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

[Assistant]
Untitled
In the run-down library, Jean-Paul Beaubier a.k.a. Northstar watches as Betsy Braddock a.k.a. Psylocke puts her hand on the hand of her teammate, Fred Dukes the Blob. 'Thank you' Betsy utters. 'Oh, it's, um -' the Blob replies, while Betsy smiles at him, he lowers his eyes and tells Betsy that she is welcome. Jean-Paul continues to watch the, before Bobby Drake a.k.a. Iceman goes over to him and asks him what is wrong. 'What?' Jean-Paul asks. Bobby tells him that he has got this expression on his face like he just stepped in dog $#%&. 'I mean, more so than usual' Bobby jokes. Jean-Paul motions to Betsy and the Blob and asks Bobby when they got so friendly, as Betsy and the Blob prepare some handcuffs to place on their teammate, Moneta. Blob places the cuffs on Moneta, while Betsy readies her psychic sword, and Jubilee checks on some of the unconscious mutants who lay nearby. 'Fred and Betsy? You feeling okay, Jean-Paul? Maybe you have a fever' Bobby replies, reaching fore Jean-Paul's face, butb Jean-Paul pulls away and tells Bobby 'Stopl. I know what I saw'.
Jean-Paul informs Bobby that Betsy put her hand on Fred's arm, to which Bobby asks what is wrong with that. 'It's intimate!' Jean-Paul snaps. 'Is it?' Bobby asks, smiling as he puts his own hand onto Jean-Paul's arm. '... yes' Jean-Paul responds as he scowls at Bobby, then pulls away and tells him not to touch him. 'Whoa! Okay! See ya Monday, JP!' Bobby calls out after Northstar, who speeds away.
Northstar takes to the sky, 'Don't listen to what anyone else tells you' Jean-Paul thinks to himself, boasting that he is the fastest mutant who has ever lived – capable of traveling at light speed – but he simply chooses not to, because the strain on his body would be fatal. He flies up above the clouds, and knows that if he wished to he could travel so fast that it robs the breath from his lungs, destroying everything in his wake – and killing him. Tears form in Jean-Paul's eyes, and he suddenly stops flying, he begins to free-fall back to the Earth. 'If I wished to do so...' Jean-Paul thinks to himself, falling closer and closer to the streeet below – where civilians look up and see him falling – until, at the last second, Northstar corrects his fall and flies upwards, away from impending doom. '... I could know what it feels like to outrun eternity. It would be the last thing I ever feel' Northstar knows.
Northstar gasps as he sits up in bed, light streaming into his darkened room and falling across him, as he wonders if it would be worth it.
Monday morning, Jean-paul plays a game of squash, goes for a stroll downtown – and then arrives at Department X headquarters, carrying a newspaper underarm – and to his surprise, he sees Moneta sitting at her desk. 'You're here?' Jean-Paul asks. A wide-eyed, grinning Moneta turns from her desk and looks at Northstar, asking why she wouldn't be here. 'I... I see. And never mind – you're just...nhere very early is all' Northstar explains, informing her that he is almost always the first to arrive in the mornings.
Jean-Paul looks down at Moneta., 'When one can almost but not quite remember something' he thinks tro himself. Sitting at his desk, drinking some coffee and looking up from his newspaper, Jean-Paul wonders how much they took from Moneta, and whether she feels an itch in her thoughts – a psychic scab where all of her memories used to be?
'OMIGOSH!' Iceman suddenly shouts as he rushes into the office, knocking Jean-Paul and causing him to spill his coffee all over himself. Jean-Paul sighs, as Bobby goes over to Moneta: 'Hi, shiny new co-worker!' he exclaims. 'My name's Bob-bee. Bahhhh-bee -' Bobby begins, speaking very slowly and leaning over Moneta's desk. 'BOBBY!' Jean-Paul snaps as he  wipes up the spilt coffee. 'Hiiii Jean-Paul' Bobby smiles, walking over to Jean-Paul, who quietly tells him that Moneta still knows who he is, that they didn't reset her. Bobby sighs, 'I know, I know. Union rules' he replies. Jean-Paul tells Bobby to stop compromising Moneta's reconditioning by acting like an idiot. 'You're in a mood' Bobby replies. Jean-Paul turns and glares at Bobby. 'Your sweater is stupid' Jean-Paul replies, before he turns away. 'Aw, I like it' Bobby responds. 'You look like a cartoon hot dog' Jean-Paul snaps. Bobby then laughs and pulls his sweater up off his body, revealing his toned chest and abs underneath. '... better?' Bobby smiles.
'Mornin' folks' the Blob calls out as he and Betsy enter the office. 'Beautiful day out there, huh?' Blob smiles, before Betsy apologizes that they are late, and explains they decided to walk to work this morning. Northstar doesn't look up from his desk as he writes some notes on paper, while the Blob informs his team that there are two places to investigate today. 'That's exciting' he remarks, before reporting that there is a residence a few miles south of the city and a movie theater – the old Priteca Theater downtown. Suddenly, Jean-Paul looks up 'What?' he asks. 'The Priteca Theater downtown. It's the one w-' the Blob begins, to which Jean-Paul interrupts him and declares that he will go. The Blob decides that that is a good idea and points out that they will be more efficient if they split up. He states that he and Betsy will check out the residence – and it will be a long ride – so they should hit the road pretty soon – while Jean-Paul and Bobby go to the theater. 'No. He'll just slow me down. I go alone' Jean-Paul declares as he speeds off.
Arriving at the deserted and run-down theater six seconds later, Jean-Paul tells himself to breathe deep and not to think. He enters the theater lobby, and is about to walk into one of the cinemas, when a voice calls out 'Jean-Paul!' and a young man with brown hair carrying a large tub of popcorn walks over to him. 'It's weird seeing you on a weekday. You here for the matinee?' the young man asks, smiling, he informs Jean-Paul that he just started the projector. 'Hello, Rictor' Jean-Paul responds, while once again urging himself not to think.
Back at Department X headquarters, Bobby sighs as he stacks various stationery items on top of one another. He looks over to Moneta and asks her if she is fine and doesn't need him for anything here. 'I -' Moneta begins, 'Cool, bye!' Bobby responds as he lets go of the stationery, which clatters to his desk, then speeds out of the office on an ice-slide. 'I – I...' Moneta starts to reply, before looking at her fingers which become like tendrils. She can almost, but not quite, remember. Suddenly, she plunges her fingers into her head and screams. What if you had a mutant ability that meant you could recall what you'd been made to forget?
Back at the historic Priteca Theater, Jean-Paul and Rictor step into a large theater, which is mostly empty save for a few mutants, and some couples, including two who are kissing. 'Why are you looking at me like that? If you want to sit next to me, then just sit next to me' Rictor tells Jean-Paul, who suggests that they talk. 'I revoke my invitation, then' Rictor replies. 'You – ugh. No, I mean we need to talk' Jean-Paul remarks. 'So talk' Rictor tells him as they walk past the couple who are kissing. Rictor smacks the man in the back of the head, and the man and woman look up at Jean-Paul, 'Sorry, JP' the man remarks, before Jean-Paul and Rictor take their seats, and looking up at the cinema screen, Rictor asks Jean-Paul if he has seen this one, adding that there is no plot. 'They know, Ric. I'm here to take you in' Jean-Paul reports. 'No. you won't' Rictor smiles. Jean-Paul informs Rictor that he has been flagged for review, that it is only a matter of time before the whole team comes in to shut this place down. 'You're lucky I came alone first' Jean-Paul adds. 'Shhhhh!' a mutant sitting several rows behind them snaps.
