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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

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To Catch a Toad
'Well, don't keep us in suspense, darling. Tell us who killed you?' Emma Frost asks the Scarlet Witch. Hundreds of mutants stand behind Emma, all wanting to know the answer. 'I – well...' Wanda Maximoff a.k.a. the Scarlet Witch begins, nervously, with only a small group gathered around her to protect her from the mass of mutants – Captain America, Iron Man and the Vision are there, as well as Magneto, Northstar and Wolverine. Iron Man tells Wanda that nothing is going to happen to her, that they are here and not going to let them hurt her again. Wolverine turns to Wanda and declares that she deserves justice, as she was brutally attacked by one of them. 'Yes – and no matter how your magic may or may not have affected Krakoa today, we cannot let that slide' Northstar adds. Wanda sighs, then utters 'Okay...' before pointing into the crowd of mutants: 'It was you' she announces.
Soon after, the Quiet Council is in session. Xavier and Magneto sit at their table. Sinister, Exodus and Mystique to their left, Storm and Nightcrawler to their right, and the Hellfire contingent – Emma Frost, Kate Pryde and Sebastian Shaw – opposite them. Several others are gathered around the outside on the seats that line the Grove. 'All right, are well all present?' Xavier begins, before suggesting that they finish this sordid business. Above the Grove, a bubble of water is dropped down, and lands with a splash in the center of the Quiet Council. A figure stands up, soaking, they look around sheepishly. It's Mortimer Toynbee – the Toad. Xavier asks Toad if he knows why he is here today, to which Toad confirms that he does: 'I... tried... to murder Wanda the night of the Hellfire Gala' he confesses.
'You admit guilt?' Mystique asks, pointing at Toad. 'Yes' Toad announces, water dripping off of him. Emma narrows her eyes as she asks Toad if he is aware of what the punishment will be. 'Yes. Exile' Toad responds. 'Wait, no -' Wanda calls out as she sits on the sidelines, next to Lorna Dane a.k.a. Polaris. Wanda points out that no harm was done, and that she is fine now, and forgives Toad. 'There's no need to -' she begins, before Magneto interrupts her, explaining that Krakoa has laws that must be obeyed. 'If we start ignoring our laws, how will our people accept the gifts of this land?' he asks, to which Wanda has no answer. Captain America reminds Wanda that Toad tried to kill her – and very nearly succeeded. 'We were told you were dead' he tells his longtime teammate. Emma sighs as she mutters 'We thought she was...' before telepathically warning Wanda that if she ever lets slip the secret of Krakoan resurrection, then next time, they will make sure her death sticks.
Prodigy, Prestige and Eye-Boy of X-Factor step forward, with Prodigy holding up a plastic bag containing a small object, he states that X-Factor would like to present further evidence. 'We believe this is the murder weapon'. Prodigy explains that it is made of an enchanted metal called Uru, that it has been specifically spelled to dispatch the Scarlet Witch, indicated by Wanda's sigil on the metal. He then reports that they found this in Toad's home, and that it has Toad's fingerprints on it.
'I only did what needed doing!' Toad calls out, declaring that Wanda tore the Brotherhood apart, turned her back on them – and betrayed her father. Vines burst up from Krakoan ground and ensnare the Toad. Toad falls down, his long tongue flickering as he looks up at Magneto and tells him that he helped – helped him – for the Brotherhood! 'I DID THIS FOR YOU, MAGNETO!' Toad shrieks as he is pulled down into the Pit.
'That seems... crueler than capital punishment' Iron Man remarks as he, Cap, the Wasp and the Vision sit together. 'It's just a prolonged death sentence, isn't it?' Captain America asks. The Wasp points out that they don't have the right to dictate Krakoans' approach to morality, as they are not a part of this nation. The Vision agrees, and suggests that on that note, it is time they left. 'Wanda?' he calls out to the Scarlet Witch. But Wanda reports that she has some family matters to attend to before she leaves here. She takes the Wasp's hands as she claims that she is not going to stop fighting for Toad's release, as he does not deserve that fate. The Wasp asks Wanda for text updates, every hour. 'I will' Wanda replies, before telling her friends in the Avengers that they have no idea what it means that they came. The Wasp tells Wanda that they were devastated and had begun their grieving process.
Wanda apologizes, but Captain America hugs her and tells her not to apologize for what was not her fault. 'All right, then. I won't' Wanda smiles. She thanks the Avengers again, and Iron Man tells her that she is loved, and to never doubt that. 'Father, will you -' Wanda begins, turning to Magneto. 'No. I cannot. I have somewhere to be. But you can do this' Magneto replies without looking at Wanda or the Avengers. 'Do what?' Polaris asks. 'Well, - I'll need your help, actually' Wanda smiles. 'Sure' Polaris tells her, before asking where Magneto is going. 'I think he needs some time. Alone' Wanda replies.
Magneto arrives at the House of M. He removes his helmet when he steps through the large, extravagant doorway. Guilt is a kind of grief. Regrets about what ifs and should'ves and once-wishes are all searing, hurtful things. Magneto is a good man who has done terrible things. His biggest secret is that it was always out of love. His way of loving is expressed through rage at injustices. Or choosing to isolate himself so as not to burden others with his inner pain, which he's been conditioned to view as his own weakness. Magneto drops his helmet to the floor, then drops to his knees, tears streaming down his face. No matter the cost. No matter how much it pains him, this is how a tortured, traumatized, magnificent man knows how to love. Through trial. It takes a lot of practice.
'No one taught him how to love any other way. But he – he taught me that' Wanda thinks.
Flashback – the night of the murder:
'Wait, please -' Wanda calls out, but Magneto grabs her by her shoulders and tells her that he regrets ever telling her about mutant resurrection. 'How could you ask such a thing of me?' Magneto asks. 'Don't be afraid. Please, just let me -' Wanda begins. 'Tch. Fine' Magneto mutters, before telling Wanda that they can't do it here. He looks around and sees others attending the Hellfire Gala, while Wolverine and Domino keep watch as security for the night. Magneto leads Wanda into some bushes, and folds his arms as he asks her to explain.
Now:
'Spin the wheel...'Wanda utters as she etches some markings into some bare ground. Magical markings. 'All right. We're here. Just like you asked' Polaris smiles as she approaches Wanda. With her are David Haller a.k.a. Legion, and Kevin MacTaggert a.k.a. Proteus. 'Why are we here?' Legion asks. The markings that Wanda has etched into the ground glow with energy, as Wanda tells Polaris, Legion and Proteus that the three of them are the prodigal three. Wanda touches each of them by their arm as she explains that three is a very important number, mystically, and that what their parents represent to Krakoa makes the three of them the most important figures here. Legion smiles as he tells Wanda that Polaris told them what she is attempting. 'Parents? My mum was dead before we ever set foot here...' Proteus begins, confused. Wanda tells him that she knows, but that it felt right. She suggests that it might be Proteus' access to the Astral Plane, but she knows it is the three of them who need to be here.
Polaris, Legion and Proteus all take their positions on the magical symbol, while Legion tells the Scarlet Witch that, as pretty as her chalk drawing is, he is not inclined to believe it will actually work. 'Wouldn't it be amazing if it did, though?' Wanda replies. 'Obviously, but -' Legion begins, before Wanda interrupts him, asking him if he trusts her. 'Not even slightly' Legion grins. Wanda thanks him for being game to try anyway, before declaring that it is going to work – that it has to. She reaches her arms up and asks the others to do so, too, with palms facing the heavens. 'Perfect' Wanda remarks when the others do as she asks. Polaris pauses, before asking if it is working. 'No, but – that can't be – I was there. I made that place – for you all -' Wanda exclaims. 'The Eldritch Orchard' Legion remarks. 'You can see it?' Wanda asks him. Legion tells her that he can't, but that he can feel it. Proteus agrees, he can feel it, too. 'Even -' he begins. 'The night she died' Legion utters. 'Aye' Proteus confirms.
'Feel what?' Polaris asks. Wanda hangs her head. Disappointed, she tells the others that she doesn't understand, as this should have worked. Polaris smiles at Wanda and tells her 'It's you. You're the one who's supposed to complete the circuit here'. Wanda looks at Polaris and tells her that she can't, as she isn't a mutant. They look into each other's eyes and press their foreheads together, as Polaris asks Wanda if she considers her to be her sister. 'Lorna, yes, of course. But -' Wanda starts to reply. 'Then it's you. You're just as much his daughter as I am' Lorna points out as she steps out of the circle. 'Then I... I'll try' Wanda announces as she takes Lorna's place. Wanda knows that past, present and future are all the same to someone with her ability. It is easy for her to fold them into tiny, tiny pieces, easy for her to gather them up, and then easy for her still to create a pocket dimension collecting all the pieces. Wanda, Proteus and Legion raise their hands above themselves, and energy begins to flow around them all. Wanda knows that all these pieces are possibilities, and her mastery is infinite possibility. And then, with a little mutant magical assistance, it is easy for her to use this confetti she made out of time and possibilities to build Krakoans their own Elysian fields. Energy bursts forth upwards, into the heaven in spectacular display.
