Men of the 20th century. Zail denies that, because none of the bodies he uses date prior 2040. But the Undead truly are all alpha-classed mutants, and utterly dangerous, like the X-Men found out first-handed. And ever since Doom shut Zail’s company down, the Graverobber followed Zail up until there.
Morphine wants to know what Zail wants from them. Sympathy? Zail says that, when he learned that his daughter had such a high position in Halo City, considering the security, he had hoped that she would be able to put the past behind them and grand him asylum. After all, Zail says, they are family. Shakti doesn’t know what to say.
Meanwhile in the Chicago Reserve, Murdock warns his boss, Herod, that he has a call on the omega line. Herod hopes that it’s important, or else Murdock will pay for it. A holographic image of Morphine materializes. Morphine laughs with Herod’s base, who isn’t impressed by the man.
Herod wants to know why he shouldn’t kill Morphine, like he did to Indigo Eshun recently, and all the other members of Doom’s former Black Cabinet as well. Morphine promises Herod that the line they are using is secure. Morphine also informs Herod that his Brain plan failed, and was destroyed. Though it didn’t leave Morphine without a little headache. Herod claims that Morphine only survived the attack because Herod’s attention was required elsewhere, but next time Morphine won’t be so lucky.
Morphine offers Herod to make a deal. He wants to give Herod the Graverobber, in exchange for his life. Morphine explains to Herod what the Graverobber’s powers are, and Herod is interested.
Later, Morphine goes to talk to Shakti. He tells her that the X-Men are wasting their time trying to track the Undead in Halo City. Shakti asks Morphine to stop bothering her. Morphine says that the Graverobber is a smart man, and probably is in Halo City, but hiding. They need to draw him into the open. Shakti won’t endanger her father, no matter how many people suffered in his bioshops.
Shakti doesn’t want to put any life in danger just so that they can defeat an enemy. It’s not the way the X-Men work. Morphine calls her foolish and walks out of the computer room.
Meanwhile, somewhere else, a gigantic body stands up from its former ashes. It’s confused, but tries to maintain its balance. Suddenly, it’s grabbed from behind by La Lunática! Luna isn’t in a good mood and asks who her adversary is. The creature turns around, and explains to Luna that he is… Gunnar Heywood! Luna releases him, and Gunnar shows her his now synthezoid body.
Gunnar knows that he has looked better, but explains that after forty years of recreational chemical indulgence, his doctor handed him a terminal notice, so Gunnar traded the original model for a techno-synthetic update on an alien robot, which was called the Recorder. Now, Gunnar is a walking field recorder linked around the clock to an Infonet satellite. Luna catches Tim’s scent and asks Gunnar if he has seen him here alive. Gunnar didn’t, but remembers the Graverobber performing some tricks on Tim to revive him.
Luna hates the fact that someone took the one man who actually means something to her, and even more hates to see that his abductors desecrated his body as well. She walks over to the table where Tim layed on and finds a blueprint of a building. Gunnar asks Luna if she knows what building it is. Luna takes a closer look and she recognizes the place as the Spark. She explains to Gunnar that the Spark is the power plant that supplies energy to all of Halo City. She wonders what the Undead are interested in that.
Gunnar asks Luna to hold on, as he is downloading some late information from the Third Eye. Once that is completed, Gunnar reads the file and found out how the Undead made their public debut and killed the Disinterred, and how they made their treat towards Shakti’s father. He also finds out that if the Halo City people refuse to go into his demands, that the Graverobber will drain every ounce of life of the entire city.
Luna and Gunnar rush to the Spark and hope that they will make it in time. As the two go, they don’t notice that two mysterious, evil looking red eyes were watching them the whole time…
Meanwhile, the Undead have already made it to the Spark and the Graverobber, wishing that he can build his army of undead people. Tim believes that is wrong. The Graverobber grabs Tim by his throat, yelling at him that Tim has to obey him because he owns his life to him. Serpentina tries to stop the Graverobber, but the rest of the Undead hold her back. Luna and Gunnar arrive too, and Luna tells Gunnar to stay out of her way while she fights.
Tim agrees to work for the Graverobber, who releases Tim from his holding grip. Luna attacks the Graverobber at full rage, also surprising Tim with her presence. The Undead gather around their master, telling Luna that she has made a mistake coming here alone. Luna tells Tim to stay behind here and promises that she will get them out of here. Nicolai makes short work of the fight and knocks Luna out with one single punch. Arcadian asks the Graverobber if he wants Luna’s body undamaged for later resurrection. He confirms.
The Graverobber commands Tim to do his part of the plan, and put Halo City into darkness. Tim goes to stand into the middle of the Spark machine and powers up. While he does that, the Graverobber explains that Tim was of no use to him alive. His body simply would never be able to withstand the hundreds of thousands of volts, which are now flowing through his body. Pain and fear would have definitely killed him. That’s why the Graverobber had Serpentina bring Tim to him: the dead have no limits. Now, Tim has become a human transformer, and holds the light and warmth of the city hostage. Without power, Halo City’s dream of harmony will evaporate into anarchy and destruction, and then the city will be for the Graverobber’s taking!
The entire city fades black. Morphine Somers enters Zail Haddad’s room. Morphine wants to hand Shakti’s father over to the Graverobber, like the villain wanted. Zail tries to defend himself, telling that his daughter would never approve it. Morphine tells Zail that Shakti doesn’t run this city, but he does. Morphine powers up, and tells Zail to come with him…


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Prophecies of Doom!
In Halo City, Krystalin and Shakti guard over Shakti’s now-comatose father, who lies in the medcenter. Krystalin says that she hates medcenters. Shakti too, because she grew up with them. Shakti remembers that the only time that she saw her father was when he was working.
Shakti doesn’t know if her father is ever going to wake up or not. Krystalin knows that Shakti and her dad weren’t exactly close, but it must be tough for Shakti to see her father like this. Shakti calls it more ironic. She knows that her father would send a comatose patient to the organ banks without a second thought. Zail represents everything Shakti despises. And still, she wishes that their lives would have been differently. Morphine enters the room and tells Shakti not to waste her tears on her old man, because he wouldn’t do it for her.
Morphine knew Zail, and how he saw most of humanity as meat to be slaughtered. Morphine tells Shakti that she better feels lucky that her father didn’t kill her as well, because he saw how useful she could be for his plans when he found out that she was a mutant.
Shakti can’t believe the nerve Morphine has for coming there, because her father’s condition is his fault. Shakti attacks Halo City’s boss with a psychic blast and takes over control over his body. After Morphine realizes his mistake and asks Shakti to give him his body back, Shakti does and angrily leaves. Krystalin calls Morphine to be a true jerk. Morphine laughs, saying that is what he’s good at. With Shakti gone, Morphine asks Krystalin if she has voted yet. As Shakti walks through the hospital rooms, she sees on several television sets the commercials for Halo City’s upcoming elections.
Shakti continues her walk undisturbed, but knows that a mutant has been following her since the past two blocks. She doesn’t recognize his presence, but that is not unusual, since there are so many mutants in Halo City now, and Shakti doesn’t know all of them. Suddenly, a voice greets Shakti. She takes a look below her, and sees Billy the Kid! Shakti recognizes Billy from what Krystalin told her, and how she had to rescue him for the Free Radicals. But Krystalin didn’t mention that Billy was a mutant.