'You dare shush me during a silent film?' Northstar responds, turning to the other mutant, while Rictor eats some popcorn, before turning to Northstar and tells him that he doesn't have to lie to him about coming alone. 'What. Did you tell the twink to just wait in the car or something?' Rictor asks. 'The wh-?' Northstar begins to reply, when suddenly, he spins around as the theater door opens and Bobby entes. Northstar narrows his eyes, then flies to the back of the room, forcing Bobby back out of the cinema, 'What are you doing here?' he shouts. 'Helping?' Bobby asks. 'Me? No. Beacause I didn't want you here' Northstar reminds Bobby, before asking him why he can't ever leave him alone. 'You act like a lost puppy clinging to my heels. It's pathetic!' Northstar exclaims. Bobby pulls away from Northstar and tells him he has some ego, before asking him if it ever crossed his mind that he might just be worried about him. 'I know you're not okay. I can tell!' Bobby exclaims, adding that he knows Northstar, and knows he won't talk about it, so all he can do is be around for when he does decide he needs someone.
'And you think it'd be you?' Northstar asks, to which Bobby tells him that even if he thinks he is annoying, he is still just trying to help. Rictor gets up from his seat in the cinema and walks out into the foyer. 'Hey, Iceman. Been a minute. Do you guys drink?' Rictor asks. '... why?' Northstar asks. Rictor informs him that a customer gave him a whole case of bougie booze and he is not going to drink it by himself – and he is trying to do something nice right now. 'Don't act like a $#%& about it' Rictor adds. 'Don't take it personally. He just is a $#%&' Bobby smirks, before Northstar asks what kind of booze it is.
Shortly, on the theater rooftop, Jean-Paul knocks back his drink, while Bobby tells him to take it ewasy. 'Bobby, relax. He's fine' Rictor remarks as he adjusts a record player. 'Pah!' Jean-Paul exclaims. 'Well. Now' Bobby mutters as he looks down from the rooftop. Rictor walks over to them and hands Bobby a bottle, 'You're both wound so tightly that I'm concerned for your rectums' Rictor tells them. 'What?' Jean-Paul asks. 'Haha. What?' Rictor responds. 'To gifted champagne worth $15K a bottle' Rictor remarks as he, Bobby and Jean-Paul clink their bottles together. 'To playing hooky!' Bobby exclaims. 'Pft. A votre sante' Jean-Pau tells them. 'Cheers' Bobby and Rictor replies, before Jean-Paul drinks some more of his champagne and takes flight. Rictor starts to call out to him, but Bobby tells him that Jean-Paul is fine. 'He's really %$#&^&$ not' Bobby frowns. 'No, but he's going to be' Rictor remarks, adding that Bobby doesn't have to babysit him alone now. 'We've got this'.
Elsewhere, Murshid En Sabah Nur is in a coffee shop with over a dozen followers, who all turn as someone else enters – it's Moneta. She looks back at them, and a moment later, finds herself attacked by them all.
Jean-Paul thinks to himself that, sometimes, careening can be beautiful – or free-falling, spiraling, whatever anyone wants to call this descent. There is just a strange relief that can only be found in breathlessly hurtling toward an end – no matter how reckless. Jean-Paul realizes that this is what he has always loved about skiing: controlling a direction as he plummets down a slope. Steering, despite careening. He remembers smirking as he sped down a snow-covered slope.
Shortly, Jean-Paul has returned to the cinema rooftop, and sits at the end of an old sofa. Bobby sits next to him, and Rictor lies across the sofa, resting his head on Bobby's leg. Bobby laughs as he tells Jean-Paul that he can't believe that is why he calls Moneta “Bibitte. 'Ah, okay, okay, shhhh. Not so loud. We're gonna wake the baby' Bobby jokes. 'Don't shush me. I don't like that' Jean-Paul snaps as he drinks some more champagne from his bottle. 'Do you miss it?' Bobby asks. 'What, drinking? Oui' Jean-Paul admits. 'Skiing. Being an Olympic athlete. The Olympics. Anything! Do you miss it?' Bobby clarifies. 'Oui' Jean-Paul responds while wiping his mouth, before remarking that there is more, he just can't remember. 'I've been having a lot of trouble with my memories' he explains. 'I'm listening' Bobby replies.
Jean-Paul looks at Bobby and asks him if he ever feels like a ghost, like he is the one doing the haunting. 'Because I've felt – I feel... haunted by someone' he admits, adding that he doesn't know who he us, but he just feels the lack of him, like a phantom limb. 'Is it me? Am I haunted by the man I used to be?' Jean-Paul wonders. 'If that's the case, then why do I wake up reaching across the bed for him?' Jean-Paul asks. 'Wha'd I miss -' Rictor asks wearily as he wakes and sits up, but Bobby shushes him as Jean-Paul states that it is like muscle memory – he instinctively wakes up reaching for this unknown man, only to have his heart crushed upon finding himself alone in an empty bed again. 'So then...is my ghost someone I knew? A man I loved?' Jean-Paul asks. 'Did he die? Why can't I remember his name?' Tears begin to well up in Jean-Paul's eyes as he admits that it hurts.
Jean-Paul quickly covers his face as he declares that he would not wish the hopeless pain of starving to death for things he doesn't understand upon his worst enemy. 'Bobby...what has been done to us? What has been taken?' Jean-Paul asks. 'It hurts so much...' his voice trails off, before Bobby pulls Jean-Paul closer and kisses his forehead. Suddenly, what appear to be fireworks light up the night sky. The three men turn and watch, with Rictor assuring the other two that he did not plan this. 'Princess Jelly Bean?' Bobby asks as he goes over to the edge of the roof and looks own to see Jubilee carrying a baseball bat down the street, lots of fire spreading around her. 'What are you doing?' Bobby calls out to her. 'Jubilee! Arretez!' Northstar exclaims. 'Um... basically, I just remembered I have a kid...' Jubilee responds, announcing that now she is going to burn this whole %$&#^&$% situation to the ground.
'You can try to stop me, but honestly, I don't recommend it!' Jubilee calls out. 'What's the bat for?' Rictor asks. 'For funnies, Ric' Jubilee tells him.
'Fair enough' Rictor replies. Jean-Paul looks at his hands, and Bobby calls out to him. 'Kyle' Jean-Paul utters, looking up. 'Bob-bee. Bahhhh-be-' Bobby begins to reply, as Jean-Paul interrupts him and explains that his ghost is Kyle. 'I just remembered' he explains, revealing that Kyle is not a ghost – he is his husband. 'Yup! His name's Kyle Jinadu Beaubier! I was at your wedding!' Jubilee calls out. 'So was Bobby. Now that I'm remembering everything' Jean-Paul smiles, adding that he has a twin sister – Aurora, and points out that it seems some very specific memories have been taken away from them. 'Sure does' Jubilee agrees, holding the baseball bat.
Bobby switches to his ice form, Jean-Paul rises up into the air and Rictor readies a surge of energy as Jean-Paul declares that a “mutant paradise” that removes who they love and how from their minds before granting them entry is no paradise at all – and then he suggests that they riot, causing Bobby and Rictor to smile.


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

[Assistant]
Untitled
6:30 PM, where an enraged Jubilee sets fire to a street downtown, and smashes cars apart with a baseball bat. 'Have you ever walked around just carrying a feeling of wrongness?' she wonders. 'Like you don't really know what it is or where it comes from. There's just something about yourself that you know isn't right'. She tries to think of what word it is – not “cacophony” but, in the same vocab family, she thinks, before realizing that the world is “discordant”, that you live like this, feeling kinda monstrous, kinda really undeserving of love and happiness – and for the longest time, you won't even know why, until one day, you learn something important about yourself that you didn't know before – and then everything else starts to make sense in reverse. Her teammates Bobby Drake a.k.a. Iceman and Jean-Paul Beaubier a.k.a. Northstar and their friend Julio Richter a.k.a. Rictor join in the destruction alongside Jubilee, as Bobby begins to freeze objects down on the street, Northstar flies at super-speed down the street, knocking cars over, and Rictor uses his seismic powers to add to the destruction.