Flashback – the night of the murder:
'It's the only way I can make it' Wanda tells Magneto as they stand hidden in a forest. 'Is it, now? Because there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people on this island who I'm sure would be more than happy to help you accomplish this task instead of me!' Magneto snaps. Wanda looks up at Magneto as she tells him that he is likely the only one who cares about her enough to try to bring her back should something go wrong. 'I... Wanda, I can't. I won't. Please don't make me do this' Magneto replies as he takes Wanda's hands and hangs his head. 'You can. I can do this. I can make things right. But I have to go through Krakoa's resurrection channel first in order for it to work. I can always find my own way back from death, but without mutant resurrection...' Wanda's voice trails off. 'Don't you see? It's the only way' Wanda utters as she hugs Magneto, who sighs, then announces 'So be it, sweet daughter'.
'This won't take long' Wanda announces as she begins to cast a spell. She touches the ground, and magical energy glows around her. Magneto asks her what she is doing, and Wanda tells him that she is using glamours, making it look real, as there won't be any call for her resurrection, not unless foul play is suspected. The dirt around her becomes disheveled, as if there had been a struggle. Magneto asks Wanda what she requires of him, and Wanda explains that she needs  him to make sure that her body is found, and that she can somehow access resurrection channels. She suggests he talk with Hope, as she will help him with this. 'The problem is if mutantkind suspects you and I conspired on this, I'm afraid they will reject the gift, and then this will all have been for nothing... and I don't know how to solve that' Wanda warns Magneto.
Magneto hangs his head, then looks back at Wanda and assures her that he will take care of it. Wanda thanks her father and tells him that she knew she could count on him. More magical energy swirls around Wanda as Magneto asks her what it is. 'This is what is going to do all the dirty work for you' Wanda explains. 'The murder weapon, you mean' Magneto remarks, looking at the glowing energy symbol. Wanda tells Magneto that she enchanted it herself, and asks Magneto if he is ready. 'Never' Magneto responds. 'Well, I am' Wanda replies, as energy bonds reach up and entangle themselves  around Wanda's neck. She tells her father not to be frightened, and assures him that she won't feel a thing. 'You know death could never grasp me forever – I'm too far out of reach for such trivial things' Wanda boasts, before telling Magneto that she loves him and will see him soon. 'I...I love you too' Magneto replies as Wanda's body falls into the shrubs around her, and Magneto flees the scene, carrying a piece of enchanted metal with Wanda's sigil embedded in it.
Now:
One day following the ritual that Wanda, Legion and Proteus undertook, Northstar enters his quarters within X-Factor's headquarters, the Boneyard, to find his husband, Kyle Jinadu-Beaubier in their bed. Northstar informs Kyle that he has just gotten off the phone with Hope. 'Oh?' Kyle asks, confused. 'We're expecting' Northstar announces, wide-eyed, he sits on the edge of their bed. 'Expecting what?' Kyle enquires. 'A daughter' the shocked Northstar reveals. He grins, and turns back to Kyle, asking him if he remembers him telling him about Joanne, the infant he once adopted. 'Of course I do, my love' Kyle replies. Northstar tells Kyle that he has just found out that Joanne would have been a mutant – and she will be a mutant, someday. Kyle and Northstar embrace, tears of joy stream down their faces, as Northstar declares that Joanne has just been added to the resurrection queue.
In the Arbor Magna Hatchery, Hope Summers is with Proteus and the rest of the Five – Egg, Elixir and Tempus. Wearing a Cerebro helmet, Hope declares that twenty million mutants were added  to the resurrection queue last night – twenty million mutant souls who were lost before Cerebro started its backups, or before their X-gene could manifest. Hope injects one of the eggs with the DNA of the latest mutant to be granted resurrection, and reports that Wanda warned her that the eggs could potentially look different. Indeed, this egg looks darker, as Hope explains that time was compacted and folded in on itself into a composite possibility, allowing Cerebro to scan across time and space itself for every mutant who fell between the cracks of the resurrection protocols, at least the first time, anyway, as it is the magic Wanda used to recover the souls.  'Which means now no one is lost' Hope utters as a hand suddenly bursts forth from the egg, and a muscular man emerges, reborn. 'From now on, no mutant can ever be lost to us ever again' Hope declares, before touching the reborn mutant on his face: 'Welcome back, John Proudstar' she utters.
John Proudstar is led by Storm through a tunnel towards a bright light. 'I've had nightmares like this' he utters. 'What is your name?' Storm asks him. 'You know the answer to that, Ororo' John replies. 'Tell me anyway' Storm asks. 'I AM THUNDERBIRD!' John Proudstar shouts as he stands on a ridge, overlooking the Arbor Magna.
Hope tells the others that what they have gained is permanent offshore backup for loved ones, protected from human hands, deep in the Astral Plane – it can never be sabotaged or touched by non-mutants. She tells them to imagine an opt-in Elysian Fields, exclusive to mutants, where you can enter yourself into the resurrection queue now if you want, as an alternative to the Crucible – all you have to do is walk up the steps and cross into this next room.
'It's you, then? Truly?' Banshee asks, smiling as he places a blanket around Thunderbird and escorts him down a path to the waiting group of cheering mutants. 'Back off, Shamrock!' Thunderbird snaps. 'Aye, it's you, all right! Ye cantankerous bastard, you!' Banshee exclaims.
'It exists in its own pocket dimension – a liminal space between life and death. We're calling it the Waiting Room' Hope remarks as she approaches Charles Xavier, who stands on a platform in the Arbor Magna. 'How? How is all this possible?' Xavier asks. 'The Scarlet Witch' Hope  declares.
Later, night has fallen over Krakoa, and Magneto and Polaris stand amongst some trees, watching as Exodus sits by a campfire, several young mutants gathered before him. 'Listen closely, young ones...' Exodus begins. Magneto and Polaris look over to the Scarlet Witch, who watches too, as Exodus continues: '...for it's time we begin the tale...'. Polaris smiles as she puts her head on Magneto's shoulder, and Magneto puts his arm around her, as Exodus utters '... of how the Pretender became the Redeemer'.
The Scarlet Witch goes over and joins in, 'Once upon a time... there was a witch' she begins, as she casts a hex of her sigil and smiles.


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

[Assistant]
‘The Dream Before (1st story) – Boys Night Out (2nd story) – Something Old (3rd story)
1st story:Meditating, Kitty Pryde thinks of her secret recurring nightmare. Some time ago, she was trapped in a giant space bullet. She had sacrificed herself to save her friends and her world. Instead of dying, she merged with the bullet and went into a kind of fugue state. She might very well have stayed conscious and alive until the end of time. But then she was rescued and her life as an X-Man went on. Except she finds herself haunted by the fear that she never escaped and is still stuck inside the bullet. Forever lost in space. Alone.
But then, she is never alone – she has memories. Of her childhood, growing up in Deerfield, a suburb of Chicago. A normal life, except for her being exceptionally smart. She was going to go to the University of Chicago, meet a guy, save the world. That was before she learned she could walk through walls.
She met the X-Men when Professor Xavier invited her to join his school. But the same day, they were attacked by the Hellfire Club, a group of billionaires wanting to use their fellow mutants as assets. The X-Men stand for something better. That day, they fought for her and became her lifelong friends.
She enrolled at Xavier’s school as a member in training of the X-Men. She had no idea what was in store for her. She was still a kid when she fought a demon single-handedly, helped the X-Men save the world, a whole alien galaxy, and almost lost her soul to the ninja Ogun. Wolverine drove her farther than ever before to toughen her up. Kitty won that battle but there was worse to come.
Kitty’s parents went into witness protection after Carmen’s dealing with the Yakuza. Next, she knew her parents were getting divorced. She still had her boyfriend Colossus. But he dumped her after having fallen for the alien healer Zsaji, who sacrificed her life for him. That hurt more than her parents’ break-up. At least she knew they both still loved her.
But she is an X-Man, and what they do best is survive. At least until the mutant massacre almost wiped them out. Nightcrawler and Kitty ended up in England, where along with Captain Britain, his girlfriend Meggan and Rachel Summers they founded a new team – Excalibur.
Ultimately, Kitty came home to school just in time to save the planet from a giant space bullet. That’s where she thought her story would end. Being an X-Man, she should have known better. Afterwards, she felt done with the superhero life and needed a break. She enrolled at the University of Chicago. That was so fun. Until duty called. She’d started at the Xavier School as the youngest student. Now she was taking over as head of both the school and the team. Not quite the life or fate she’d dreamed of.
24 hours over, her clock beeps. She gets up replaces the sword she was holding and looks at some photos of Wolverine. She figures they are an interesting pair. His bones can’t be broken because they are laced with adamantium, hers because she is intangible. In martial arts skills, they are nearly the same. In terms of their humanity, they both know how precious life is.
She takes a shower and dresses in a leather outfit while musing that mutants often seem to come back from death. Too bad that doesn’t hold for normal folks. She met Alasdhair Kinross when she got bounced back in time to 1936. The adventure started out with her just trying to find her way home. How could she know the cousin they were trying to save would grow up to become the Queen of England? Or that she’d fall in love? She was ready to give up everything for him and was sure he felt the same. But fate had other ideas.