Billy confirms that he truly is a mutant, despite the fact that some people write his talents off as a genetic predisposition. But Billy didn’t come there for a DNA analyses. No, he came here to make Shakti an offer she can’t refuse. Not that she has a choice, either. Billy throws a teleportation disk into Shakti’s hand, and the touch makes her vanish!
Meanwhile, over the New Pacific Chanel, a ship filled with people rides over the ocean, heading towards Halo City. Clarion and Nostromo are two of many. Nostromo can’t hold herself anymore, because there are too many people around her, and he isn’t good with people. Clarion cheers his friend up and tells him to hold on, because they have made it so far and can’t give up now. The ship arrives, and the gates of Halo City open. Nostromo thinks that this is wrong, and that they shouldn’t be there. Heck, Nostromo thinks that he shouldn’t even be alive!
Clarion reminds his friend that none of that was his fault. And he should forget about it too, because their past is now behind them. The only thing Clarion knows is that they have gotten a second chance in life, and that they don’t have to hide anymore.
Nostromo agrees, and happily jumps off the ship. Clarion is sure that things will go smoothly from now on: no more being chased, or having to scrounge for food. But then, suddenly, another new arrival of Halo City steals Clarion’s bag.
Suddenly, the wind changes and someone runs by real quick and stops the thief and hangs him up on a water pole. The mystery helper runs back to Halo City and gives Clarion his bag back. It’s Meanstreak, and Clarion recognizes him from the reports Gunnar Heywood sent back to Transverse City. Meanstreak apologizes because he can’t stay at the same place for too long, as Halo City is a big place and he needs to protect it. Clarion thanks Meanstreak for the help and the X-Man takes off.
Elsewhere, Shakti arrives in a dark place. She feels a little nauseous, but a familiar sounding voice informs Shakti that it is a normal side effect from the teleportation and promises that it will pass. Shakti wants to know where she is, but her kidnapper simply says that she is somewhere below the city and that the exact location isn’t important now. Shakti can’t believe it, but her kidnapper is none other than… Doom!
Shakti thought that Doom had died after Herod attack him at the White House. But she isn’t too surprised to find out otherwise, knowing what the man is capable off. Doom explains that he had counted on an attack on his life, and had thought off a back-up escape plan. And it worked.
Shakti wants to know why Doom is even still in the United States. Doom simply says that he will deal with Herod in due time. But for the present, he is more interested in Halo City. Doom says that the city has provided him both resources and security to rebuild his armor, and to plan his retaliation.
However, Doom finds that to be none of Shakti’s concern. He has brought her there for a reason. Doom explains that he did not create Halo City to be a haven for the mutant class out of purely Egalitarian motives. Doom says that since the first atomic bombs were detonated in the middle of the last century, the proliferation of Homo superior upon this planet began growing exponentially.
Doom continues and shows Shakti pictures of various 20th century mutants on his computer screens. Doom says that each successive mutant generation has produced certain individuals whose actions accords of the 30’s to the genocidal purge that followed, twenty first century America has defined itself by its response to the mutant presence.
Shakti wants Doom to tell her something she doesn’t know. Doom asks Shakti if she is familiar with the Seldon/Dixon Futurity Model. Shakti is, and explains that it is a sort of a mathematical tarot – a statistical framework for foretelling future events. As Shakti recalls, their predictions were only slightly more accurate than those of Infonet holophysics.
Doom reveals that he has used their work as a basis for his own probability system. Shakti wants to know if Doom built it before or after Herod’s attack. Doom says that there will always be unknown variables. To rely on statistical prognostication would be foolish, he says, but to ignore its possibility would also be unwise.
Shakti asks if Doom’s calculations are correct, this generation has produced a young mutant of messianic potential, someone who could change the relationship between man and mutant forever. Doom confirms, but also knows that mutant will come to Halo City, if he shouldn’t already be there.
Shakti doesn’t understand why Doom tells all this to her, and not to Xi’an or Morphine. Doom says that’s because Xi’an is emotionally damaged, and Morphine is morally crippled. Shakti, however, has in Doom’s eyes a heightened sensitivity that will lead her to the mutant. Doom is certain that without proper guidance, this mutant could bring about destruction on an apocalyptic scale. And he will not allow that to happen. Shakti doesn’t know what to think of all this.
Halo City’s “Screamtown”…
Clarion and Nostromo walk through the streets. Clarion informs that a lot of the kids have made this part of the city their own. Clarion wants to camp there for the night and look for a real place tomorrow. Nostromo isn’t sure if they will be safe here. They notice that everyone is looking at them.
Trinity says that’s because everybody knows that they are new around there. Trinity introduces himself, and tells the two newcomers that they will need a lot of hardware to get around in this place. Trinity notices Nostromo’s metal arms and is impressed by them. But Nostromo doesn’t really want to talk about them.
Suddenly, loud roars of bikes are heard. Trinity takes off, warning Clarion and Nostromo to better follow her example, because the Wild Boys are in town! The Wild Boys quickly surround them and tease them because they are new. Dorian, the Wild Boys’ leader, proudly introduces himself and warns the newcomers to be careful when they are around his group. Wullf has a bad feeling about this, and can convince Dorian to move along and not to waste their time with these two.
Dorian commands Shiv to attack them, and he does. Clarion and Nostromo try to tell them not to, because they too are mutants, just like the Wild Boys. But they aren’t interested in that. Clarion tells Nostromo not to worry, because he will absorb the roar of the bikes, and shift it into pure solid energy!
The ears of the Wild Boys are in pain, but try to get a grip on themselves and to attack again. Nostromo takes one of their bikes, and adapts the bike’s control system so that he can control the bike by himself. Clarion gets up and they drive away. Clarion didn’t know that Nostromo could do such a thing. Nostromo didn’t know it either, and says that it seems that his body adapts to adversity by becoming more machinelike. Nostromo says that it’s like what happened when his arms got crushed. Nostromo knows that he is losing his humanity by the minute. That’s his curse.
But Nostromo drives in an alley with a dead end. Trash and Dorian see that and drive after them, but their bikes seem to be out of control! They crash and faint. Shakti has rescued the two using her psychic powers and took the Wild Boy’s bodies over. Shakti tells the two young mutants to go to the shelter a kilometer away from there, and she promises to join them there shortly.
Later, the Halo City election is over, and Morphine has lost. He isn’t too happy about it and complains, not understanding why. The X-Men tell him that he shouldn’t have made a deal with Herod. But since Morphine now doesn’t run the city anymore, he also has no leverage with the X-Men anymore either. Morphine takes off and angrily promises that he will be back. They can count on that.
Shakti enters the room, and the X-Men are glad too see that she’s fine, because Shakti hadn’t been answering the comlink on her X-badge all day. Shakti explains to her friends why. She says that, since so many mutants are in Halo City now, they will need guidance. And she wants to be the one giving it to them.
The X-Men are surprised that Shakti is actually leaving the group. Tim gives Shakti his blessing, but makes it clear to her that Shakti can quit the protectorate if she wants, but there will always be a place within the X-Men for her.
Later, Morphine gets shot and an arrow is stuck in his back. He falls down on the ground and is crippled from the horrible pain. Doom appears in front of Morphine, telling him that he won’t die, but Doom doesn’t like the idea that Morphine has betrayed his trust. Doom says that he won’t kill Morphine and will give him a second chance, like all creatures on this planet deserves. But Doom promises Morphine that he will be watching him.
Doom teleports away and leaves Morphine alone. Morphine gets up and tries to recover from the pain. Morphine remembers something from the data he stole from Doom’s Washington office. Morphine knows all about the so-called mutant messiah, and he plans to find him first.