Earlier, at 9:17 AM, Jubilee remembers she has a son. Up until remembering this, she had been screaming without sound. She had also been clipping newspaper articles about wildfires. 'Who knows if I'd eventually have been caught. Who cares' Jubilee thinks to herself. 'Nice' she remarks, when suddenly, her concentration is disturbed, turning from her drawer full of articles, she looks around the Department X office and sees dozens of rats surrounding her. 'Uh...hu?' Jubilee asks. 'Hi' the mutant called Nezumi snarls as she stands nearby, holding her newborn baby in one arm, and a large gun in the other. 'I have a secondary mutation. Wanna guess what it is?' Nezumi frowns, aiming the gun at Jubilee, she opens fire, but Jubilee is quick enough to dodge the bullets, dropping down behind her desk for safety. Nezumi offers Jubilee a hint – the clue is in her name. “Sen” means thousand, and “Nezumi” means rat. 'It took my friends here days to chew through the chains. Days. Thank goodness for small favors, though. Or thousands of them, I should say. Because otherwise I would've been forced to give birth in chains. All alone in the Department X basement' Nezumi explains, narrowing her eyes, before she screams 'NOW WHERE'RE THE REST OF YOU?'
At that time, Fred Dukes a.k.a. Blob and Betsy Braddock a.k.a. Psylocke are having coffee and reading books at the Blob's home, while Northstar, Iceman and Rictor are dancing, drinking and celebrating on the rooftop of an old cinema, and an angry Moneta is driving somewhere in the Department X van.
With the gun aimed at her face, Jubilee smiles at Nezumi and tells her that she doesn't know where the others are. 'You're lying!' Nezumi retorts, before asking Jubilee why she is looking at her son like that. 'Like what?' Jubilee asks, wide-eyed. 'Like you've never seen a baby before' Nezumi points out. The baby begins to cry, 'Is...is this...' Jubilee begins, while realizing at first she doesn't want it to be real. 'Stop! You're creeping me out!' Nezumi exclaims, as Jubilee asks if this is real. 'What's wrong with you?' Nezumi mutters, while the wide-eyed Jubilee suddenly comes to the realization that she has a son, Shogo. The crying of Nezumi's baby rings in her ears, before Jubilee shouts 'OH GOD – SHOGO!' This causes Nezumi to step backwards and calling Jubilee a lunatic, warns her to back off.
For the rest of the day, Jubilee will experience pretty much the lowest and most traumatic point in her life – remembering she has a son, and in the very same instant realizing she has no idea where he is, or if he is okay, or even the last time she saw him.
Nezumi's baby continues to cry, and Jubilee asks Nezumi if she can show her something. 'What?' Nezumi asks. 'Just... just... just here. You, um, swaddle a baby... like this' Jubilee explains as she removes her coat, and lays it flat on a desk, while the baby continues to cry. Jubilee realizes that all of these memories had been taken from her by force, and she doesn't know why – but she can feel how incomplete her mind is – it's still broken. She wonders if her child is all right, as she places Nezumi's baby on the desk, and, with tears streaming down her face, Jubilee explains to Nezumi that the baby has to be snug, they like tight spaces, as it makes them feel secure.
With the baby wrapped up safely, Jubilee covers her face with her hands and tells Nezumi that she has a son, but doesn't know where he is. 'God' Nezumi gasps, putting a hand on Jubilee's shoulder, while Jubilee wonders if her son is alive, and if she will ever see him again. Jubilee sniffs and wipes her nose, while telling Nezumi that she is okay, well, not really, before pointing out that she needs to get Nezumi and her son out of her as fast as possible. 'Why? What are you going to do?' Nezumi asks. 'Detonate' Jubilee smiles as she creates some fireworks over Nezumi's baby, to the infant's delight, while Jubilee tells herself that if this reality is fabricated, then she has no reason to hold back.
Jubilee  doesn't set out looking for trouble – at first, she is just looking for the stupid team van, but can't find it. At 10:30 AM, wearing a dark coat, covering her head with a hood, and heart-shaped sunglasses, Jubilee stands outside the Blob's home, and looking through a window, she sees Betsy and the Blob cuddling on a couch. '... you are %&#$#$& kidding me right now?' Jubilee mutters, before she stops caring, and carries on down a busy street, remembering being a little bean of a thing, and people always warning her about the big scary world out there, and how she should definitely always carry a weapon on her – just so she could protect herself from all the evil kidnappers. Jubilee notices a fire engine speed past, and looks over to a coffee shop, where she sees the Department X van parked. 'The hell's our dork van doing over there?' Jubilee wonders, while deciding that she never wanted to carry a weapon – she wanted to be one.
Striding over to the coffee shop, Jubilee throws some plasma fireworks towards the civilians that have gathered outside it, 'Sorry! But you're all fake and in my way!' Jubilee snaps, while realizing that everyone seems to forget she can be an atom bomb if she wanted to. Jubilee checks the Department X van, it's locked, so she goes into the coffee shop, 'Hello?' she calls out, before discovering the body of her coworker, Moneta, lying motionless on the floor. Jubilee decides that Moneta has been murdered and that it looks like she has been dead for hours. She crouches beside Moneta's body and sighs. A bullet wound can be seen in Moneta's forehead, blood trickling from it. '... keys? Please?' Jubilee asks as she finds the keys on Moneta's body, before admitting that they were all monsters for what they had done to other mutants in Department X.
Things come back to Jubilee in waves. She hasn't just woken up in a different reality without her son, she has woken up in a reality where she has been brainwashed and reprogrammed to serve on someone else's squad of enforcers. Jubilee starts to throw her fireworks around, destroying some buildings, while nearby civilians run for their lives. She goes into a store and takes a lollipop from the counter, while smiling at the elderly couple behind the counter and telling them to give her all their money. They don't answer her, so she asks them if they have car seats, but when they don't respond, she snaps her fingers and tells them to focus. Another fire engine speeds past, and Jubilee thinks to herself that she wanted to tear the whole place apart – and decides that she definitely got a head start on that.
'Fire! There's a fire! A red-skinned mutant shouts as a fire engine arrives at a home which has been set ablaze. The home of the Blob, who looks, wide-eyed in shock, 'No! This can't be happening! My house!' he exclaims, while Betsy coughs from smoke inhalation and tells Fred that it is okay, that they are both all right – and that is all that matters. Betsy tells Fred that she knows he valued his library collection, but points out that it is replaceable, and she will help him find the books. The Blob tells Betsy that she doesn't understand, that it is about the books – it's the place he fell in love with her. 'Right at that stupid kitchen table. You... you just refused the pedestal I'd put you on inside my head. So that is where I actually got to know the real you, instead of just this...distant fantasy I'd had' the Blob explains. The Blob tells Betsy that is where he learned that she is far more magnificent than he ever could have imagined. 'Ah, hell' he mutters, looking back at the fire, before Betsy asks him if he remembers when Moneta accused her of not actually deleting the memories of everyone they arrested. Fred tells her that he remembers, and Betsy admits that Moneta was right.