Losing Alasdhair broke her heart. Her father’s death nearly finished her. That’s why she came back to Chicago to attend school. That was the life he’d wanted for her, the one they dreamed of together. She’d go to school and help save the world as a scientist. So now she’s Dr. Pryde. Only he didn’t live to see it. He won’t be there to give here away at her wedding. He died on Genosha, along with seventeen million other people.
She gets to her job as a barkeeper at the Bar Belles of Hell, with Lockheed slumbering behind her. A drunken customer asks her if the dragon is real. She suggests he ask him himself. Lockheed stretches and yawns. She offers the customer a drink on the house but tells him it is the last one.
Her boss Dylan asks if everything is okay. She admits she doesn’t know. She is getting married. Back home, her best friends are about to throw her a bachelorette party, and she just wants to run away.
That moment, Nightcrawler teleports in and remarks it’s hard to be a grown-up. She hugs him happily. Getting a beer, he tells her Logan has watched out for her since before she was born. In his absence and as one of his and her best friends, he stands in.
The previous drunk guest asks if he is for real. Dylan tells him he is a regular. And a friend, a priest adds. Does he have a problem with that?
Kitty tells Kurt she just wishes… She could run away, he repeats. Kitty admits she’s scared then gasps as she sees the ghost of Alasdhair. She tells Kurt that the love and commitment of marriage and their lifestyle don’t go well together.
She sees Logan next to Alasdhair. Kurt suggests she walk away then. All of her friends would understand, probably even Peter. She tells him he sounds like Logan He replies they are what God made them. Whatever they make of it rests on their shoulders. It’s easy to play life safe, never take a risk, not to love or be loved.
Next, she sees her father who asks her if that is what she wants. Kitty realizes they are her memories. A part of her for now and always. But life doesn’t care. Life moves on. That’s life, her father tells her. Is that such a bad thing? Kurt asks. Having been to Heaven himself, there are two things he is sure of: Heaven like, he prays, God’s mercy is infinite. They are not, which makes life all the more precious. The choices they make, the chances they take define them. Because of what she has lost, this commitment matters all the more.
Kitty smiles and cries as her memories tell her to trust her heart. Not to fear the man or the moment. To embrace them both. Kitty promises that she will.
2nd story:Months ago, during when the Secret Empire isolated New York, Old Man Logan and Storm battled the demon Krelluck that ran amok in Manhattan.
Today in Las Vegas, Hotel Inferno, its owner Wong tells Krelluck he has to let him go. The casino just opened and he managed to drive off dozens of customers. He attacks and berates anyone he suspects of cheating. It scares the clientele.
Krelluck retorts that the clientele come to be scared. Everyone working here is a demon! Wong points out that Krelluck seems to be the only one broadcasting his hatred of humans. They are rude and entitled, not to mention weak, Krelluck huffs, proving Wong’s point.
Wong gives him one month’s severance and again apologizes. Grimly, Krelluck leaves the office and plays roulette with his money.
Elsewhere in Las Vegas ,several male X-Men are there for Colossus’ stag night. Nightcrawler happily wonders why couldn’t Kitty relocate the mansion here. Bobby Drake notes Peter Rasputin looks like he is going to his funeral. Nightcrawer suggests a casino. Of course, they end up in Hotel Inferno.
Bobby urges Peter to celebrate a little more. Peter points out he is about to be married to the love of his life. Why would he celebrate that with a night of debauchery? How would he celebrate? Bobby asks. With her, he admits. Bobby laughs; he really doesn’t understand how this whole bachelor party thing is supposed to work. It’s a celebration of independence and manhood, and even if it weren’t, he should use the opportunity not to be an X-Man and relax.
Krelluck overhears and turns to Bobby asking if he said he is an X-Man. They both are, is that a problem? With a cry of rage, Krelluck attacks.
With a sigh, Colossus asks why Iceman had to ask him that. While Colossus and the demon fight, Nightcrawler tries to get the attention of Gambit, who is more interested in the roulette table.
Kurt scolds Colossus that he is jumping the itinerary. A barroom brawl was scheduled after the nightclub and the stripclub. Struggling, Peter retorts he doesn’t want to go to a strip club.
Bobby wonders why the demon is so pissed at them. Like anybody ever needed a reason, Gambit sensibly points out.
Iceman wants to freeze their foe but Kurt suggests this might just be what they need to loosen Peter up. So, the others watch as Peter slowly but surely gains the upper hand.
Suddenly, Wong casts a spell that separates the two combatants. He demands what kind of madness this is. Krelluck states that these are X-Men from the same group of humans who attacked him months ago. Colossus protests he has never seen him in his life!
Wong asks Krelluck which X-Men attacked him. He admits that the two – the woman who throws lightning and the old man – aren’t here, but they are allied with them. Wong turns to Colossus, asking if Krelluck attacked him He replies with a terse ‘yes’. Kurt adds it was wunderbar.
One bill for property damage later, the X-Men have left the club. Remy asks if Peter is feeling better. Peter muses that Wolverine set something like this up once to punish him for breaking Kitty’s heart.
Kurt remembers. Simon asks if it worked. Does he feel better? He feels like he is ready to go to bed, Peter replies. Nightcrawler agrees enthusiastically… right after the nightclub. The others suggest Peter just roll with it.
3rd story:The Xavier Institute:As Kitty is getting ready dressing up, Peter Rasputin asks her if she really needs to have a bachelorette party She tells him she must, then adds a whole bunch of X-ladies have threatened mutiny if they don’t have one. She reminds him that he went to Vegas for his bachelor party. And look at how well that went, he sighs. Kitty calms him: they are just going downtown for a few hours. It will be fine.
Someone shouts at her to hurry up. Colossus asks who planned this. If it’s Rogue, she can’t go. If it’s Ororo, then maybe it’s fine. She laughs he may be underestimating Ororo, then adds he has nothing to worry about. It’s just karaoke.
At the club, she learns it’s actually stripperoke and shouts what that is. Psylocke explains, it’s what it sounds like: Karaoke plus strippers. Rogue points out it was Ororo’s idea. Storm adds Kitty will love it.
Rogue drags her inside and Kitty sighs now she knows why Illyana bailed. Rogue points out she has that option. As the bride, Kitty doesn’t. Kitty prays for a villain attack. She is a bit more relaxed when she finds there are strippers of both genders.
Meggan suggests they do a karaoke number together. Kitty excuses herself and heads for the ladies’ room. She doesn’t know whether to pray for a Brood attack or wish herself back into the Bullet.
She finds Rogue inside the ladies’ room. She knows Rogue already tried to talk sense to her once, but a case of cold feet is normal, right? She’d be worried if Kitty wasn’t nervous, Rogue replies. Kitty observes that Rogue is radiant. Rogue agrees she is insanely happy and she has Kitty to thank for it. That mission she sent her and Gambit on really enabled them to break down a lot of walls. So it’s going well with them. Rogue admits her power is still a problem but, apart from that, they are the best they’ve ever been. Kitty asks what changed. Rogue figures she stopped being afraid. Nothing in their lives goes the way it’s supposed to. She just decided to snatch up what happiness she could find for as long as she can. Just like Kitty, she expects. Kitty agrees, snatching up happiness doesn’t sound bad.
Rogue’s phone rings and she takes the call. Kitty figures she has to face the music - literally - and leaves. While musing on planning a revenge party for Ororo, she is suddenly hit by an energy blast.
She finds herself transported to the sewers. Imagine her surprise, Callisto sarcastically states. Kitty fumes that Callisto kidnapped her again and dragged her into a sewer again. Not much surprise at this point. Maybe she’s been missing old times, Callisto muses. Kitty doesn’t share the feeling and she doesn’t understand why Cal thinks kidnappings and duels solve all her problems. It never seems to work out for Callisto, so she might want to change her approach. Besides, Kitty is hardly the child she was the last time Cal pulled this nonsense with her. This time she can expect to lose.
She slugs Callisto and tells her to consider this a thank you for all the help Callisto gave them when they were sharing a prison cell.
Cal grabs a metal pipe and points out she didn’t kill Kitty. That was helpful. Kitty phases through her attack and tells her not to flatter herself. How did she get out anyway? Kitty asks, as she tries to hit her. Girl’s got to keep her secrets, is Cal reply. Kitty slugs her again and chides her for not thinking this through. There’s a lot of firepower in the club above. One telepathic shout and this kidnapping nonsense is over.
This isn’t a kidnapping! Callisto shouts. It’s a warning! Nonplussed, Kitty asks about what. Cal replies if she hurts Peter, Callisto is gonna personally make sure Kitty will regret it. He loves Kitty, so she won’t hurt her, as that would hurt him. He’s a good man, and though he is not quite the same man he was when they were together, he still deserves better than either of them.
Why would she hurt him? Kitty bursts out. She loves him! Unconvinced, Cal gets up and points out they save the most hurt for those they love. She walks away and warns Kitty that, if she hurts him, she will be answering to her. Fair enough, Kitty replies.