Shakti gets approached by Sister Nicholas, whom she has asked for help on the holo phone. Shakti thanks the Sister for coming. Nicholas agrees with Shakti’s concern about the many mutants in Halo City who need guidance. Shakti is glad to provide it, especially when several of these mutants might have the power to level the city.
Nicholas says that’s true. She says that the combination of raging adolescent hormones and extra normal mutation is a volatile mix. Nicholas opens a door, using a special key card, and tells Shakti that she will have her hands full with these kids! Shakti takes a closer look, and sees several young mutants “playfully” fighting each other…


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[Assistant]
Book of Revelation
Behold the mutant who knows too much. A mutant whose knowledge is both his gift and his curse, condemning him to a life of imprisonment. Only a handful of people are aware of his existence, let alone of his captivity. In his solitude, the mutant has bided his time, certain of one thing above all others: soon, he will be free!
In Mexico, security guard Esteban Ocampo overviews his good life. His life is one of comfortable routine. Six days a week, he works as an engineer of the Metro Express running from Mexico City to Tula de Allende. The pay is good and the train demands little of his attention, requiring only the occasional systems diagnostic. Mostly, Esteban watches the twenty-four hour Fútbol channel on the Sportsnet. But now, he has come to think of his workday as unswervingly predictable. He is wrong.
Suddenly, a fully charged-up Timothy Michael Fitzgerald stands motionless on the traintracks. Esteban frantically tries to manually override the train’s controls, even though the hurtling transport requires at least another half klik to brake properly. Esteban fails to stop the train and can’t look how the insane man on the tracks is going to be killed. Tim doesn’t think so, but Meanstreak gets the upper hand on business and runs by Tim, getting him off the track and back to the other X-Men.
Meanstreak thought that Tim was getting better again after what happened to him, but this proves him wrong. La Lunática tells Meanstreak not to blame her, because Tim hasn’t been himself after he was brought back to life by the Graverobber. Tim doesn’t understand why his teammates are so worried about him, because he feels better than ever. And more handsome, too. Meanstreak tells Tim to relax, and not to kill himself. The X-Men almost fell apart because their previous leader got insane, and Henri won’t let that happen again.
Luna tells Meanstreak not to be too tough on Tim, because he too spent some time with the crazy Halloween Jack. Tim tells his friends not to worry, because he is on their side. The way Tim acts lately doesn’t reassure Meanstreak. And he doesn’t like this mission either. Luna says that it’s too late to turn back now, because they are indeed at the service tunnel entrance.
Meanstreak doesn’t understand why Tim and Luna don’t find it a little suspicious that a message from a mutant claiming to be held against his will there, also included detailed instructions on how to execute his breakout. Meanstreak suspects this all to be a set-up.
Luna doesn’t understand Henri’s concerns, because she heard that he and Krystalin used to walk through a lot more dangerous missions than this one. Tim agrees, because this is why they agreed to become X-Men in the first place: to rescue mutants in trouble.
Meanstreak says that’s why he has taken the chance that the S.O.S. is genuine. Still, he warns his friends not to be overconfident. They are a long way from Halo City. Now, they are raiding the headquarters of the Quetzalcoatl Corporation, one of the ruling MegaCorps of the Federación des Estados Americanos. And Meanstreak knows that all the diplomatic immunity in the world won’t help them should they be caught.
Nearby, Chairman Belize gets online. A video screen opens in a dark cell, where the mutant named Book is imprisoned. Belize angrily asks Book where the market overviews are he had requested. Belize needs those reports because, in an hour, he has a meeting with Stark-Fujikawa representatives.
Book says that he doesn’t feel well. Belize tells Book not to try his patience, because the doctors have told him that Book’s condition is just fine. Book says that it’s his soul that aches, because he lives his life as a prisoner. Belize tells Book that he lives in a protected environment for his own good. And all the resources of the corporation are at Book’s disposal. Belize knows that Book has more here than he ever had in that hovel in Kingston.
Book agrees, but there he had his freedom. Belize is bored by this conversation and simply wants the reports within the hour. Book refuses to do that. Without warning, the monitor begins to spark and moan, as if possessed. An electrical charge builds and then forces its way out of the monitor, coalescing into a writhing serpent of angry energy and bounds itself around Book, who screams it out from the pain. Belize tells Book not to forget to whom he speaks.
He is Javier Belize, descendant of the Toltec kings who ruled this land, long before Cortez. Belize commands the power of Quetzalcoatl, the plumed Serpent God of the Morning and Evening Star. Book begs Belize to stop the pain. Belize tells Book not to forget that he owes him everything. Without Belize, Book would still be rotting in a cage in Kingston and work for that gambler who had no idea of Book’s true potential. Belize wants Book to remember how it felt squandering one of the world’s most brilliant minds on dog-racing. Belize believes that Book should bow to him for getting him out of that horrible place. Book remembers and begs Belize to forgive him. Book will get the data for Belize.
In Halo City, Xi’an uses his powers in an attempt to heal Victor Ten Eagle’s lost arm. The clinic doctor’s give Victor a metal arm instead. Victor tells Xi’an not to feel bad, because this arm is more than enough for him. Xi’an tells Victor that he should let a genetech take a tissue sample and clone a new limb. Victor angrily says that would require time and they simply don’t have that.
Victor tells Xi’an that the Reverend is dead already and he is lucky that his enemies only made him loose an arm. Victor tells Xi’an that every surviving member of the Lawless is in danger now. The ghosts of the past they had hoped to have buried have come back with a vengeance, and Victor is certain that they are heading for Halo City.
Krystalin enters the room, having heard from Sister Luisa and wanted to take a proper goodbye, something they didn’t have a chance to do back in New Mexico. Krystalin notices Victor’s metal arm and, panicking, asks him what happened. Victor calls it nothing and doesn’t want to talk about it. Krystalin tells Victor not to fool her, because she knows that Victor is bottling up a lot of pain he doesn’t want to let out. Victor tells Krystalin that she is a good woman with a noble heart, but she doesn’t know him at all. Victor calls the time they had together to be mutually diverting, but that’s it. He wants her to keep distance from him.
Xi’an explains to Krystalin that Victor is only trying to protect him, since someone is after the former Lawless members. She isn’t safe around either of them. Krystalin says that she can protect herself and offers her help. Victor says that the Lawless’ business is of no concern of her, nor of that of the X-Men. Krystalin agrees to stay out of it, but wants to know who harmed him. Victor asks Krystalin if she has ever heard about the Foolkiller.
Tua de Allende…
The trio of X-Men find a huge gate, and all the security guards seem to have been gassed unconscious. They notice a lock, which opens with the touch of Meanstreak’s hand palm. Luna wants to know how the mutant got a hold on Meanstreak’s palm’s signature, but he doesn’t know that either. The X-Men enter the gate, which quickly closes behind them. A computer voice warns them that there will be zero-gravity in the room now, and the X-Men all begin to float around. The X-Men all float up, and closer to the top of the room they eventually meet the mutant they came to rescue: Book. Book thanks the X-Men for coming.
Book apologizes for the zero-gravity, but he can’t support his body weight comfortably under normal circumstances. But enough with the pleasantries, it’s time for some answers. Tim wants to know why it looks like that Book is being held a prisoner there. Book confirms that he is indeed a prisoner. He explains that, in compensation for his crippling bulk, he was blessed with a great intellect and a photographic memory. There in this place, Book is fed information from around the world. News, weather, entertainment, it all floats into him. By analyzing disparate data, Book can accurately predict everything from market fluctuations to political coups. With the data Book provides, Belize took control of this Corporation.