At 6:00 PM, Northstar calls out to Jubilee from the rooftop where he, Bobby and Rictor are drinking, and relaxing. 'I suggest we riot!' Northstar  declares as he flies off the cinema rooftop. Bobby slides down on an ice-sled and Rictor readies a powerful vibration. They join Jubilee in her destruction, and Jubilee realizes that the four of them are uniquely qualified for mass destruction – and they didn't know who had done this to them. Fires rage and walls of ice block parts of the city, before the quartet combine their skills to topple a large statue of Hope Summers. They know this world isn't the real one and that they had been torn away from their families and loved ones back home – and they thought they were the only ones who knew any of this. Jubilee rips Bobby's Department X armband from his bicep, and tells him that he is going to thank her for this later.
Only, they're not the only ones who know this, as firefighters continue to work on the fire that rampages through the Blob's home, the Blob asks Betsy 'What?' as she admits to him that she hasn't actually erased anything from the people Department X arrested – she has only temporarily harbored their memories in her own subconscious. 'I've been keeping it all safe, because... it – it never once felt like it was ever our bloody right to erase. And I – I think I'm going to give them all back now. I'm barely holding on to their memories as it is' Betsy announces, before telling Fred that she is a liar and a traitor and asks him if he still “loves” her. Fred takes Betsy's hand and tells her that if he could be anything in the world, he would still just choose to be alone with her again. 'And when they come for us, I'll have your back' he adds. Betsy smiles at Fred and thanks him.
A moment later, Betsy releases the memories  - everyone gets them back – prisoners in the Danger Room, Nezumi Sen. Betsy has been keeping thousands of other people's memories safely locked in her the whole time.
'Betsy! I've got you!' the Blob calls out as he catches Betsy, who falls backwards after releasing the memories. Some nearby mutants watch, and one of them exclaims 'See? I told you the big one lived down here! Him and that purple-haired lady – they're the ones who mind-wiped us!' the mutant exclaims. 'Get 'em!' another shouts as they rush forward, carrying baseball bats and makeshift weapons. The Blob puts Betsy onto the back of a truck, while Betsy asks him how they can feel so angry. Blob tells her to rest and not worry about them. 'Not so tough now, huh, big guy?' one of the mutants calls out as they close in. 'What, you think I'm afraid of you all? I'm the Blob...I'm %#&^%#$* indestructible!' the Blob roars as he turns to the mob of mutants.
Jubilee, Northstar, Bobby and Rictor enter a mall, and Jubilee knows that Rictor is pretty much always ready for a riot, regardless of why, so once he got his memories back, he got a little more provocative about it. 'So, who's ready for big gay apocalypse round two?' Rictor asks, announcing that he wants to go crack the prison open like an egg. Jubilee has changed into some civilian clothes and asks Rictor how he has this much energy. 'Are you still drunk?' she enquires. 'Yeah' Rictor replies, before telling the othrs that he will catch up with them in a bit. 'Don't touch my theater' he calls out as he walks off. 'We'd never dare' Jean-Paul assures Rictor, before Bobby yawns and asks when breakfast is. Jubilee puts a goofy hat on Bobby's head, and Northstar tells him that is a good look, while calling him “otter-pop”. 'What'd you just call me?' Bobby asks, wiping his mouth “otter-pop” Jean-Paul replies, asking Bobby if he remembers. 'Long, long before I met my husband, when I had a one-sided crush on you – I nicknamed you “otter-pop” in the hopes that you were secretly gay too' Jean-Paul explains. Bobby wipes his eyes, 'He's waking up' Jubilee remarks. 'Welcome back, Bobby. I am... so sorry' Northstar remarks.
Jubilee has a theory about why Bobby was the last one to remember everything – the whole time, and even under reconditioning, Bobby had been the one person working extra hard to keep the rest of them afloat – so when it all came crashing down and he finally started remembering... 'Jean-Paul!' Bobby calls out. 'I know. I know' Jean-Paul replies, opening his arms as Bobby stumbles towards him. They embrace, and Jubilee realizes that Bobby had the furthest to fall. 'Do they know? Do they know what they took from us?' Bobby asks as he puts his head against Northstar's, who holds Bobby and tells him No'. Bobby wipes his eyes, 'Princess Jellybean – Shogo?' Bobby asks Jubilee, who hangs her head and tells Bobby that she doesn't know, and that she only remembered him this morning because of Nezumi.
'Oh, God, Nezumi! We have to go, we have to -' Bobby exclaims, wide-eyed, he starts to rush away, but Northstar and Jubilee hold him back, as Jubilee tells him that it is okay, and that she let Nezumi go. 'Jubilee, please don't tell me – no, please, no -' Bobby begins, while Northstar asks if it was a boy or a girl. 'Boy. She gavev birth to him in the basement' Jubilee announces. 'How are we even supposed to live with ourselves after this?' Bobby shouts. 'After everything I've done' he utters, turning to Northstar, who embraces him again as he cries. Northstar sighs, 'Look, we don't have time -' he begins, before Jubilee joins in the hug. Northstar tells them both that they don't have time to unpack the trauma of this right now, so they can cry if they must, but then they need to put it away, because they still have much work to do. 'And people to make pay' Northstar declares, narrowing his eyes as tears begin to form.
What happens after that is another story all together. Someone has painted “DIE X-TREMISTS” on the Department X headquarters. According to Jubilee, Rictor returns and they party until they finally broke the world. Betsy and the Blob somehow become separated, the Blob is left alone, visited by rats. Jubilee wants everyone to understand that to be turned into the enforcers, they had to be made malleable for the psychic reconditioning. The idea was that if they had fewer memories tethering them to their old reality, then they would be less likely to form relationships in this one, and make them better at enforcing. But they all sought each other out through the darkness anyway, and desperately clung to everything they still managed to find. Which is why she gives Nezumi the van.
Earlier, at 3:00 PM, before Jubilee met up with Bobby, Northstar and Ric, before the burning, she wanted to  make sure Nezumi and her baby would be safely out of range. Jubilee drives up to Nezumi and gets out of the Department X van, telling her that she is sorry she was gone so long, but she picked up some supplies for her, and the tank is full. Nezumi doesn't say anything, she just snatches the keys from Jubilee's hands, then grabs her heart-shaped shades, 'I'm taking these too' Nezumi frowns. As she puts her son into the car seat in the van, Nezumi tells Jubilee not to think that this means she forgives her – she still hates her for what they all did to her. 'Even if I robbed three banks and filled the back of the van with 700 large?' Jubilee asks. Nezumi snorts, 'Yeah. Right'.
Now, Nezumi drives into a desert as the sun rises behind her. Wads of cash can be seen stacked up on the backseat, and Nezumi smirks, before telling her son, little no-name, that she loves him.
As for Jubilee, she thinks to herself that, of families, her aunt in LA used to have a stupid fridge magnet quote that kinda stuck with her. She can't remember who said it, but it was basically like “You gotta take care of yourself, because there's only one of you and you'll get one chance to be you”. She isn't sure what made her think of that, and wonders if it is because she feels like she is supposed to end this with some wise words or something, but someday, when Shogo can actually read, she hopes this letter will clear up the scary time in his life when she was gone – it was because she had no choice. But she does now, and she is coming home to find Shogo, no matter what it takes – because she loves him.


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

[Assistant]
Untitled
Fortress X, the dead of night, a voice echoes all around: ‘Field stations, this is the General. I’m reading no movement on eastern or southern perimeters. Can you confirm?’ At one perimeter, Gambit is with Trance and announces that they have nothing. ‘More’s the damn pity’ Trance remarks. In a room with a stained-glass window, Magneto stands with a cloaked figure and calls out to X, asking if they are reading anything anomalous in their comms chatter. A voice seemingly from nowhere replies that signal exchanges are running 1% below background normal, and decrypted messages refer to routine troop movements. At another perimeter, Rockslide remarks to Frenzy that if they don’t come soon he is going to have to pick a fight with her. ‘Go ahead. We can always use more rubble’ Frenzy snaps back. Cannonball tells everyone to stand down, as it looks like it might be a quiet night after all. ‘But stay on post. Something doesn’t smell right’ he adds.