A few minutes later, Kitty walks out of the bathroom and finds Illyana came after all. Illyana points out she is a mess. Did she roll around in the alley? Kitty promises to tell her later. They are inside the club where Storm’s karaoke number is already heating everyone up.
There’s an anonymous giant champagne bottle for Kitty. The card attached says: “Have an astonishing day, Ms. Pryde – E.F.”
Kitty decides she’ll need some before she goes up there for Islands in the Stream with Meggan. Meggan cheers, while the others consider what other songs they can torture Kitty with.


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
(1st story) X-Dudes! – part 1
(2nd story) Creature Comforts
(3rd story) Present Tense
(4th story) The Fracas on Central Park West! Or French Filching Most Foul! Or I Claim this Diamond in the name of France!
(1st story)
The city at night.
San Francisco. It’s a hellish hellhole straight from the bowels of hell. That’s what crime has turned this city into. Plus, hobos. And fog. But mostly crime.
Are you insane? It didn’t even make the top 51 most dangerous cities in the US list!
Don’t. Don’t’ be that guy. This city has a disease. A disease called crime.
Oh God. Did you just write all this down from the movies?
Shut up and show some respect. My parents died in this alley. Gunned down right in front of me.
What?
A blonde woman runs down a dark alley, chased by several unsavory men, one of whom is wearing a silver demon mask. She promises she doesn’t know anything and won’t tell. She doesn’t want to die! she begs.
But this is where we fight back. The battle for this city’s soul begins here and now. Plus that lady’s about to get seriously mugged
You forgot to say that we’re the cure before. The whole disease thing. We’re the cure!
Cure for what?
Crime?
 Hell yeah, we are! Now let’s do this!
Suddenly, there’s a cry from above. “Hey, jerkfaces!” a muscular masked caped man stands there, beside him a cowled sidekick crouches. “Let the girl go and prepare to get rocked!” the tall one, a somewhat disguised Rockslide, shouts.
Oh dear God, he came up with a catchphrase! sidekick Anole thinks as they jump into action. The two of them were on patrol when they saw the lady being followed by what looked like a street gang. Never heard of a street gang using electrified katanas, but to be fair they didn’t have street gangs in Fairbury, just him the mutant lizard kid. He can’t believe he let Rockslide talk him into this. He hates him. And worse? He hates that he’s enjoying this!
Rockslide, on the other hand, thinks about how awesome this is.
Flashback: Anole’s quarters, Utopia, one week ago:
Rockslide wakes Anole up, at which point Victor announces that he hates him and orders him to go away. Finally, Rockslide throws his bed though the wall (with Victor in it.) What is the matter with him! Victor shouts. It’s two o’ clock in the morning! What is so important that he has to try and kill him? Let’s go fight crime, is the reply.
When Anole calls him an idiot, Santo explains that they came to this school to learn to control their powers or because they were freaks and couldn’t go anywhere. But mostly they came to be X-Men. Big time mutant superheroes. But all their class has ever done here is be on the defensive and it has gotten them killed. They are supposed to be mutant superheroes. They should just go out and do it! So he wants to be like the Young Avengers, Anole states. Those nerds suck, Santo replies. They’re gonna be better! They’ll go on patrol, fight crime, knock some heads together, they’ll be like Daredevil and Moon Knight, the guys who do the real work and score the hot chicks…
So all the X-girls have turned him down, Anole reasons. Look, Santo tells him; San Francisco is their city now, but all they’ve done is bring bad crap down in it. The two of them have the experience. They even saved the X-Men, so let’s go out and save real people. If this is their city, they should protect it.
“I… I…” Victor stutters. He thinks it’s dumb, Santo states. No, actually he thinks that sound pretty freaking cool! He’s in. A moment later he refuses to wear a mask or anything weird. Nothing weird, Santo promises.
“Nothing weird” translates into Santo wearing a hockeymask for his outfit and Anole a hood and a giant fake mustache. Santo promises him he looks badass as they try to sneak off the island.
They run into Wolverine, who is not interested in their secrecy and just tells them to move, adding “nice mustache, Borkowski.” Next they run into Dr. Nemesis. Equally uninterested, he orders them to go away before he amputates something from them. At the quay, they try to assure Namor they are doing nothing. He asks if he gave them permission to speak to him.
Present:
So, every night for the last week, they snuck into town to fight crime, having stopped two robberies, a vandal, some tagger and now this. The thugs are confused and decide to run, intent on dealing with the woman later.
When the two heroes attempt to talk to the woman, she runs away screaming. She was gonna ask for his number, Santo decides, revealing a fake mustache under his mask, but Anole’s gross arm scared her off.
In New York City, a strange man with ebony black skin and white hair learns that the woman, Assistant D.A. Moran, escaped due to the interference of two superbeings. He orders his inner demons – men who wear demon masks – to go to San Francisco to find the problem and eliminate it. “Yes, Mr. Negative,” they reply.
(2nd story)
San Francisco, an exclusive spa where Emma Frost allows herself to be pampered and massaged. Suddenly, someone cries for security. For what they charge, she would expect these rooms to be soundproofed, Emma remarks annoyed. The manicurist agrees while the masseuse is a bit nervous and whispers if they shouldn’t check. Emma asks what the point of whispering is, when she too is a foot away. Besides, she expects this was nothing but the shouts of a heiress who…
She scans and then announces “oh my!” Emma puts on her robe, announcing this does not come out of her two hours. She gets outside the room to see all women, guests and staff both, heading in one direction with glassy eyes.
A male voice assures them he is all the security they need now. But daddy need all of the money and valuables they have on hand. And the more comely of them should be prepared to leave with their new main man…
The apelike mutant Mandrill is in the process of fondling one brunette, who seems ecstatic at the preferential treatment. Having turned to her diamond form, Emma announces he made the fatal mistake of interrupting her self-indulgence. She will offer him one opportunity to leave without physical conflict. Mostly out of respect for Abby’s fine manicure work.
In a few moments she will beg him to get physical, the Mandrill announces. Was that his attempt to musk her with his super pheromones? she asks bored. She read his mind which, while helpful, was like bathing in excrement. Now before he pours any more of his hormonal glands on these women, let her explain: in this diamond form his powers will have no effect on her whatsoever. But she’s sure he knows what it’s like to be impotent against a woman.
“Kill her!” he orders. Emma throws the attacking women into the pool, which has the added effect of washing off the pheromones. Emma warns them to stay back till this is over.
Mandrill boasts there is more to Mandrill than his musk. Emma snickers. Man-Drill. How desperately Freudian. No, it’s a type of primate! he protests. She’s never heard of it, she remarks, but then she’s never heard of him either, which is remarkable. You’d think more people would know about a man whose face is identical to his own undercarriage.
“Hey!” he protests. For all she knows he is a great guy! He is robbing defenseless women, Emma points out. Okay, he admits, but why do women like her always blow off guys just because they aren’t “handsome?” Turning to her human form, Emma exclaims that’s droll. He can’t begin to tell her about the slowness of the opposite sex. This entire world has poisoned the brains of little boys like him, thinking they deserve a woman like her. Her face changes to match the Mandrill’s: “Not a woman like me!”
All the woman in the pool suddenly have Mandrill faces. Disgusted, he draws back. Emma continues that insipid sitcoms, lad mags and comic books have men believe that beautiful women should fall in love with every fat, immature, inconsiderate loser, no matter what he looks like.
What has she done? he stutters. He said it himself: he only planned to keep the “comely ones…” Panicked, he throws his loot at her, claiming he didn’t mean it. He meant every bit of it! Emma retorts and the only thing he deserves is a woman just like him!
As he flees, the women thank Emma. But shouldn’t she go after him? It’s her day off, she replies. Besides, she left him with something to think about…
Everywhere the Mandrill turns, he only sees faces like his own….
(3rd story)
San Francisco:
Doug Ramsey is running through the streets. Less than a minute ago, he saved four score lives. If he hurries and is very lucky, he will save even more.
Each city has its own language and, with his mutant ability that lets him understand language, he can listen to it. But tonight San Francisco has a stutter. She has people who do not belong and they are trying to perform a most onerous act.
He has almost reached the crossing where a man in a trench coat stands in the middle of the street. He wears bombs strapped over a HYDRA uniform. ”Hail HYDRA!” he shouts. “Tonight San Francisco will burn.”
Douglas has already stopped one Hydra bomber, who claimed there were two more and he would never stop them in time.  Well, he is here in plenty of time, as long as the bomb doesn’t arm itself… as it just did!
Just like his terrorist compatriot, this radical is wearing a GPS wired bomb, set to detonate when he occupies a specific coordinate. Fortunately, it is a GPS version with a common chip which speaks a common dialect. 0100111001001111! Cypher shouts and the bomb powers down. Douglas hits the HYDRA agent, thinking to himself he saved another hundred lives.
Two cops come closer. Douglas politely greets them and explains there is another man with an explosive device just like him out there somewhere. When the cops then order him to back away, Doug raises his arms to show he is unarmed and introduces himself. He has stopped two of these men and their bombs and there is a third revolutionary in the city. He breaks off, hearing another stutter. The third bomber…
Even with all the people here, scared and confused, they are still a natural part of the city. Their movements create the language of the streets. But that stutter, someone not part of San Francisco’s linguistics.