Tim asks Book if he has psychic powers. Book denies that, describing his powers to be merely perceptive enough to identify and extrapolate connections which others miss. Book says that through his access to the most obscure and guarded databases, he can tell the X-Men things about themselves even they don’t know. For example, Book informs Meanstreak that Alchemax has been using his DNA in attempts to re-create his hyper-accelerated metabolism in animals. For La Lunática, Book knows that she isn’t the only relative of Brimstone Love. And Book tells Tim that the Graverobber didn’t kill him. No, he set Tim free.
The three X-Men don’t believe anything Book tells them. Book says that he gained access to the most protected data sources. He has called them because Halo City will be the nexus for many of the next century’s most crucial events. Book reveals that he is a mutant, and is needed there.
Southern Nevada…
Three armored thugs stop a truck and want to highjack it. They want to go over it quickly, but they find resistance in the form of… Bloodhawk! Bloodhawk drops some bombs on them, and fights his way through the goons. A metal arm smashes through the truck and helps Bloodhawk out. When the dust clears, Bloodhawk takes a closer look at the one who helped him, and recognizes… Metalhead! Metalhead thanks Bloodhawk for the help, saying that he wouldn’t want any harm to come to Rosa nor her baby, who slept through the entire commotion.
Tua de Allende…
The X-Men want to know why Book needed them for his escape, since he arranged everything for them to enter the place, and even some transport for escaping the building. Just as Book wants to tell, the zero-gravity falls out and the X-Men and Book fall on the ground.
An angry Belize enters the room and wants to make Book pay for calling the X-Men there. They try to protect Book, but he tells them not to worry about him, but instead to be cautious of Belize’s Lightning Serpent attacks. Belize quickly deals with both Luna and Meanstreak and only Tim is left standing.
Book tells Tim to be careful and informs the mutant that he has more power inside him than Belize knows. Tim tries to absorb the Serpents inside his body, but can’t do that for some reason. Never has he felt so much magic tricks before. Tim doesn’t know how much longer he can hold on. Book notices Tim struggling and tells him that he is as much a creature of energy as the Serpents are, and that Tim is connected to greater energies than they are.
Tim doesn’t know what Book is talking about, but he feels the energy of the Serpents fading, and the energy is becoming a part of him! Belize doesn’t believe his eyes: no man could survive an absorption like that: Tim should have died. Tim sadistically tells Belize that he has done that, and now he is back.
Book whispers to Tim to cripple Belize as much as he has crippled him. Tim suddenly becomes aware of all the nanotech generations which previously coursed through his body, but are now calling to Tim. All of it. Tim attacks Belize, who says that Tim is stealing his life from him. Not quite, Tim says, but enough to make Belize remember him. Belize collapses.
Luna and Meanstreak get up again, and Luna notices Tim and asks him what he did to Belize. Never before has Luna seen Tim so hungry. Or so feral. Tim doesn’t know what happened either, because, for a moment, it felt like he wasn’t himself anymore.
Tim says that it was like Book said, and that he was tapped into something greater than himself. The X-Men almost forgot about Book in all the commotion, and help him stand up. Book thanks the X-Men for their help. He knew that his faith in the X-Men was justified. Tim doesn’t like the fact that Book seems to know a lot about them.
Tim feels like he has been used. Book asks the X-Men to forgive him for being presumptuous. Book knew that they were his only hope against Belize. Book smiles and hopes that he can repay each of the X-Men once they are in Halo City. He has so very much to do there…


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[Assistant]
Old Wounds
Five years ago, the dead and dying lined the city streets of New Hope, Texas. After one very long, bloody afternoon, this small town was burned to the ground. There were no survivors, except for one man. The ones responsible? The Lawless!
The Lawless triumphantly stand over the burning city, and notice the survivor. They don’t seem to be bothered by the one man. How could he possibly stop them? The man takes out a gun, but Xi’an makes short work of him and kills the old guy. The Lawless find that they have wasted enough of their time in this stupid town and decide to move on.
That was in the past.
Today in the present, in Halo City, in a bar called the Negative Zone, December and Twilight are talking to each other. They can’t believe that Willow actually betrayed them after they rescued her out of Avian’s clutches. The two lovely lady mutants are disturbed by another mutant named Remo, who hits on them.
December isn’t impressed and uses her powers to make Remo understand that he should leave them alone. A drunken Remo leaves the bar and complains about the loss. He bounces into a tall guy wearing a hat. Remo tries to apologize, but the man doesn’t accept it and won’t tolerate such stupidity. The man takes out his guns and kills Remo!
Above the Data District, a blue-furred mutant on a bike is chased by two members of the Wild Boys. The blue mutant says that, under different circumstances, he would have killed them both for this, but at the moment he has some business at some other place. The mutant named Mongrel activates the turbo on his bike and leaves the two youngsters startled behind him.
Mongrel parks nearby a church and enters it, where he is welcomed by Auntie Maim, Xi’an and Victor Ten Eagles! Mongrel is a little bit surprised to see them again, since he thought he would never see his former teammates again, let stand in a church.
Xi’an tells Mongrel to not let the stained glass fool him: this is in fact one Halo City’s polyclinics. Xi’an reveals that he has been using his healing powers to atone for the many misdeeds of his past. Mongrel laughs at that and feels sad to see such a former bad guy having become actually one of the good guys.
Auntie Maim is a little disappointed to see that Mongrel hasn’t changed at all, like they have. Mongrel shakes hands with Ten Eagles and asks him what’s going on. Victor explains that a Foolkiller is trying to kill the former Lawless members. And so far, that maniac has already has cost Ten Eagles his arm.
Mongrel thought that they had killed all the Foolkiller super soldiers five years ago. So thought the others, but apparently not. Mongrel is a little bit worried now, claiming that he still gets nightmares from what the Texican Foolkillers did to them that night. Mongrel asks Ten Eagles for the full story.
Victor explains that he was in his Santa Fe studio. He was working on a deep sea-holed swim for a wealthy client when, suddenly, Broken Haiku called him. Victor found that odd since the last time they had spoken to each other was when Haiku represented herself as Thunderstorm. This call, Haiku’s choice of cyberspace archetype was surprisingly conventional.
Victor was just starting to tell how much he missed the flesh when Haiku interrupted him. In a scary voice tone, Haiku informed Ten Eagles that their former friend, the Reverend, was dead. His body was found in Reno with the word “fool” laser-beamed into his chest. Before the full impact of Haiku’s word could sink into him, Victor’s dog Harry Dean began barking protectively.
As Victor turned around, he caught a laser flash in the corner of his eye, and suddenly he felt an electric pain exploding from his shoulder! In that instant, Ten Eagles knew that Haiku’s warning had come too late: a Foolkiller had found Victor. Victor’s perception of time slowed. He felt his arm, but it wasn’t there. Instead, Victor touched cauterized flesh. The laser had cauterized the very wound it had created.