Several mutants have gathered around a campfire, as Jubilee exclaims that this is where she feels she belongs. ‘I never felt that about any place else’ she adds. ‘You belong in a war zone?’ Nightmare asks her. ‘Evidently’ Jubilee mutters. The Sub-Mariner announces that he had all the world’s oceans to wander in once, and now cannot help but see Fortress X as a cage. ‘A cage you chose, beloved. In order to be with me’ Storm reminds him as she leans against him.
 Nightmare exclaims that she bets everyone has a wild story like that. ‘What about you, Scott?’ she asks, turning to Basilisk, who replies ‘Nothing about me’. ‘I mean, how did you get to be -’ Nightmare begins, so Basilisk turns away, telling everyone he is going to walk the walls. ‘You people are just too damn relaxed’ he declares.
 Berserker tells Nightmare that she should know better than to talk to Basilisk that way. Nightmare replies that she is sorry, and remarks that she knows Basilisk did jail time. ‘He was on death row in Alcatraz, right?’ she asks. Berserker confirms that Basilisk was in Alcatraz, but that he was not on death row - not exactly, anyway. ‘It’s more like - he was the thing you meet at the end of death row’.
Basilisk’s flashback:
Alcatraz Penitentiary, a sign that reads “Mutants to be shackled at all times” is next to the main doors. ‘On your feet for the governor. Show a little respect you damned animals!’ an Alcatraz guard orders , kicking a mutant in the stomach. Three mutants are shackled and blindfolded, in a room with blood splattered all around it. A red-haired man with a white suit - Arcade - the Governor of Alcatraz - enters the room, ‘Please, let’s not stand on ceremony. We’re all friends here’ he remarks, before asking the mutants if they have no last-minute appeals. ‘Excellent! Justice will be done!’ he declares, before introducing himself to his prisoners, he exclaims ‘Arcade is the name, and sweet, impartial justice is the game. Within these walls, the punishment always fit’s the crime’.
Arcade tells his prisoners that their crime is not something they have done, it is just what they are - ‘You’re here because you’re mutants. So the punishment - well, the punishment ought to be a mutant too, wouldn’t you say?’ he exclaims, before inviting them to gaze - briefly, but memorably - into the red raw staring eyes of the Basilisk. ‘Safety lock off’ one guard remarks. ‘Off. Gymbals are free’ the other officer remarks as they wheel Basilisk into the room, strapped to a stretcher-like device which is placed upright as Arcade exclaims ‘Okay. Bring ‘im up’. Arcade places his hand out and asks for the magic button. One of the guards places a remote in his hand - one switch, with an “open” or “closed” option. ‘How does this thing work again?’ Arcade asks. ‘Oh, yes. I remember’ he mutters, moving the switch from “closed” to “open”.
‘No! Please! Don’t -’ Basilisk exclaims, as the metal covering on his face slides apart - and powerful beams of optic energy are forced from him, slaying the mutant prisoners in front of him. ‘Delightful. The only way to start the day’ Arcade declares. While the guards pick up the bodies and throw them into a dumpster, Arcade turns to Basilisk and asks him what his score is - ‘Up into three figures yet?’ Basilisk calls Arcade a maniac and assures him that he will kill him. ‘You mean “Duly appointed agent of law and righteousness”!’ Arcade corrects his prisoner, remarking that his definition of maniac would be someone like Magneto, who thinks the law does not even apply to him. ‘But he took political asylum in Patagonia, I heard. So that’s your last hope gone’ Arcade remarks.
Basilisk replies that his time is going to come. ‘Every life you made me take, I’ll pay it back on you. That’s a promise’ he exclaims. Arcade turns and begins to leave the room. ‘The angels laugh when we make promises, Scott’ he exclaims, before ordering the guards to take Basilisk back to his cell and to give him wine with his dinner tonight. ‘He’s such an asset’ Arcade mocks.
Soon, two of the guards wheel Basilisk on the stretcher, now turned down, with Basilisk facing downwards, along a walkway, lined with cells. ‘Hey, you hear how he talked to the governor? Man got a death wish!’ one of them remarks. ‘Yeah, well, talking’s all he can do. You know they cut his eyelids off, so he can’t shut that beam by blinking?’ the other explains. ‘Practical’ the first remarks. ‘Exactly. Governor’s got a practical turn of mind’ the second officer replies, while the first exclaims that the governor is mostly out of his mind. ‘Yeah, that too. But things don’t get dull around here’ the second officer points out, unaware that Basilisk is reaching for the controller, strapped to the officer’s waist. ‘No, they don’t’ the other officer agrees, when suddenly, there is a “click”. ‘Say, did you hear a -’ the officer begins, before optic beam blasts from Basilisk’s eyes, tearing up the walkway beneath him, the stretcher falls downwards, followed by the guards - one of whom falls in front of Basilisk’s optic beam and is cut in half.
They land, and Basilisk manages to free himself from the stretcher device, while the remaining officer aims a weapon at Basilisk and radios for help: ‘Security! We’ve got a breach in corridor 5. Repeat, we’ve got a -’ he exclaims, but Basilisk declares ‘No last-minute appeals’, and looks at the officer, ‘Justice will be done!’ Basilisk exclaims, blasting the officer backwards. Basilisk stands up and uses his optic beam to destroy his shackles, exclaiming that Arcade is totally right, that the punishment has to fit the crime. ‘So my kind of justice is going to look a whole lot like yours!’ Basilisk declares after picking up the remote that controls his power, he blasts his way out into the open - where is confronted by a large contingent of soldiers, whom he easily blasts backwards.
A sniper in the watchtower announces ‘Okay, I see ‘im! I got ‘im right in my -’, but it’s too late, as Basilisk looks upwards, and destroys the watchtower, before releasing his power against the building, opening it up so that the mutants imprisoned can escape. Arcade looks up from the rubble, ‘Sc-Scott. That was impressive. Perhaps it’s time to renegotiate our - our little arrangement’ Arcade suggests. Basilisk stands before his oppressor and asks ‘You know what the measure of a man is, Arcade?’ and holds the little man up in the air. ‘It’s whether he can look his enemies in the eye’. Basilisk then flicks the switch on the control to “open” and blasts Arcade’s head off at close-range.
Basilisk turns to the prisoners, informing them that if they feel like leaving, the gate is about to open, and ten minutes after that, when the reinforcements get here, they will want to be somewhere else. ‘But where? Where do we go?’ a woman with a patch over her eye asks. Basilisk tells them to find a hole and climb into it, or else find a really tall tower and plant a flag on the top. ‘Either way, they’re gonna find you. Just depends on how you want to go out’. With that, Basilisk blasts his way out of Alcatraz.
Present:
‘So no, he doesn’t tend to talk about his prison time. And most especially, he won’t ever tell you about how he escaped. Because I don’t think he ever did’ someone remarks.
 Avalanche gets to his feet and informs the others that he was in Alcatraz as well, but it was before Albany - before the Phoenix. Avalanche explains that they had not sanctioned the death penalty for mutants back then. ‘Oh yeah. The Phoenix. That was when the preaks really took the brakes off’ Jubilee exclaims. But Cannonball appears on a ridge above the others and tells Jubilee that is not so, as the Human Coalition was already building. ‘They were? Then, uh - how come nobody noticed’ Jubilee asks. Cannonball replies that he supposes they didn’t because they didn’t build them along Fifth Avenue. He remarks that the humans went for the soft targets first, the way their kind always does. Cannonball adds that it was a bad time, as they were moving families - X-gene carriers who were not mutants themselves, and there was forced sterilizations and mass interments. ‘And for actual mutants, there was a bounty. DDI - dead, damaged or intact’.