Cypher runs off and shouts he has run to find the last bomber. He is close by. He suggests they come help.
It’s hard to explain how he can comprehend what the city says. It’s not visual, more aural. A cop runs after him, telling him to come back.
Nearby at a market, a hooded man in a trench coat walks. Cypher runs towards him and again speaks binary to disarm the bomb. He cannot stop HYDRA, the man shouts and draws his knife to attack Doug. He hits his head with the handle and gets ready to stab him. Fortunately, the cop is on him and arrests the agent.
Afterwards, he asks Doug if he is ok. If Doug wants to come with him, they’ll get his name and everything. He expects there are some people at city hall who’d like to thank him. That’s okay, Doug tells him. The city is already thanking him, in her own way, of course. He thinks he is just going to enjoy their conversation.
(4th story)
The roof of the American Museum of Natural History. Batroc the Leaper skillfully enters through the skylight and somersaults down landing in front of a case displaying the huge Josephine Diamond (a gift from Napoleon to his beloved Josephine).
“Fools,” he mutters, displaying a piece of French history like so much costumed jewelry! He reaches though the case, smashing it and grabbing the diamond. No respect, no culture and no security (which is strange, actually). “Zut alors!” he swears as a hand takes the diamond away from him. Holding it securely, Fantomex swings out on his line.
“Son of une chevre!” Batroc swears and follows him over the rooftops, vowing Fantomex has no idea whom he is messing with. Oh, he knows who he is, Fantomex replies. The Leper, Batroc the jumping bunny man, oui? His super power is what? Leaping? Absurd! He has multiple brains, an outboard nervous system and is at least a million times more handsome than him. Which, he’d say, is probably a little more impressive than being “jumping guy,” non?
Adorable, Batroc replies. He thinks he can call him names, talk in clichés and agir comme un fou and then Batroc will get distracted and not kick his head clean off. Of course not, Fantomex replies. He just thinks Batroc is a sissy little jumping girl. Bunny man!
Batroc jumps ahead of him as Fantomex is coming up a roof and grabs the diamond. He sees, Batroc mocks, mister cool with his ennui, so very Sarte. The best he can do is namedrop? Fantomex asks. Call him what he likes, Batroc replies. He is the one with the diamond!
He jumps down and Fantomex follows, only to get kicked in the face. Fantomex kicks back and Batroc drops the diamond. A wild fistfight later, Fantomex grabs the diamond and, holding onto it, crashes though a window. Triumphantly, he holds it up. “I claim this diamond in the name of France and master thieves everywhere!” he announces boldly, until he gets a good look around and sees he is in a police station. He means he will be returning this diamond to the museum. In the name of the X-Men. Sacre bleu.
Peering in through the windows, Batroc smirks. Heh, jerk.


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

[Assistant]
X-Dudes! - part 2 (1st story)
 gold, Guns, Girls (2nd story)
Shells (3rd story)
Judgment (4th story)
1st story:
Mr. Negative’s operations have been spreading. With the elimination of the Pride, Los Angeles is prime for expansion, but San Francisco is critical. Here, he can gain influence with the Triads. And respect. Here he gains power and a foothold in China. But for the last two weeks, two superheroes have been systematically dismantling his operations! Making him look weak! He now comes to their organization, he addresses someone. He asks this as a simple request and shows them the pictures of the masked Rockslide and Anole. Kill them! Two charges with powers, four times the fee! the other speakers hisses and muses those two must be powerful indeed!
Said two heroes are currently in a training session. Rockslide is asleep during the lesson and shouted at by one of the instructors, Iceman. Is he kidding? He and Angel are two of the original X-Men and he sleeps during their training session? You can’t buy this kind of facetime with them! That’s how freaking cool they are!
Sorry, he was up late, Santo apologizes. Doing what? Angel asks. Nothing! Santo claims, he couldn’t sleep, he was scared of the vampires! He’s made of rock, Angel points out. He doesn’t have any blood. They are just really scary, okay? Santo insists.
Loa asks Anole what going on with him. He’s been tired all the time. Even though he’s been going to bed at like nine. He’s just been really tired, Victor claims lamely. He thinks maybe he’s got Mono. He’s the worst liar, Loa informs him. He knows, he apologizes.
They completely bought it! I am a genius. Like Tony Stark or Reed Richards. But if they were awesome! No one has any idea of the double life Anole and I are leading. Wait, that came out wrong. The truth is, Anole and me… we are pimps! Super hero pimps!
And so at night, the two continue their secret life of crime fighting.
Cyclops… if he knew, he’d shut us down. After everything that the New X-Men have been through… The deaths, the hell… No way he’d let us do this and, honestly, I need this! It’s been so dark for so long, I need this!
flashback:
And so the two of them asked Magik if she could transport them from Utopia to San Francisco. Illyana suggested they ask Pixie to take them. Megan will talk, Victor pointed out, whereas Illyana doesn’t care. “Look, goat legs, you owe us!” Santo added for good measure.
I need this. I need to show everyone how awesome I can be. Sure, they know. But I need to really hammer it home. Damn, Illyana is hot! Honestly? I kind of liked the goat legs.
Apparently, Illyana agreed as Anole and Rockslide started to stop small-time crime, even making it to the news where to the confusion of the other X-Men it is reported that the Thing or possibly Jason Voorhees teamed up with a Skrull imposter of Moon Knight to foil the crimes.
present:
Victor can’t believe he has Rockslide of all people to thank for this. Every now and then, it’s like he’s an actual human being.
Later, they sit atop a building. Santo gushes about the high speed chase last week. He just stood there… and boom! Victor points out he almost killed the guy. He doesn’t kill. It’s against his code, plus he should have been wearing his seatbelt. Plus, where are they?
Anole reminds him of the lady they saved from the gang with the swords. She works across the street. She’s an assistant district attorney. Is he stalking her? Santo asks. No, this is what Daredevil would do, Victor explains. He saw her picture in the newspaper and figured this wasn’t a simple mugging. Stalker! Santo accuses him. Victor explains he thinks maybe she was targeted.
Santo informs him that’s lame, and he’s lame for reading a newspaper. Print is dead, dude! Then he urges him to leave, so they can find someone to beat up. Victor is about to agree when they see an explosion in the building their target works in.
The two boys jump into action. They saw explosions worse than this during the Nimrod attack on the city. If that lady was in there, she might still be alive, they figure. Rockslide throws Anole over with a fastball special. He probably wanted to do that from the moment he met him, Anole figures. Instinct takes over. You don’t think about the fact that you’re only fifteen years old. Just that you’re someone’s only hope. Cyclops had the students run burning building scenarios in the Danger Room. He’s only got a few moments before the smoke incapacitates him. He finds her alive.
I’ve wanted to do that since the moment I met him Santo admits to himself, but then realizes Anole’s taking too long and he can’t get to him. He is afraid he killed him, but thankfully e sees Anole jumping out of the window with the lady. But Anole can’t fly and isn’t invulnerable. He’s going to die trying to save some total stranger. That’s dumb and awesome, he thinks and he understands he is counting on Rockslide to save him. Santo jumps down and catches him, figuring there’s no way he’s going to let him down. His best friend. His only friend.
Is he okay? Rockslide asks. Anole thanks him. Whatever, Santo replies. He did it for the chick. She looks hot. Anole asks if she is okay. He tells her they are kind of scary looking. SFFD and the police should be here soon or they can take her to a hospital or something. She states that they saved her life again. Crying, she tells them her daughter is at home. She’s only two years old. She’ all she has. Without them she’d be an orphan. She hugs Anole.
Later, with the lady brought to safety, the two wait at the pick-up place, realizing they missed the pickup time. There’s no way Magik’s coming back for them. That was pretty cool, though, they have to admit. Does he think the lady will rename her daughter after them? Santo muses aloud.
Well done, heroes! King Cobra hisses. They made finding them so very easy. Nothing personal, but they have to die now! If this is any consolation though, the Serpent Society will make their deaths quickly. They have a reputation to maintain after all…
“Holy crap!” the two boys answer.
2nd story:
Manhattan:
The three Stepford Cuckoos, Phoebe, Celeste and Irma (sometimes called Mindee) are sitting in a park, making fun of the people and their thoughts. One of them notices a nervous man. They read his mind and find out he and his friends are planning to rob a bank. Why don’t they do some good? one of the girls suggests, and the others agree.
The man meets his friends outside the bank and they put on their masks and start the bank robbery. Not the sharpest tacks in the drawer, the Cuckoos criticize.
Somewhere nearby swinging, Spider-Man’s spider-sense tingles and he hears a gunshot. He tries to find the source of the danger.
In the bank, one of the Cuckoos tells the others not to let them shoot. They focus to control all the bank robbers. Against their will, the men begin to shoot into the air. One of them is forced to call the cops to report a robbery. But it will take a couple of minutes until the cops arrive.
One of the girls that has been listening to a mp3 player has an idea of what to do until then.