The Foolkiller kept talking about a “long overdue judgment” but Victor wasn’t paying attention to that. Victor was staying focused on the pain, trying not to go into shock. The only chance Victor had on surviving was to close the studio’s power, and plunging the workshop in darkness. Ten Eagles didn’t know how much time it would take the Foolkiller to adjust to the darkness, but Victor could navigate his ranch blind. He slipped outside to storage tanks in which the previous owner had stored fuel. Victor thanked his ancestor he had never gotten around to dumping those thanks. One strategically thrown match later, and the resulting explosion took the ranch house. Victor hoped that the Foolkiller couldn’t survive the blast, but on the chance that he might have, Victor knew better than to wait around and find out.
Victor staggered into his Desert-Rover and set the autopilot for a hospital in Flagstaff. Then Victor blanked out from the pain. After a doctor cleaned his wound, Victor headed to Halo City, where he found Xi’an. Mongrel wonders that if the Foolkiller is still alive after the blast, how he is going to find them there.
Mongrel also wants to know why Xi’an doesn’t enlist the help of his X-Men friends. Xi’an finds that this doesn’t concern the X-Men. This is just about the Lawless. Mongrel understands, and asks why Junkpile and the Broken Haiku aren’t with them. Xi’an explains that Junkpile has disappeared after he attacked the Theatre of Pain as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. And as for Haiku, Xi’an says, he explains that, after the Lawless broke up, the woman retreated herself permanently into cyberspace. Xi’an tried to send her a message, but it got boomeranged. For the first time in years, the Broken Haiku is off-line. For all Xi’an knows, the Foolkiller has already reached her.
The Industrial Zone…
The Foolkiller named Gideon visits Dr. Philo Bunsen. Bunsen is glad to show a potential investor his shop. Bunson explains that, there at Unicelco, the employers are developing environmentally responsible means of modern waste management. Bunsen takes Gideon to a simulated ocean spill. He explains that Unicelco designed Amoebots, which consume and transform the petrochemical sludge into a harmless gas. Bunsen knows that man’s future depends on them.
Gideon says that man’s only hope for the future lies in repenting his churchless and childish ways. Bunsen finds that remark to be a true Judean-Christian way to look at their work, but he himself is not a believing man. Gideon gets serious, and finds that a foolish thing to say.
Halo City, the Data District…
Meanstreak is running through that certain part of the city to check for any trouble. Krystalin beeps him up and orders Henri to come to the park immediately. Thinking that something is wrong, Meanstreak puts up high speed and rushes to the park. Suddenly, two yellow, fast creatures pass him by, and Meanstreak recognizes them as Zoomers, which were part of the Virtual Unreality effect that Halloween Jack had used in Las Vegas.
Meanstreak doesn’t know how they could get into Halo City, but that’s of no concern right now. He wants to get rid of them! Meanstreak stops running, and as he does that, the Zoomers disappear! Meanstreak makes it to the park, where Krystalin tells him an old friend unexpectedly came by to visit them, and she thought that Henri wanted to say hello. Meanstreak can’t believe his eyes and is overjoyed to see Metalhead again! They happily hug each other, and Meanstreak also says hi to Rosa and her baby, and to Bloodhawk as well.
Rosa introduces her baby to the gang. Meanstreak notices how vast the child is glowing. Bloodhawk knows that the kid is special. Eddie knows that, but doesn’t know what’s behind it all. Anyway, he tells his friends that Rosa asked him to be Joachim’s godfather.
As Eddie and the rest cheer for the little baby, they don’t realize that they are being watched by an evil Bloodsmith known as Vulcann. Vulcann warns the X-Men not to get too attached to the little boy. Vulcann also knows that the child is even more special than even his mother suspects, as Vulcann is aware of the unimaginable powers and potential the child has within himself. And now that Vulcann knows that, he plans to use the child for his own plans…
Mongrel hates to see how the former Lawless are hiding like little kids. Mongrel remembers the old days, when they just took and did everything they wanted to. Xi’an replies that they just answered atrocity with atrocity, and now it seems that they have to do that once more. Xi’an seems not to be able to escape from his past, no matter how hard he tries to.
Mongrel hates to see how Xi’an turned into a pacifist. Mongrel knows that Xi’an didn’t used to be like that at all. Xi’an was one of the most vicious men Mongrel knew, and he respected him for that. Mongrel hopes that Xi’an hasn’t lost all of that former fire, since he could use that against the Foolkiller.
Auntie Maim believes that if they can’t trust each other, maybe that they will be better off fighting alone against their enemy. Victor doesn’t want to do that, because they owe it to the Reverend, and maybe to Haiku as well, to fight together once more. Auntie Maim agrees and doesn’t want to wait anymore, and to just go find the Foolkiller.
Xi’an hopes that they will only have to fight one Foolkiller, and not a whole army of them. But if they do have to fight only one Foolkiller, Xi’an knows that he won’t be smart enough to take on all of them at once. They will need to draw them out. Mongrel asks who’s going to be the bait. Xi’an says that he will do it, and proudly walks outside and awaits his enemy’s arrival.
Understanding that information is power, Halo City established the Archive, a resource center collecting date from every possible infobank, newsnet and printvault. Within, a weightless environment designed to support his unwieldy bulk, is a mutant named Book. His hulking body belies his true genius, a photographic memory and computer-sharp mind. In return for his rescue from indentured corporate servitude, Book offered his services to Halo City. Culling data from a thousand obscure sources, Book is a wealth of secret knowledge. That makes him a very dangerous man.
A video screen goes on, and La Lunática begins to speak. Book first thanks her for helping set him free. Luna says that she just recalled that while they were rescuing him, Book told her that he knew about her relationship with Brimstone Love. Luna wants Book to tell her what that meant. Book agrees, but not over video phone. And he wants their conversation to be private as well.
On the other side of the town, the Lawless has split up and each guard one corner of the market, so that they can easier attack the Foolkiller when he comes. Suddenly, someone comes! Everyone jumps down and protects Xi’an with their lives, but… it was just an old lady! The old lady falls down own her knees and apologize for the misunderstanding, but she has a weak heart and begs Xi’an for help.
The real Foolkiller arrives, and easily knocks Mongrel down. The Foolkiller gets off from his bike and informs the former Lawless that he, as the last of the Foolkillers, is there to finish them off, as was agreed by his creators.
The Foolkiller activates his bike and flies up the skies, with Mongrel put in chains. Xi’an quickly jumps aboard, but the Foolkiller is already high up. The Foolkiller puts Mongrel on fire. Xi’an tries to set his former teammate free, but Mongrel tells Xi’an not to be a hero and to just let go. Xi’an does so and the Foolkiller gets away together with Mongrel.
Xi’an, Auntie Maim and Victor Ten Eagles all swear to rescue their friend: Lawless style!


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Fools Rush In
When the Foolkiller awoke seven months ago, no elder marked his rebirth with ceremony and invocation. Those who were to be the Foolkiller’s fellow soldiers lay rotting in their tubes, untransformed. The city above the Foolkiller had been burned to the ground, skeletons littered across the streets. The Foolkiller was alone, and the Lawless were responsible for that.
Four years ago, the Lawless came to the town known as New Hope. The town elders offered the Lawless the chance to renounce their wicked ways, but instead they killed every god-fearing man, woman and child. Had the Foolkiller not been deep in the long sleep of the Revival Chamber, he too might have died that day. Thankfully, the Foolkiller says, the Lord has spared him so that he might become the Angel of Vengeance and carry out judgment upon those who slaughtered his people.
Mongrel asks the Foolkiller why he didn’t kill him yet then, if he is supposed to do it. Because the Foolkiller knows that Mongrel’s friends will come after him. Mongrel taunts the Foolkiller that he can shut up for a few moments then, because he can’t stand hearing to his gibberish anymore. Mongrel says that he doesn’t question the Foolkiller’s motives, but he does inform the Foolkiller that New Hope was a town consisting out of nothing but psychopaths.