Cannonball’s flashback:
A young blonde woman rushes through a forest, pursued by local authorities and their hounds. ‘We got a scent! We got a scent!’ one of the officer calls out. ‘C’mon! She’s this way!’ another exclaims. Suddenly, the girl - Paige Guthrie - enters a clearing, but the officers all step out. ‘Missie, you gave us a good run’ one of them exclaims. ‘D-don’t hurt me! Please!’ Paige calls out. One of the officers replies that they ain’t fixing to hurt her, that they are all about the money. ‘And this won’t hurt but a moment’ he adds, before one officer fires at Paige. ‘You’re - you’re right. Didn’t’ even tickle’ Paige exclaims, before tearing her own skin away, revealing a concrete hard form underneath. ‘Now, let me get out of these uncomfortable things - and we can have ourselves a party!’ she exclaims. ‘Oh God! Oh God!’ one of the officers calls out.
Shots are fires, and nearby, several more officers, standing guard over transport vehicles look around. ‘You hear that?’ one of them asks. ‘God almighty! What are they killing in there? Must be as big as a damn bear!’ another exclaims, while another suggests they probably decided to have themselves a little fun, which is why they took the dogs out with them. ‘And we get to babysit the prisoners. Figures’ another mutters, adding that he heard they got Magneto ought in Nevada, caught him where there was no metal around. Suddenly, something from above blasts down through the front of one of the vehicles, the explosion knocking the officers over.
It’s Sam Guthrie, who grabs one of the officers: ‘The Guthries. Caldecott County. Which truck they in?’ he demands. The officer remains silent, but Sam warns him ‘Don’t make me ask twice’. The officer informs Sam that he has a platoon of Exonims riding behind this transport. ‘Ye’re dead! Ye’re stone dead!’ he exclaims. But Sam reveals that the bridge is out at Clearwater, that he broke it in two with the Exonims on the far side. ‘What?’ the officer gasps. ‘Oh, and as for the guys who ran off after that rogue mutant…’ Sam begins, as Paige walks out of the forest: ‘They found her. And their day sort of went downhill from there’ she exclaims. Paige walks over to her brother and asks him if the officers have talked yet. ‘No. But this one’s about to give us a manifest. Isn’t that right, friend?’ Sam exclaims.
Another officer explains that they are not given any manifests, so he is not sure there are any Guthries aboard the transport. ‘Cabin was burned to the ground. And your damn tire tracks led right from there to here’ Paige declares. ‘But I can see you’re busy praying I don’t rip your head off. So I don’t mind looking for myself’ she remarks, still in her concrete form, she rips a panel off one of the trucks, where dozens of people are shoved inside. Paige calls out to her family: ‘Ma? Jeb? Lucinda? Any of you hear me?’ she asks. ‘Who are you? Please don’t kill us!’ one of the people inside the trucks calls out. Paige assures him that she is not going to touch him, and asks her Ma to come out. With no response, Paige goes over to the next truck. ‘You really wanna make her madder than she already is?’ Sam asks the officer, who replies that he does not know the names. ‘It’s just mutie transport. They never tell us the names’ he explains.
‘Ma! Lewis! Joelle!’ Paige exclaims, calling out to her family. ‘Com on, you guys. We gotta get clear before the Exonims catch up with us!’ Paige exclaims as she tears the side off of the truck, revealing more prisoners, but not her family. ‘And then there was one. But I don’t reckon you keep prisoners in a dump truck’ Paige declares as she walks over to the truck. The officers inform Sam that nobody wanted this. ‘Some idiot squeezed off a shot, and - you know how it is. That set everyone else to shooting’ he exclaims. ‘What?’ Sam asks, while at the dump truck, Paige looks horrified. ‘Oh God. Oh sweet God’ she whispers, before taking her Ma’s hand, ‘Rest in peace. Rest in peace, Ma. All of you’ she utters.
‘Paige, are they -?’ Sam begins as Paige storms towards him and the officers. ‘They’re dead. They’re all dead’ Paige tells her brother, warning him to stay away from the officer. ‘Just an itchy trigger finger, hey, mister?’ she asks one of the officers, taking his hand. Somewhat surprised, the officer replies ‘That was it. Exactly’. Paige replies that is an affliction, but that it is okay. ‘There’s a cure’ she exclaims as she crushes the officer’s hand. The officer cries out in agony, and drops to the ground. ‘Paige’ Sam calls out, but Paige tells him to go away and not to look. ‘This place is going to be a desolation. I’m going to kill them all. Then I’m going to kill the ones who sent them’ she announces.
But Sam tells his sister that she will not, as they are responsible for these people now, and reminds her that the Exonims are on their way. ‘There ain’t no time for vengeance’ he exclaims. Paige turns to her brother and angrily exclaims ‘Our kin, Sam. They killed our kin! Then threw them in a wagon like so much garbage’. ‘You think I don’t feel that? Christ’s mercy, Paige! Every one of these people is someone’s kin, and we’re the only hope they’ve got’ Sam exclaims. But Paige is still upset: ‘Fine, then. But you don’t have a heart, Sam Guthrie. You don’t have a damn soul, even, the one thing that everything human’s meant to have’ she declares, adding that she will not be flesh and blood again until she sees Sam break and weep for what he did this day.
Paige begins to walk away, with the officers warning her that she wont get far. ‘The Human Coalition’s called the number on your kind. There’s no house in the world that’ll take you in!’ he exclaims. Sam puts on his goggles and replies ‘Dare say you’re right. So I guess we’ll have to build one’.
Present:
‘You want to set this aid station back behind the walls a way, Doctor Rao’ Dazzler exclaims, while Dr Kavita Rao removes something from a satchel attached to a motorcycle. Dazzler explains that if the Exonims break through, this stretch is going to see some serious fighting. Kavita points out that there will be wounded, and tells Dazzler not to worry about her, as this is exactly where she needs to be, before asking if they always tells stories before they fight. Dazzler replies that they do most nights, and explains that sometimes it even helps. ‘Reminds you who you are. In the blood and the thick of it, it’s easy to forget’ she adds. Dazzler looks up at Dr Rao and remarks that she has never heard of how she came to be here. ‘You’re not even a mutant. You could walk out any time and get a free pardon’ Dazzler points out. But Kavita replies that she couldn’t, and reveals that she worked at the Fordyce Clinic, under Richard Palance. ‘You probably heard about that program. We were looking at vectors for controlling and suppressing the X-gene. Maybe my second biggest sin…’.
Kavita Rao’s flashback:
Inside a laboratory, several bodies lie on tables, while Dr Rao approaches Dr Palance, telling him that she cannot do this, that is it indefensible. Palance replies that he does not understand Rao’s objection, and reminds her that she was happy enough to test the cure on live mutant subjects. ‘On volunteers! Desperate people who wanted to switch off their X-gene so they wouldn’t get arrested!’ Kavita declares. ‘You’re talking about adding the cure of the water supply. Do you see the difference?’ Kavita asks. Palance reaches for a vial and remarks that he mentioned it is as possibility, but as of now they do not even know why this batch works. ‘We have to analyze thoroughly before we can mass produce’ he remarks. ‘Mass produce? Dear God! I told you, I won’t be a party to -’ Kavita begins, only for Wolverine to burst into the room though a window, taking two soldiers with him.