Spider-Man enters the bank, ready to fight, to be greeted by the sight of the bank robbers dancing against their will. The girls wave at Spidey and explain they have the situation under control. Police are on their way.
The robbers beg him to do something. He tells the girls making them dance is just inhumane. He knocks the man out, if only to spare himself the sight.
The Cuckoos are taken aback as the robbers beg to be knocked unconscious. This is just disrespectful, the Cuckoos decide. He doesn’t have to go around making a mess. Instead, they influence Spider-Man to fight them along the music.
What the hell was that all about? a teller asks him afterwards. Don’t ask, he begs. Swinging away, he vows the X-Men are totally off his Chriskwannakuh card list. He just doesn’t know how to talk to girls, the Cuckoos decide. Regardless, this was fun. Helping people. They should do it more often…
3rd story:
Flathead Valley, Montana:
Colossus jumps out of a Blackbird without a parachute, turning to his armored form as he falls. He recalls his first meeting with Wolverine, the day he joined the X-Men. He looked Peter up and down with sheer contempt and snarled: “What’s your mutant power, famboy? Shuckin’ corn?” He thought Peter nothing more than an ignorant hick. And Peter knew instantly what Wolverine was: a bully, a savage, a man with no heart. Then they worked together, fought side by side and realized they had both been wrong. Since that day, he has always tried to see beyond a person’s surface. To what truly is inside. Today however, he fears he may be back to square one.
“Oh great!” Iron Man sighs when he sees who the X-Men sent him. No offence but, if he needed muscle, he’d have sent for the Hulk! Colossus corrects him that he didn’t send for him. Steve Rogers did through the X-Men. Iron Man apologizes. It’s been a rough day: first Titanium Man, then more corporate crap from the Hammer family. And to top it all off, the Lamborghini wouldn’t start this morning! He can see how that would be vexing, Peter replies wryly, stepping past a skeleton. But perhaps they should deal with the problem at hand…
Iron Man explains the meteor or whatever it was crashed to Earth at five AM and immediately started emitting lethal radiation. He points towards the skeletons and warns Colossus to be careful when he steps over them. The goo on the ground used to be their flesh. Only heavy metallic alloys seem to shield the rays, so he shouldn’t change back to human form any time soon.
Has he tried scanning the object? Peter asks. No, he’s floating here trying to play Halo with it, Iron Man snaps. Of course he has been scanning it! He’s identified the radiation, a mixture of gamma and highly charged X-rays. But he can’t figure out why the object is doing this or how to stop it. Its surface is extremely dense.
Colossus lifts the green round object up, suggesting a closer look. The shell is too tough for Iron Man’s scans to penetrate. They see tentacles coming out of the object like roots trying to extend to the ground. And from the radiation Iron Man’s getting, they’ll soon be charged with the same deadly radiation they see here.
Is it trying to reproduce? Peter asks. Maybe it’s an instinctive reaction, Iron Man muses. He doesn’t know. Either way, they could be looking at a disaster of magnitude larger than they are already facing.
He tries to sever the roots with his blasts but both of them are punched back by the feedback. Colossus suggests perhaps they should focus less on the threat the object appears to pose and more on what lies inside it. He points to Iron Man’s hologram. Inside is probably the source of the meteor’s power. Trying to open the shell, Iron Man admits Colossus is not just the muscle. Peter forces open the meteor and a small green lifeform flies upwards.
Iron Man recognizes it from Reed Richards’ database. It’s a Biorg. Wandering space creatures, aware but harmless. The Biorg became trapped inside the meteor and, panicked, inadvertently ionizing some rare elements within the meteor. Now that it’s gone, the radiation is dying down and the roots shouldn’t be any problem.
The two shake hands. Iron Man announces he will send up an Avengers clean-up team. Does Peter have a ride home? He thanks him for bringing him down to Earth. He’s spent too much of his life building shells, he doesn’t always think to look inside them. He supposes that is his mutant power, Peter smiles, that and shucking corn.
4th story:
A diner at nighttime. Outside several rather ridiculous figures have masked themselves and call through a megaphone that they know she is in there. Seems she cut up a couple of their holy brothers down the road and they ain’t about to let no inhuman abomanayshun walk away from that! She’ll get her butt outside or, by God, they’ll burn the place down! The Brotherhood of the Pure Propellers commands it!
Nervously, the waiter asks her not to go out. X-23 thanks her politely for the pie and asks her to stay inside. Then she steps outside.
Nervously, the brothers exclaim that is one ugly critter. Some sort of demon? another wonders. Taken aback by that reaction Laura turns around and sees they were talking about the Ghost Rider, who has arrived behind her. Someone mention “burning?” he asks. “Sic’ em boys!” the leader announces. Halleluja! And the battle is on.
The Ghost Rider nails one of them with his hellfire stare. The hell she starin’ at? he demands. And wasn’t she a hairy little Canuck feller last time they met? X-23 asks how the thing with his eyes works. Party trick, he chuckles. Dredges up all the pain and suffering a soul inflicted on the world and turns it back inside. Could he do it for her? she asks. She is a clone. She doesn’t even know if she has a soul. And she has done terrible things. People have said it’s not her fault She was made this way. But she can think for herself. She can make decisions. She would like to know how guilty she is and be punished accordingly.
The Ghost Rider protests that the penance stare is a power from hell, not therapy. One lone fanatic tries to shoot him in the back. When he begins to react automatically, X-23 intervenes, pointing out that his attacker is a child. She takes off his mask. Too young to know any better. The Ghost Rider orders the boy away and the child runs.
Reluctantly, he admits she stopped him from making a mistake. She probably figures he owes her now. Yes, she agrees. The Ghost Rider prepares to use his Penance stare on her when suddenly she asks him to wait. She saved that child, didn’t she? So she made a judgment. She knows right and wrong. She is accountable. She is guilty.
He asks her to make her mind up. She decides pain is too easy. Real penance should take more effort. Well, color him impressed, he mocks, but don’t hesitate to look him up if she ever changes her mind. He turns back to Johnny Blaze as he goes to his bike. Even vengeance understands diminished responsibility. And it ain’t down to him to say if she’s got a soul or not. Only she gets to decide that.


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

[Assistant]
X-Dudes! – part 3 (1st story)
 Storm Front (2nd story)
Invisible (3rd story)
… And You’ll Miss It (4th story)
1st story:
Anole and Rockslide suddenly find themselves facing the hired villains of the Serpent Society. Anole has read the X-Men files on them. They fought Captain America and the Avengers. He and Rockslide are so dead!
These guys are so dead, Rockslide figures. Whoever the hell they are, he is going to stomp them like crazy. What are they going to do, clamp and bite him? He should say “bite me” to one of them. That would be funny.
They are seriously going to kill them! Anole hisses and suggests they get out of here. Ignoring him, Rockslide tries his joke. Kill them! King Cobra order and the fight breaks out as Rattler blasts apart Rockslide.
Anole hopes he’s okay. Rockslide blows up all the time but, with a blast like that, it will take a few minutes and he doesn’t have that kind of time.
King Cobra mocks him and suggests heroics may not be his forte. As Anole tries to dodge Death Adder, he instantly agrees and tries to hope the Cuckoos or Frost pick up his thoughts. Maybe Magik will tell someone they’ve missed the rendezvous and the X-Men will come save them. Like right now? Nobody’s coming though. Why did he think this would be a good idea? he wonders as he dodges blasts and blows. Why did he believe Santo when he told him he could be a hero?
Anole’s my freaking hero! Santo thinks. His body is gone but he can still see, because he’s awesome he guesses. Anole has blended in with the surroundings going invisible. Santo figures he has to help him, not that he needs it. Anole will whine for a little bit. Think about going for help or that he can’t do this. But then he’ll put aside all fear, the self doubt, and then he will kick butt as indeed he does, hitting King Cobra in the face.
He takes Anaconda and Santo figures Anole is probably knows everything about these tools. He’s the only X-student who actually reads the X-Men’s files. If he’d let them cut off his other arm and legs, he’d be some unstoppable full on dragon monster! That would be cool! His head too, maybe…
Anaconda finally grabs Anole and begins throttling him. He thought Rockslide would be back by now. He is dead! she hisses. Anole pokes at her eye with his lizard-like tongue. Disgusted, she lets go.
Desperately, he tries to call out to any telepath, Miss Frost, Psylocke, the Cuckoos! If anyone can hear him: he is dead! He is surrounded and dead! He just tried to do something. He tried to be an X-Man!
He’s going to bite off his head, Bushmaster informs him. The ground begins to rumble and a giant version of Rockslide reforms shouting: Bite me and prepare to get rocked! And as lame as that sounds, Anole is thrilled to hear it.
What the hell is that? the Serpents wonder a moment before Rockslide stomps them. Who’s next? he shouts but breaks off mid-sentence.
Santo belongs to him now, Mr. Negative informs Anole. Who is he? Anole asks. Mr. Negative is no one and all of them the possessed Rockslide replies. They are no simple vigilantes he decides. They are X-Men… Mutants! They have value and through them the city will belong to him.
Well I guess I know why the X-Men stay out of this kind of thing. Super-villains suuuuck!