The Foolkiller angrily denies that and says that he knows that New Hope were the last group of people who truly believed in God and Family. They were good people who were free of the mega-corporations and their associates. Mongrel calls those people crazy, this upsetting the Foolkiller even more. The Foolkiller wants to kill Mongrel, but just in time the other former Lawless members crash in!
While riding on their bikes, Xi’an and the others bring the Foolkiller down and take Mongrel with them. Mongrel thanks them but tells them to go easy because his chains hurt him. Xi’an quickly deals with that and destroys the chains using his powers.
Ten Eagles wants to make the Foolkiller pay for making him lose his arm and the deaths of the Reverend. The Foolkiller takes out a flamethrower and puts Victor’s bike on flames, but he gets off from the machine just in time before burning up.
The Foolkiller wants to try it again, but gets attacked from behind by Auntie Maim and her Josephine hammer! The Foolkiller takes out another gun and shoots Auntie Maim! Victor Ten Eagles can’t believe that he used to enjoy this kind of action and tries to think of a plan. Krystalin shows up and helps Victor get up. Victor tells Krystalin to go away as this is none of her business, but Krystalin refuses to do that and says that she’s here to help.
Mongrel is still in pain after the heavy shocks the Foolkiller gave him during their fight. Xi’an informs Mongrel that he now has healing powers, something he didn’t have during his Lawless days. Mongrel tells Xi’an to stop whining and just do his part. The Foolkiller wants to finish Auntie Maim off, but Xi’an comes to the rescue and kicks the Foolkiller away from her. The Foolkiller is surprised to see how much Xi’an has changed since his days as the Lawless’ leader.
Meanwhile in Halo City, Sham plays a little bit with Rosa’s baby before he goes to sleep. She playfully creates some cute illusions to keep the boy occupied. Rosa is impressed by them and thanks Sham for the help. Metalhead enters the room and says he wants to give Joachim everything they as mutants were denied to have: a safe home and a family. Something like Halo City.
Sham agrees that Halo City indeed is a dream came true. Sometimes, she even worries that it won’t lass. Eddie admits that’s why he came here in the first place: to make sure that’s never going to happen. Rosa jokes that Eddie just missed his friends. Eddie admits that was a part of it too.
Suddenly the entire room starts to shake and a portal opens. The mutants prepare to defend themselves, and two hellhounds stampede out of the portal and go out for the attack!
Victor argues with Krystalin about her being there, but she tells him to stop whining and to just let her help. Meanwhile, the battle between Xi’an and the Foolkiller goes on. Xi’an tries to use his powers upon the Foolkiller, but he throws Xi’an away.
Xi’an informs the Foolkiller that he doesn’t know the full story and claims that the Lawless hadn’t asked for that certain showdown. Xi’an explains that the Lawless were just crossing the streets of New Hope and had no idea that the Fathers had mined them. Before they knew what was going on, the Lawless were ambushed by the town inquisition, whose executioners were fundamentalist super soldiers called the Foolkillers, who were named after some twentieth century zealot.
The head Foolkiller made it clear that they would kill anyone who didn’t fall in with their twisted faith. “Repent or die,” that Foolkiller said while he attacked the Lawless and defeated them. For two days, Xi’an remembers, they were subjected to a variety of subtle and unsubtle tortures, which were designed to convert them. The Foolkillers had no idea that the Lawless wouldn’t die that easily. Haiku hacked into their computers and shut off the tranquilizer feed that was keeping them locked up. The Lawless fought their way through the Foolkillers and thought to be home free, but the rest of the town had some kamikaze death wish. Xi’an admits that it was a massacre, but the Lawless weren’t given any other options. Xi’an takes no pride on what he did in New Hope.
The Foolkiller tells Xi’an that he isn’t excused and is going to kill the mutant anyway. As he wants to take out his gun, his arm is stabbed by several crystal-made spikes! Krystalin tells Xi’an that he should have asked the X-Men’s help. The Foolkiller has had enough of the futile fighting and wants to put an end to it. He opens his coat, and reveals that he has a bomb taped on his chest, which he plans to let off!
Meanwhile in the Halo City Archive, La Lunática has entered Book’s room and wants him to clarify her relationship with Brimstone Love, which both Brimstone and Book claimed that she has. Book first wants to get to know Luna better, but she has no time for that and threatens Book not to play games with her. The computer warns that someone is in danger and Luna recognizes Krystalin’s back-up request signal. She decides to go help out, but warns Book that she will come back to finish the conversation.
Book understands, and promises that he will tell Luna all about her long-lost family. At the same time, Meanstreak is working out at the gym and finishes all courses within two minutes. Dayton and Delia are watching him and are impressed. Delia even tries to hit on Henri, but he hears Krystalin’s back-up call and runs to the rescue.
As he runs, Meanstreak is once more bothered by the Zoomers. He tries to outrun them, but gets caught and the world around him spins around, and Henri gets trapped!
Metalhead commands Sham to get Rosa and the baby out of the room, but one of the hellhounds jumps at Eddie and pushes him through the window! Sham tries to fight the other one using her illusions, but the hellhound sees through it and slams Sham down. Vulcann arrives, and tells Rosa that he wants her baby. Vulcann tells Rosa to give him… the future dark messiah!
The Foolkiller wants to activate his bomb. Xi’an offers the Foolkiller to kill him if he has to, but begs to let the others go. Victor and the others don’t think that will be enough, because if the Foolkiller activates the bomb, the radiation will most likely destroy the entire city around them.
Tim and Luna show up on the rooftops and try to figure out a quick solution. Tim notices one of the bikes and uses his powers on it and activates the bike’s engines to distract the Foolkiller. The plan works and Luna jumps down onto the Foolkiller’s back.
She touches his head and wants to use her powers to find out the Foolkiller’s inner pains. She watches one of the Foolkillers making one of his followers, a young boy, murder his parents because they don’t believe.
Xi’an tells Luna to stop the absorbing and orders that she and the others leave him alone with the Foolkiller. They do as told and go out. Xi’an offers the Foolkiller a second chance in life, like he was given.
The Foolkiller doesn’t believe that change is possible, and activates his bomb! The explosion is loud and terrible…


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[Assistant]
The Drowning City
Deep within a mountain fortress in the Pacific North West, a boy’s childhood is being torn from him, his long life discarded with no regard for the innocence forsaken. Years of growth and discovery slip away in the space of hours. The infant Joachim Eduardo Vasquez becomes a boy, and the boy becomes not quite a man, but… a man-child.
And the one responsible for this transformation is the mutant only known as Vulcann, one of the secret guild of flesh shapers known as Bloodsmiths. Vulcann waited a long and patiently for a child such as this one, the proverbial diamond in the rough, which he can cut to a shine with unimagined intensity.
As Joachim gets out of his experimentation tube, he staggers. He feels disoriented by his newborn adult body, and confused by his newfound self-awareness. Joachim asks who he is. Vulcann tells Joachim his name and lies that he is his son, his creation. Vulcann explains to the boy that a great power lies within him, and Vulcann will help him learn to control that power. Joachim takes a look at his hand and notices it shining. He asks Vulcann who he is and Vulcann claims that he is Joachim’s lord and master. But he says that his word is absolute, as is his love for Joachim. Vulcann promises Joachim that, if he serves him right, a world will worship him at his feet.