One of the soldiers fires at Wolverine, who takes down the other soldier, before turning to the armed soldier, and slashing his throat. ‘Oh my God!’ Kavita gasps. ‘You see how his wounds heal as we watch? What an amazing specimen!’ Dr Palance exclaims. ‘Watch your mouth, bub. Seriously’ Wolverine retorts, before declaring that the word on the wire is they have made an X-gene suppressor - a mutant cure. ‘I’m here to make sure it never gets outside this hell-hole you call a lab’ Wolverine announces. Palance explains to Wolverine that the cure represents salvation for mutantkind. ‘It means no more Albanys. No more Magnetos. We can live in peace’ he exclaims, but Wolverine replies that he does not see much prospect of peace once they take away ever advantage that mutantkind has got.
‘Well, it would seem we’re your prisoners. And you’re ours’ Palance declares before pressing a button, and announcing ‘Palance - isolation protocols!’ A force field slams down behind Wolverine, trapping him in the lab with Kavita and Palance. Logan thrusts his claws towards Palance and warns him that the next time he moves, even an inch, he is a dead man. ‘Now tell me what you just did’ Logan demands. Palance explains that the force walls are to prevent the spread of infection. ‘You’ve lost, mutant. We’re all trapped here until the Exonims arrive’ he explains. Wolverine replies that he will take his chances, and seeing a vial on a counter, goes over to it, asking if this is the “magic bullet”. ‘I told you, you’ve lost. There isn’t a thing you can do’ Palance exclaims. But Wolverine replies that so long as there is a sink or a toilet, he has got some options.
‘No. He’s right. He’d love you to do that - and to think you’ve won’ Kavita exclaims. Logan frowns and turns to her: ‘And who might you be?’ he asks. Kavita introduces herself and tells Wolverine that she is his informant, the one who has been spreading that word on the wire. ‘But if I’d known it would bring a psychopathic killer here, I would have thought twice about it’ she exclaims. ‘Your career is over, Rao. As of now!’ Dr Palance shouts. ‘So what am I missing?’ Wolverine asks. Rao explains that the sinks here drain into the sluice tank, so the cure would be diluted, but not destroyed. Wolverine asks about acid, suggesting they could break it down. Kavita replies that the breakdown products could still be analyzed and reconstituted. ‘The same would go for boiling it away. There’d be solid residues’ she explains.
Palance smirks and exclaims that this is actually amusing. ‘A locked room mystery, with no solution’ he declares. Wolverine tells Kavita that she is the expert and must know a way to ditch the cure. ‘In the time we’ve got? I can only think of one thing’ she announces. ‘You could metabolize it’ she informs Wolverine. ‘NO!’ Palance gasps, moving towards the others, he is kept at bay by Wolverine, who holds his claws to Palance’s neck. ‘Say what?’ Wolverine asks. Kavita explains that it is the only way. ‘It’s a massive overdose, but your healing factor should help you survive’ she assures him, pointing out that unless the cure overwhelms his powers quickly enough to kill Wolverine.
‘I know the science. I made this obscenity. The protein strings will mix with your DNA…irreversibly. Whatever happens to you, the cure will be broken down and impossible to reconstitute’ Kavita explains. ‘Huh’ Wolverine remarks, taking all of this information in. He holds the vial out to Kavita and tells her that she has a hell of a bedside manner. ‘Let’s do it’ he exclaims. Palance begs Rao, exclaiming that this is the culmination of everything they have achieved. ‘You don’t move, bub. And you don’t talk. Last warning’ Wolverine warns Palance. Kavita begins loading the cure into a syringe, informing Wolverine that she is going to give him twenty standard doses at a time. ‘You should tell me if you start to feel any pain or disorientation’ she adds, whole Wolverine sits down on a chair and points out that it is kind of late to be worrying about that, and that he will be fine.
Kavita begins administering the cure into Wolverine’s arm. Sweat begins to pour from Wolverine’s face, as she repeats the dosage again and again and again, until announcing that they are almost done, with one dose left. ‘NO!’ Palance booms as he smacks Kavita over the head with a chair. ‘One dose is all I need, mutie! I can reconstitute the serum from a single spoonful!’ he announces. ‘I told you! One lone freak can’t stand against science! Against truth!’ ‘I…hear you…bub’ Wolverine replies, weak. Suddenly, Kavita gets to her feet - and shoves the remaining syringe into Palance’s neck. ‘How about…two?’ Wolverine mutters, while Palance falls to the ground, and Kavita stands over him. ‘Good to the last drop, Richard. And that was the last drop’ Kavita exclaims, before she announces that she never killed a man before. ‘Then I hope you…got into the habit, Doc. Because you’re gonna need to go two-for-two’ Wolverine exclaims as he crawls towards her.
Wolverine explains that the metal inside his body, the adamantium, is poisonous, and it is attacking him from inside. ‘Healing factor was the only thing that kept it under control’ Wolverine remarks. Kavita crouches down beside him and informs him that she has systemic anti-toxins, which she can use to try and stabilize him. But Wolverine asks Kavita to just finish him off. ‘Lousy way to live anyway. I did what I came to do’ he remarks. A computer voice announces ‘Analysis complete. No infectious agents present’. Kavita tells Wolverine that she is sorry, and that when she killed Richard she was not even thinking. ‘I can’t do that again. Not in cold blood’ she declares, while the computer announces that it is lowering the force walls.
The force field drops, and several soldiers rush towards Wolverine and Kavita. ‘Stand away from the intruder, Doctor Rao. We have to place him under arrest!’ one of the soldiers announces. ‘In a moment’ Rao calls back, before she begins to cry. ‘God forgive me. I’ve got a life to save’ she exclaims.
Present:
Kavita tells Dazzler that she still cannot decide whether she saved Wolverine or destroyed him. ‘And I’ll never have the courage to ask’ she adds.
Back at the campfire, Colosuss declares that was a bad time - the rumors and the panics. ‘Nobody knowing what was true, or who to trust’ he remarks. ‘Who to trust? Bloody hell, is that meant to be a joke?’ Chamber asks. He declares that he never trusted anybody, that none of them did. ‘That’s why we’re the ones who survived. We did it on our own’. Someone else asks why they are here now, why they decided to make this stand together, instead of alone. ‘That’s called desperation, mate. Don’t mistake it for anything else’ Chamber replies, but Toad declares that he thinks Chamber is wrong. ‘Oh yeah, Why’s that then, Toynbee? You reckon we’re all one big happy family?’ Chamber asks. Poking his long tongue out, Toad replies that he thinks most of them were desperate, at the end of their rope. ‘But I was with the general on the day he built this place, and…well, nothing could be the same after that for any of us’ he remarks.
Magneto’s flashback:
‘This is it. We’re dead’ Toad exclaims as he peers out a window, moving the blinds to the side. Several others are in the room, and Cecilia Reyes reminds Toad that there are children here. ‘I’m sorry, Ms…Reyes, was it? But take a look out there. They’ve got us surrounded seven ways from Sunday!’ Toad exclaims. Forge steps forward and points out that now the coalitional slain Magneto, they are moving to crush the last vestiges of mutant resistance. ‘I think one of you may have been followed here’ Forge adds. Dust suggests that it could have been here, as she is of unusual and suspect appearance. ‘Perhaps if I go down and surrender -’ she offers, but Forge tells her not to, as at this stage, he is not sure it will make much difference.
Indeed, the large high-rise building where the mutants have holed themselves up is surrounded by the army. ‘What have we got in there, Vestry?’ Colonel Creed calls out to one of his officers, who replies that they think it is Forge, the mutie who has been running the underground railroad to Canada, with a bunch of his latest customers. He adds that they have scanner drones in there now, checking for life signs. ‘Human life signs, I mean’ he remarks, announcing that as soon as they are sure it is just muties, they are going to move in. ‘Heat-seekers first’ Creed orders. ‘Missiles? But this is the Chrysler building!’ the soldier points out. Creed declares that their allegiance is to race, not to bricks and mortar.