2nd story:
Wakanda: a strange and rare guest is announced to Queen Ororo. And, as the Asgardian thunder god Thor appears in the sky, she figures it is as part of Steve Rogers’ mutant outreach program. Politely, he greets her before landing.
Later, they share dinner. Thor explains that he has been spending some time rooting through Asgard’s remains. In the pursuit, he found an item that should be of interest to her. He hands her a box with her name on it.
Ororo opens it to find an enchanted uru hammer like his. Stormcaster! she recognizes it. Forged for her by his brother Loki. Thor realizes this may have been an error. And this may be another scheme of Loki’s that may have survived his death. He warns her but she touches the hammer.
Energy engulfs Storm and, a moment later, she stands transformed into the thunder goddess. Loki, he should have known, Thor sighs. Lightning hits Thor. He falls and tries to tell her she is under an unholy curse.
Without a word, Storm flies upward and outside. Clouds gather. Thor follows and warns her to stand down, lest he has to do mortal injury to her. He can try, she snaps. She is not his to threaten.
Thor attacks, firing lightning at her. Storm’s winds protect her and push him back. He asks her to control herself.
She touches Mjolnir, creating a maelstrom. Lightning hits her and she turns back to normal.
Is this what Loki intended? she wonders. He thinks Loki intended little; he simply did what was in his nature. She is happy to have disappointed him, in any case. Once before, when Loki tempted her with this power, resisting it was almost impossible. She would not have thought she could resist it again. And after it took her a long time to get over it. Giving up the power was like sacrificing a piece of her. She wonders if Loki got what he intended all along…
3rd story:
The Baxter Building, HQ and home of the Fantastic Four:
Unacceptable! Kitty Pryde (stuck in her space suit) shouts at Reed Richards, leader of the Fantastic Four. He must be able to do something!
Mr. Fantastic apologizes. He is at a loss to explain her phasing phenomenon. He’s run a full spectrum of applicable tests, plus others that he thought might have an outside chance of helping, but there’s nothing he can add to her own doctors’ diagnosis. She’s stuck like this until--
While he splutters apologies, an angry Kitty turns her back on him and rushes outside. She mutters that she needs air or she will suffocate, then wonders how can she even suffocate? She can’t even breathe!
That’s it? Reed’s wife Sue asks. He’s just going to let the poor girl walk out? Reed defends himself. He looked at the problem from every conceivable angle. Also several additional ones. Colossus thanks him. Reed wants to show him some of the ideas he tried while Sue follows Kitty to the roof.
She finds her crying and tells her to let it all out. She can’t even wipe her own tears, Kitty states a little later. Hugging her, Sue tells her at least she knows she can cry. Kitty recalls she thought she couldn’t even breathe. She felt like she was having a panic attack, but she can cry. So she had some kind of breakthrough.
Kitty smiles weakly. She still can’t touch a thing though. She’s so close but can’t touch or feel. Sometimes, she thinks it would be easier if she just faded away. When she was a teenager, sometimes she felt dumb enough to want the ground to swallow her up. And then one day it did.
When you don’t want attention, it’s not enough to be able to vanish, Sue agrees, but that’s not what this is about, is it? How long was she trapped in that bullet? Kitty doesn’t know. It must have been like solitary confinement, Sue adds.
She wasn’t aware of time, Kitty replies, but it felt like forever. She remembers phasing the bullet and hoping someone would do the impossible and rescue her. After that, there was no sense of time passing. She faded in and out. Doesn’t know where she went. She would try and think of other things. Anything, usually Peter. When she could think, she’d remember him. About everything she lost. The physical pain was intolerable but the sense of loss and loneliness was torture. Misery. Unendurable. In the end, Kitty gave up hope. That was the worst thing of all. At that point, she wasn’t just intangible. She was invisible. Forgotten.
Sue takes her hands and assures her nobody forgot about her. And she is back now. No, she is not, Kitty sighs. She is neither here nor there.
Sue reminds her that she saved the entire world and everyone on it and then she saved a bunch of other planets. Kitty doesn’t care. She’s not a part of the world. She can’t be a part of it. She missed him so much and now she can’t even touch him.
Sue reminds Kitty Peter is patient… honorable. He’s waiting. That’s just it! Kitty shouts. Sometimes she looks into his eyes and catches a look of uncertainty. How can she ask him to be with her when she might stay like this forever?
Sue asks her not to give up. Neither notices Peter is also on the roof. Sue tells her doubt is her enemy. Kitty said she gave up hope when she was trapped inside the metal coffin. Maybe it’s her lack of self-belief that is keeping her from unphasing. Talk to Peter… Tell him what she told Sue. Don’t give up on herself. She reminds her that she saved the world and hugs Kitty.
How much did he hear? Kitty asks Peter. A little, just the end. There are laugh lines around her mouth. One can only see them when you look very close. He can see them. When she was gone… he thought of them and the way she smiles, the way her eyes almost disappear when she laughs. When he thought that he might never see her do that again… The pain was the most tangible thing he ever felt. Right now, he cannot touch her but she can touch him. Kitty smiles at that.
Where is Katherine? Reed asks Sue. On the roof with Peter, she tells him. When he asks if she is all right, she just kisses him and both couples hug.
4th story:
Somewhere in eastern Europe, in the middle of a pentagram, Blink sits, praying to her dark goddess, trying to call her with her blood.
Light blinds her but it is not Selene who appears but Dr. Stephen Strange, who has brought Emma Frost, Warpath, Pixie, Blindfold and Husk with her, in an attempt to save Blink’s soul.
Emma kindly tells the girl this behavior is completely unacceptable, so she brought someone to talk to her about this. This is perfect, Blink purrs when she sees Emma. What better gift for the dark goddess than to be resurrected with the blood of her most hated enemy!
She doesn’t see the connection, Blindfold informs them. Emma asks her to focus. Blindfold clarifies that Blink is going to kill Emma now, but Warpath will save her, please.  Blink throws teleportation shards at Emma but Warpath shoves her aside.
Pixie tries to capture Blink, who teleports away. Husk husks into another form and tries to make Blink remember her. Blindfold warns her that Blink knows who she is, and she is next. Blink reappears above Husk, trying to kill her.
Dr. Strange realizes Blink is too fast. Warpath asks Emma if she can’t get a bead on her.  If she could, doesn’t he think this would be over? Emma snarks.  Selene’s stench consumes her mind. She can hardly think inside her head – they have to take Blink out. She failed her once, Emma explains, and she won’t do so again.
Blindfold warns Pixie before Blink appears before her. Warpath tries to catch her but she blinks out again. Emma asks Blindfold to look further ahead. No thank you, the girl replies. Blink has realized what she is now. She knows Ruth can see her future. She’s putting her knife through Blindfold’s heart now, Ruth foresees… She would appreciate them stopping her very much.
Emma grabs Blink, keeping her from blinking out. Hysterically, Blink shouts that Emma left her to die! The X-Men left her to die! She was in pain for an eternity because they didn’t come back for her!
Her teleportation shards cut into Emma but she refuses to budge. She assures the girl they didn’t know. They did, Clarice insists. They left her and knew! Emma replies Selene lied and manipulated to enter her mind. Everything Selene did for Clarice, she did to make her kill for her, Emma points out. Finally, she calls for Dr. Strange’s help.
While Emma keeps on holding the girl, Dr. Strange casts his spell and Selene’s black magic pours outs out of Blink.
Emma reaches out to Clarice, who turns away ashamed and remembers. There was an old man, she mutters. Selene wanted his house and Blink killed him. She recalls she killed the men from the Hellfire Club. Emma insists it was Selene who is to blame. It wasn’t her fault, she repeats. Emma tells her she has done horrible thing in her life that were by her choice, things she has to live with. Losing Clarice was one of them. The only way she got through this was because she wasn’t alone and neither is Clarice. She hugs the girl.
Clarice asks what she is supposed to do now. Emma promises she has a place among the X-Men. She can’t, Clarice decides and blinks away.
Emma swears. She thanks Dr. Strange for his help.
Somewhere, Blink watches the sunrise. Freed from Selene’s influence, whatever she wants to do is up to her now…


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

[Assistant]
X-Dudes! – part 4 (1st story)
Queen, King, Off-Suit (2nd story)
Disco Highway (3rd story)
Unforgettable (4th story)
1st story:
He’s a dead man, Anole decides, and he kind of always figured Rockslide would be the death of him… But not like this. Rockslide is currently possessed by Mr. Negative and tries to kill Victor.
Anole tries to get through to Santo. He never figured he’d get possessed by Mr. Negative in the middle of a supervillain fight. Also, he has no idea who Mr. Negative is. But Santo is an X-Man and X-Men beat this kind of thing all the time, right?
He urges Santo to remember who he is. How awesome he is. He figures he can get through to Rockslide with the sheer power of his mind. And then he remembers who he is talking about and he is back to square one.
But instead of Rockslide hurting him with his usual horribleness, he is now trying to crush Anole’s body with his massive fists. He is a dead man.
Dodging the blows, Anole muses that he saw Negative touch Santo, so he must establish physical contact to take someone over. Santo has never been so focused on anything as on killing him right now, he figures.