Meanwhile, Halo City is in turmoil. An unnatural storm has arisen and over floats the entire city. There are lots of damages and the X-Men ride to the rescue. They rescue several people out of the water and try to figure out what place could be safe to bring those people to. One of the saved people’s daughter is still trapped somewhere in the water, but the X-Men can’t see her. Tim wants to go in, but Bloodhawk is faster and says that he will find the girl, with the help of his hunter’s eye.
After a short while, Bloodhawk returns, with the girl! The girl and her mother happily reunite, but Bloodhawk fears that the storm might be an omen of worse things to come.
Later, in the Tower Conference Room, the X-Men all gather around the holo-image of Book, who has gathered some information about the storm. Book informs his friends that this storm is not confined to the Pacific alone. He says that weather patterns across the globe are equally aberrant and show no sign of abating. Further, Book adds, Alchemax geotechs confirm that the polar ice caps are melting in an alarming rate. Tim wants to know who is behind the storms, because he knows that storms aren’t supposed to happen overnight.
Book explains that these global upheavals seem to be the result of a moon-sized satellite, which entered Earth’s solar system a month ago. And the satellite appears to be headed for orbit around the Earth.
La Lunática compares these events to a second moon. Tim wants to know what the satellite is and why it’s there. Book explains that its composition and purpose are unknown at the present moment. But he has discovered an energy field, which prevents astronomers from viewing its surface. Book suspects that the satellite is a space vessel. Bloodhawk rather suspected that the storms were a natural response to centuries of ecological abuse.
Sham doesn’t care about the cause, all she knows that they are in trouble. She knew that X-Nation wasn’t going to last. Tim asks his teammates not to worry and handle one problem at the time. He wants to know how much higher the sea level can rise. Book says that seeing at how the ice caps are melting, it would most likely rise to at least a kilometer. He knows that, by the time this year ends, approximately two-thirds of the existing continental land mass will be submerged. The only thing left to do is head for higher ground, or learn how to breathe underwater.
Krystalin says that the city council has decided to evacuate the city before it gets worse. She believes that the X-Men should try to keep the people calm. Tim agrees, and wishes that Meanstreak were there to help out. Krystalin too, and is worried about her friend. She says that Meanstreak’s comlink went off three days ago, and nobody has seen him in the entire city. It’s like he vanished off the face of the Earth.
Meanwhile on an unknown location, three Zoomers, who actually prefer to be called Wild Children, as they are called in their language, find Meanstreak’s body. He has fallen off a huge cliff, and lies on the ground unconscious. The Zoomers are surprised...
Elsewhere, Xi’an and Victor Ten Eagles come the bombed-out remains of the Unicelo building, where they fought the Foolkiller. Xi’an finds the Foolkiller’s skull: he is dead. Xi’an pities him, wishing that the Foolkiller had accepted his offer on redemption. Xi’an gets word about the situation in Halo City and leaves his former teammates of the Lawless and wants to go check on the Sisters.
At the same time at the Tower, Rosa cries about the loss of her child. Metalhead tries to comfort her and promises to get the boy back, but Rosa is angry at Eddie for bringing her, believing that this wouldn’t have happened if they had stayed with the Freakshow. Eddie calms Rosa down and puts his arms around her. Rosa apologizes and just wants her baby back.
Suddenly a bright light shows up outside, and enters the room! Vulcann proudly enters, and introduces himself and Joachim! Joachim, wearing a costume and looking rather serious, says hi to his mother. Rosa doesn’t believe that the creature she sees before her is Joachim. Vulcann tells Rosa to look into the boy’s eyes, and Rosa recognizes her child.
Eddie angrily wants to attack Vulcann, but Joachim protects his master with his life and attacks Eddie with pure light, pushing him out of the building and making him fall onto the ground violently. Rosa can’t believe what Vulcann did to Joachim. Vulcann explains the purpose of Joachim’s transformation. Vulcann knows that Joachim will be the one who is going to lead the next generation of mutants. Vulcann says that, to succeed in that, Joachim needs the proper training only he can provide. Vulcann offers Rosa to come with them, so that she can be at her son’s side.
Meanwhile, Xi’an has returned to the nursing room, where he finds the bodies of all the Sisters of the Howling Commandments. Xi’an knows that he Sister’s don’t believe in vengeance, but he swears to avenge their deaths.
Shakti shows up, carrying a badly injured Nostromo over her shoulders. She informs Xi’an that they wanted Sister Willow, and so they killed them all. Xi’an asks Shakti what happened to the others of X-Nation. Shakti didn’t felt them anymore after Exodus attacked them, and believes that they are all dead.
Nostromo freaks out and wants to avenge his friends. Xi’an holds the boy, who suddenly goes catatonic. Xi’an asks Shakti if Nostromo has done that before. Shakti knows that Nostromo has never truly been stable. She fears that the loss of his friend Clarion might be too much for Nostromo to handle.
Suddenly, some sort of circuitry etches itself across Nostromo’s cheek. Shakti doesn’t know why that happens, because normally Nostromo’s injuries have caused his body to repair itself with techno-organic tissue. Shakti tries to call out to the boy. Nostromo hears her, but says in a weird computer-like voice that he recognizes her and awaits further reunification.
Tim and Luna have made it to Halo City’s harbor. They check on any survivors and the damages. Quiver meets up with Sham, using his powers to get through a rushing crowd. Sham is going to make sure that she and her friend are going to be safe. Xi’an, Shakti and Nostromo are trying to get out of the nursery room. Nostromo is back to normal and doesn’t remember anything about his brief computer-like state.
Shakti and Xi’an try to figure out what it meant, but then a holding barrier breaks down and falls right onto them! Eddie wakes up after his hard fall and calls out to Rosa, but she isn’t anywhere to be found. The councilmen evacuate X-Nation’s residents by putting them on the many boats the city has.
Victor tries to cheer Krystalin up, who feels down for seeing what she saw as her home going to waste. Meanwhile, Vulcann lets Joachim attack Tim and Luna and defeats Luna, but kills Tim. Vulcann is pleased, and knows that everyone with the common sense will join them. The rest, he will just let perish away…


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[Assistant]
Lifeboat
Vulcann and his protégé, Darkson, arrive, carrying the defeated La Lunática in their arms. Vulcann proudly announces that the age of the X-Men is over! Vulcann orders Joachim to toss Luna back over to her teammates, as a he has no use for any of Brimstone Love’s cursed progeny.
The Darkson does as told, and lowers Luna to the ground, cradled in a telekinetic cushion, which is a far gentler use of his powers compared to the telekinetic blast he used to bring her down. Krystalin helps Luna up and asks where Tim is. Luna, almost out of breath, sadly informs Krys that Vulcann and Darkson killed Tim, blew him into a thousand pieces.
Krystalin becomes angry hearing that and throws crystal spikes at her enemies. Vulcann commands Joachim to protect them, and he creates a protective force field around them and the spikes bounce off. Victor thinks that Joachim must be at least an alpha classed psychic. That would make him as powerful as Master Zhao. Bloodhawk isn’t impressed, but Krystalin doesn’t want to take any risks and tells Sham and Quiver to bring Luna into safety.
Bloodhawk tries to strike Darkson, but he unleashes a psychic blast and brings Bloodhawk down. Quiver hesitates, but Sham pushes him into a hurry so that they can get Luna into safety. Quiver is worried that they are all doomed. Vulcann has had enough of the individual fighting and commands Darkson to finish the X-Men off.
Under a brutal telepathic assault, the X-Men and their friends all fall down. Book shows up, moving himself around in a floating chair. Book congratulates Vulcann on his work on the boy and is certain that Essex and the Sharper’s Guild would have been jealous.
Vulcann wants to know how Book knows about Essex and the Guild. Book says that he knows everything. Vulcann knows that the X-Men rescued Book and asks the mutant if his loyalties lie with them. Book claims that the X-Men were simply the fastest way to get to Halo City. He claims to have only come to them to absorb their Archive’s knowledge before it got to waste.
Book asks Vulcann if he is aware that Joachim is not the mutant messiah like he thinks the boy is. Vulcann knows that might not be true, but with Joachim’s powers he was the most likely candidate. And Vulcann is just interested in Darkson’s powers, so that he can use them for his own plans.
Above the city, a pulsating mass of energy coalesces, which is somehow drawn to the conflict below. Slowly, conscious thought dawns within this energy, a fragmented sense of self that is startled at the presence of another creature like itself! The other energy ball realizes the confusion of her partner, and transforms into a more familiar form: that of Reiko!
Meanwhile in the Data District, Xi’an, Shakti and Nostromo try to escape out of a blocked hallway. More water floats into the halls and lead them underground. Shakti remembers that some of those tunnels should be waterproof. She and Xi’an try to lock the doors behind them manually, but the doors are pretty strong so they have to push hard.
Xi’an is concerned about Nostromo, who isn’t handling the loss of his teammates very well. Nostromo hears voices in his head and freaks out. Shakti tries to bring the boy to his senses, but Nostromo claims to hear alien voices in his head. He fears that he is losing his mind.
Unnoticed by Vulcann, a hulking figure takes position on a catwalk above him. A pile driver of living metal, Eddie Beethoven-Osako dives down to the mutant shaper! Eddie pushes the villain real hard, but he recovers faster than expected and grabs Metalhead by his throat. Eddie wants to know what Vulcann did with Rosa, but he doesn’t want to tell. The Bloodsmith just wants to kill Metalhead.
Rosa jumps out of the shadows and wants to protect the man she loves from getting harmed. Rosa regrets that she stayed in the shadows while she watched Vulcann defeating the X-Men, but she can’t let the same thing happening to Eddie. Rosa tells Vulcann that he has won, and has her son. But she wants Eddie back. Vulcann agrees and tosses Metalhead to Rosa. Vulcann tries to make Rosa understand that he is going to change the world in the best way possible. He even gives people the free choice to join him.
Vulcann is confident that if Rosa lets him train the boy, everyone will be more than willing to die for him once they’ve seen what he is capable off. But for now, all that Vulcann asks of the people is to follow them to higher ground, to his fortress in the heart of Mount Rainier’s dormant volcano.
There, he will melt the mutants of Halo City into an army for the new world. The tied-up X-Men against a boat all of them agree that Vulcann is crazy. Everyone follows Vulcann, and take a last look at once was Halo City.
Meanwhile, far beneath the waterlogged city, Shakti has brought Xi’an and Nostromo to one of Doom’s former secret labs. Shakti recalls how she first came here when Doom told her about the “mutant messiah.”
Nostromo gets upset when he hears that Shakti only came to the shelter because Doom told her, and thinks that Shakti never cared about any of them. Shakti tries to explain to Nostromo that she wanted to teach him and the others how to protect themselves. And she knows that she failed at that.
But Shakti doesn’t want to fail now. Shakti reveals that Doom gave her the access key to a teleporter unit. All they have to do now is locate the other X-Men by the signal beacons in their badges, and they will be out of there! Nostromo doesn’t like it here and knows that they aren’t alone.
Xi’an doesn’t believe that, but Shakti feels a presence as well. Could it be Tim? Shakti and the others don’t realize that Tim’s spiritual form is watching over them from outside of the shelter. Disoriented and frightened by his reawakening sense of self, he rockets back towards the radiant figure that was patiently waiting for him.
Tim remembers who he is. He asks Reiko if that means that he died a second time. Reiko tells Tim that he never died. She says that Tim was unaware that he was slowly mutating into a being of pure and living energy. That is why he alone of all the Graverobber’s Undead minions survived. Tim’s physical body had become baggage that he was holding onto out of habit. The charge ended when Vulcann irrevocably destroyed Tim’s Earthly body. Reiko tells Tim to rejoice, because he is no longer confined by physical limitations.
Tim thought that he was talking to his dead girlfriend, but now suspects that he isn’t and asks if that is true. “Reiko” confirms his suspicions, and admits that it was easier to make Tim believe that the first time he disconnected from his body. Reiko claims that she wanted to tell him the truth then, but Tim was still too tied to the mundane world. Reiko promises that there are others like them, and they are waiting for them.
Tim asks what he must do about his friends and the city. Reiko tells Tim to leave them behind, as his destiny lies elsewhere. Tim agrees and flies away together with Reiko.
In the New Pacific channel, aboard a solar powered schooner, the glitter of a teleportation field announces the arrival of Shakti, Xi’an and Nostromo. The X-Men tell their friends to untie them, but their cable restraints won’t budge.
The X-Men fill Xi’an and the others in on what happened, but get an unexpected sight in front of them: an Atlantean warship! The warship brings the schooner back with it into the ocean, and Xi’an uses his powers to untie the X-Men, who find themselves able to breathe underwater.
Meanwhile, further deep down in Atlantis, the warriors are attacked by Vulcann and Darkson. Vulcann fakes that they are harming Darkson’s people, so he attacks the Atlantean warriors with a fully charged psionic blast! Rosa can’t believe what her son is capable of.
The X-Men swim back up and grab some of the ship’s wreckages to hold onto. Quiver is nowhere to be seen. Xi’an asks Shakti to find out, and she knows that he is still alive, as are their enemies.
Vulcann hears a noise and tries to find out what it is. It’s Bloodhawk, and he puts Vulcann into chains! At Bloodhawk’s signal, Eddie dives towards the ocean floor, with Vulcann struggling in tow. Metalhead secures the chain onto a rock outcropping, and leaves the Bloodsmith to the ocean’s mercies!
Darkson cries out to his master. Rosa tries to bring her son back to his senses, but Joachim knocks his mother out.
Suddenly, a green energy form appears in front of the boy. It’s Tim, and he tells Joachim that he has hurt his mother. Joachim begins to remember it all, and Tim uses the confusion to make his move.
He tabs into the ambient energy of the storm around him, and channels the force into Joachim and shocks him into unconsciousness. Some time later, the X-Men have found an Atlanteam Armada ship and claimed it their own.
Tim meets up with Luna. He says that it took him some time to find out how to gain a form and weight, but he came back for her. Luna is speechless.
Krystalin doesn’t know what to think of their victory, since they have lost so much. Including Meanstreak. Victor is glad that at least they are still alive.
Rosa doesn’t know what she is going to with Joachim, but Eddie promises that he will help where he can. But he knows that, most of all, Joachim needs his mother.
Sham and Quiver reunite and are also glad to be still alive. Nostromo sits alone in the corner, and a voice in his head promises Nostromo that he will soon fulfill the destiny of the Collective.
Bloodhawk asks Shakti and Xi’an where they are going to lead their people. Shakti explains that they have used Doom’s board computer to determine the best possible relocation site. “Heads up, X-Men. We’re headed for… the Savage Land!”