He sees the Serpent Society watching the fight. He grabs Anaconda and holds her in front of him. Trying to get at Anole, Rockslide hits her instead. Clever boy, Mr. Negative admits impressed.
Anole continues this tactic, hoping that Mr. Negative will let Santo go eventually. Instead, the villain orders Cobra to deal with this. Cobra replies that the Serpent Society is terminating this contract. Client interference. Read the fine print.
Anole lands in front of Mr. Negative, suggesting he let Rockslide go before he gets hurt. Rockslide tries to hit him. Anole dodges and Negative is hit instead. See what he means? Anole deadpans.
Anole continues he knows what he is thinking; he thinks he can get Anole before Rockslide gets Negative. Maybe he can. But is he willing to bet his life on it? Rockslide attacks again.
Angrily, Negative predicts this city will belong to him. It is inevitable. There’s only one thing he’s seeing as inevitable here, Anole gloats. He’s about to get rocked!
Mr. Negative relinquishes his mental control. Confused, Rockslide asks who beat up all the snake people (hoping it was him).
One of Mr. Negative’s servants throws a grenade at them. Rockslide throws himself in front of Anole to save him. Anole panics that the weird energy might have killed him when Santo is blown apart. He shouts at him not to be dead. He’s his best friend! He knew it! Santo shouts as he reconfigures. He is his best friend and Anole admitted it! Is he kidding him? Anole asks. Santo reminds him he tells everyone all the time how much he hates him. He had to make him say it? Why would he even care? Anole asks confused. Because he is his best friend! Rockslide replies.
At that moment, the X-Men led by Cyclops show up. Cyclops summarizes they’ve been sneaking off Utopia for weeks, putting themselves in danger to stop muggers and robbers. They were both almost killed just now fighting super-villains. Is there anything they have to say for themselves?
He thought Jean Grey was totally hot, Rockslide announces. More sensibly, Anole points out they just wanted to help.
Keep up the good work, Cyclops tells them.
That was… Anole sputters. Awesome! Rockslide finishes the sentence. They are awesome. Does he know what they should do? Fight more crime? Anole asks. Get breakfast, and then fight crime.
2nd story:
New Orleans, the French Quarter:
Patsy Walker aka Hellcat sits at the counter of a bar called Brian’s and is in a phone conversation with Emma Frost. Patsy complains she is the only girl in there and he’s not… no not a girl, not here. And why he chose a place called “Brains”… What? Apparently informed that the place is called Brian’s, Patsy admits that makes more sense.
That moment, the late Remy LeBeau aka Gambit comes in, muttering “oh no” when he recognizes her. Have they actually met? Patsy asks in a huff, because he sure acts like they have.
Gambit explains her reputation precedes her. But Scott calls. He says: “there’s someone important I need you to meet.” He’s happy to help. But what did he do to deserve this?
Joke’s on them, Patsy agrees as he sits down. Emma Frost must have an alphabetical payback list. She was bound to get to her some time. Someone should call Warlock, unless she’s going by first names. Isn’t Warlock his first name? Gambit asks while ordering a drink. Like Meatloaf or Saki?
Meatloaf is not his real name, Patsy informs him. Second, people do call him Mr. Loaf, and Saki is a pen name. Doesn’t count either.
Whatever you say, Hellcat, he replies. She can call him Remy. Rene? she misunderstands, then Ronny, then Kenny. Exasperated, he offers to buy her a drink, hoping that will help.
Pointing to her glass, Patsy remarks someone beat him to it. She calls it a party piece. Like naming all the czars in order or being able to pretend you like football. Everybody can do something, so spill! she challenges him. Nobody beats him at cards, he smirks. That must make him very popular, she smirks back.
Hours later, they are playing cards and Patsy isn’t doing too well. She complains she doesn’t have any money and what the hell cheap kind of date is he that he can’t place a bet for lady? They are not at the race track, he sighs. She grabs around in her bag and finds something to bet. She puts a small jar with a strange ugly creature inside on the table. A Fiji mermaid, she explains. This is what she gets for taking jobs on the side. And now he has a chance to win it. Why was it in her valise? he asks. In case they needed a conversation starter, Patsy explains sensibly. Apparently it comes with three wishes. She asks him to play along.
In a typical non sequitur, Patsy muses if they teamed up they could be Gamcat and Hellbit, then she is entranced by the jukebox. Maybe they have Motorhead or Dazzler. Frustrated, Gambit tells her to sit still for ten minutes. Angrily, he charges up the table, freeing the mermaid. She is making him crazy!
Annoyed, Patsy wishes he’d stop complaining about everything. Wish one, the mermaid thinks. Gambit retorts he isn’t complaining but stating facts. She is driving everyone around her insane.
Angrily, she wishes he could hear himself, which he suddenly does. Wish two.
As the mermaid tries to flee, Patsy grabs it and stores it back, content they still have one wish left. After handing the barkeeper some money for his trouble, they leave.
She tears a phonebook off a phone booth, much to Gambit’s displeasure. She is the reason no one can ever find a phonebook. Who uses phone booths anymore, anyway? she asks and looks through it, deciding on the Banana Fish Palace. That’s where they are going for dinner next week, she informs him. And he should see her again, because? Because he had a good time, she replies. He would have had a better time if he was currently the owner of three wishes, Gambit pouts. She doesn’t think it worked anyway, Patsy replies. Because he is still complaining.
3rd story:
Dazzler and her bodyguards, Misty Knight and Colleen Wing, are in the unlikely situation of having been abducted by the Cosmic Grandmaster and forced into a Roller Derby Contest of Champions against several villains, among them Paste-Pot-Pete, Stilt-Man and Klaw (also equipped with rollerblades). At stake is some poorly defined cosmic prize offered by the Grandmaster, who has apparently been reborn younger and even more irritating.
Dazzler isn’t worried. She is the best at what she does. And what she does is rollerskate! Also skating and fighting alongside her are her security guards Misty Knight and Colleen Wing. Security work, like vacation, she said! an annoyed Misty shouts at Colleen. Whatever, dude, is Colleen’s reply. She just cut off Stilt-Man’s legs! The samurai laughs manically.
Dazzler reminds them to keep the eyes on the prize. Annoyed the two follow. Dazzler is sure they got this in the bag. What are they up against – Stilt-Man and Paste Pot Pete. She wonders why the two women are so good at skating. Not telling her about their past as Hell’s Kitchen Roller Disco Queens of 1996, they just reply they’re just good like that.
As MODOK attacks (or MODORD – Mental Organism Designed Only For Roller Derby) and overtakes them, they realize he might win this. Dazzler and her radical all girl roller death squad try to catch up.
Can’t she zap him with her mutant power? Colleen asks impatiently. She turns sound into laser, Dazzler replies. She needs more volume. He is bulletproof. Misty draws her gun and shoots one Dr. Bong (who is busy tying his shoelaces). The sound the bullet makes against the gong-head is enough for Dazzler to zap MODOK.
The women win and are congratulated by the Grandmaster, who offers the ultimate prize: himself. Is he kidding her? Dazzler asks. He set the whole thing up for her, he explains. Why else could no one else skate (except for the bug guy). He thought his name stood for mental organism designed only for routine diagnostics. His bad.
Misty hits him with her bionic arm and once he’s down all three ladies kick him repeatedly. He must be out of his damn mind! Dazzler shouts. But he’s offering everything she could want! he protests. Cosmic powers… She’s the world’s greatest rollerskating mutant pop star! she shouts. What more could she want?!
4th story:
Somewhere on the streets both Hercules and Psylocke attack the Chimera, who has just robbed a bank. Even though he offers to return the money, Hercules takes him into a headlock and offers him the gift of battle. Oh God, he doesn’t want it! the Chimera shouts. Shame, Psylocke sighs and takes him out with a psi-knife.
As Betsy turns to leave Hercules stops her. Between them, their might made quite a union…
He wonders what other union might be held between them? Psylocke asks sharply. Did she read his mind? he asks with a broad grin.
London, years earlier:
Another battle just finished. Their might made quite a union, Hercules tells Psylocke. He wonders what other union might be held between them. She only just met him, she replies, shocked. Surely she has heard the legends of him, Herc replies. And a beauty such as hers should be legend. Therefore, let them spread their legends together!
Betsy is flattered at being wooed by a god. That moment, their foe, the Crimson Dynamo, gets up again, ready to attack. Displeased, Hercules hits him and he stays down. Betsy is duly impressed. He really is a god, isn’t he? Why not discover for herself? he challenges.
The Present:
And a beauty such as hers should be legend, Hercules continues his spiel. Stop right there! Betsy orders, putting her finger to his mouth. Before she chooses to aim the world’s pain into his nervous system. He does remember feeding her those lines the first time they met, right?
Hercules looks sheepish.
Years ago:
The day after:
Betsy wishes she didn’t have to go, but she has to. Still, that was a great… team-up. Herc agrees and assures her she was unforgettable.
The Present:
Hercules grins. So… did they? Psylocke belts him. Un&%$* believable! she swears as she storms off.