An elderly woman suddenly approaches one of the soldiers, asking him if he is senior enough to have access to the building. ‘Yes, Ma’am, I am. But nobody is allowed to go in there right now. We’ve got some very dangerous mutants on our hands’ he exclaims. ‘The elderly woman suddenly punches the man to the ground - it’s Mystique in disguise. ‘Yes. You certainly do’ she declares.
Back inside, ‘You heard what they did in Westchester, right? The fake safe house they set up? Filled it with mutants and burned it to the ground’ Toad exclaims, to which Dust asks him not to talk about these things. ‘Maybe it’d be better to jump and get it over with’ Toad exclaims, when suddenly, two women materialize seemingly out of thin air. ‘No’ one of them remarks. ‘It really wouldn’t’ the other announces. They introduce themselves as Martinique and Regan and declares that they think everyone should wait and watch the show.
Outside, ‘Coming through. Let me though. I’ve got an officer hurt’ a soldier helping along an officer wrapped in blankets exclaims as they make their way towards the Chrysler building. ‘Uh, Sir? You’re…you’re heading the wrong way’ one soldier calls out. ‘Just get out of my way!’ the officer exclaims. Out of air shot, the officer remarks to the injured officer ‘Beloved, you’ve opened your wounds again. You’re still weak. If you do this, it may kill you. The officer is Mystique in disguise, and her injured companion replies that he will not let these jackals have their prey. ‘But I will speak to them. Stand back’ the injured man - Magneto - exclaims as he drops his cowl.
The soldiers see him: ‘Hey! Up on the steps!’ one of them remarks. ‘He’s dead! He’s supposed to be dead!’ another declares. Raising his hands to the air, Magneto declares ‘Drones and dogs and maggots who call yourselves men. Persecutors of innocents. Murderers of children. Hear me!’ Creed calls out to his men, telling them not to stand there, but to fire. But Magneto throws up a force field, and the soldiers are knocked back by a blast. ‘My God! Cease fire! Cease fire!’ Creed calls out.
Magneto announces that he knows they made non-ferrous Exonims to bring him down, but that they are many hundreds of miles away. ‘Fire on me again, and you only add to the roster of widows and orphans’ Magneto declares. Inside the building, the mutants continue to watch: ‘It’s him! It’s really him! I thought they killed him!’ Toad declares. ‘Tuh! They tried!’ Martinique exclaims. ‘They always try’ Regan adds. Magneto tells the soldiers that he is not here to fight them, for which they can count themselves fortunate. ‘I’m here to bring these mutants - my brothers and sisters - our of your hands. And I will do so. I advise you not to try to stop me’ Magneto exclaims.
‘The general says to hold on tight’ Martinique remarks, with Regan adding that it is going to be a bumpy ride. ‘Ride? What ride? They won’t allow us to reach a car or a -’ Reyes remarks, when suddenly, the Chrysler building, and several around it, are slowly raised from the earth. Creed radios for gun ships, announcing that he needs red rain. ‘Target is the Chrysler Building, but wait until it comes within a hundred feet’ he remarks. A response over his communicator asks ‘Uh - you mean we should descent to a hundred feet, sir?’ but Creed retorts that he means exactly what he said. ‘Target is live! Repeat, target is live!’ someone calls out
A pilot look on shocked, and reports to Colonel Creed that they have acquired additional targets, ‘Oh God! The whole city! The whole city is in the air!’ he exclaims, ordering evasive action. ‘Abort and pull back!’ he calls out as the Chrysler building and others begin destroying any choppers that they crash into, and civilians look up in awe as the buildings are flown away.
Present:
Toad clarifies that it was not the whole city, just the buildings with the most steel in them. ‘But it must have looked that way. An annunciation of stone angels, obedient to Magneto’s will’ he remarks. Toad adds that Magneto did not have to take them far, as it was not like anywhere he could go would be safe for long. ‘He built a fortress, a beacon. A sign too big to miss. And you all came here. Joined together for the first time as the men and women of the X-gene’ Toad declares. Cannonball remarks that he hates to interrupt good pep talk, before motioning to the large fiery X in the sky, he points out that it is Magma’s way of saying that she has incoming. ‘They broke the barricades. Time to fight’ Cannonball declares. The mutants all race into action - Basiisk, Hellion, Chamber, Jubilee, Avalanche, Berserker, Sub-Mariner, Frenzy, Storm, Toad, Colossus, Eclipse, Nightmare, Cannonball and Revenant are all on-hand to do battle. Cannonball then exclaims ‘Let’s show ‘em that X marks their burial ground!’….


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

[Assistant]
Avengers, chapter 1 (First story)
first story:Fortress X, where several mutants are currently defending their home from the invading army. ‘Sam, you there? It’s Legacy’ Legacy calls out over the communicator. ‘Little busy here, Reaper’ Cannonball replies as he blasts towards a soldier, while Basilisk, Colossus and Storm are also engaging the enemy in combat. As she stares out over the ground surrounding Fortress X, Legacy informs Cannonball that they are shelling the barrier up high, trying to sneak through a bomber, is what she suspects, and asks Cannonball if he has any flyers available. ‘Uh’ Cannonball replies. ‘Didn’t think so’ Legacy replies, before asking ‘What if I said I got it, Sam? I got one of Forge’s railshots right here…’ ‘I’d have to say that’s a negative, Reaper. And take cover’ Cannonball replies.
Cannonball reminds Legacy that she has the memories of more dead mutants soaked up in her brain than he has had hot dinners, and tells her that she knows Magneto would say she is too important to be playing hero. ’You gotta stay alive to -’ Cannonball begins, but Legacy interrupts him, declaring that she knows. ’I gotta do the remembering’ she remarks, before ending the communication. “Playing hero” she mutters.
1000 days ago:‘For the security of the many, the few must sometimes suffer control’ a man thinks to himself, adding that he has understood that from the beginning. ‘Since the intermarriage laws passed and mutants marched outside Congress. Since one riot cop raised his baton and a hundred died in unearthly retaliation. Since the sterilizations and deportations bred only disaster. Since every attempt to purify or pacify the mutants was met with disproportionate defense. Since the Phoenix snubbed surrender and razed Albany in an instant of cosmic rage…and took with her two thousand of my fellow soldiers. Since I can remember, I’ve been fighting the mutants. Alone’ Captain America thinks to himself, deciding that it all end here in Arizona, as he leads five others down into the Grand Canyon Genetic Exclusion Zone.
A battle rages, between the mutant prisoners, and these heroes who have arrived. Captain America smacks his shield into the back of the mutant called Maggott, holding him down. Mammomax and other mutants have escaped, but Iron Man and Redback are ready to bring them down. Captain America thinks to himself that, with hindsight, the suits he has been waiting to consolidate their “specialists” since the Alcatraz breakout. A riot a Camp Gorge, plays like a repeat performance - and half the inmates are San Fran recaptures, so this fit’s the bill their field test.
As he holds his foot against Maggott’s neck, Captain America thinks that he and his colleagues have been fighting the war for years, in their own ways, hunting mutants, staving off the chaos that comes with them. ‘Stay down’ Captain America tells Maggott. But he tells himself that they have never fought together - just as Iron Man vaporizes Maggott with a plasma burst. ‘Subject was reaching for a firearm, colleague. Saved your ass, spangles’ Iron Man claims as Captain America turns to him, deciding that getting accustomed to each other was always going to take some work. ‘But he doesn’t have a gun’ Captain America points out.
‘Initiate humorless laugh’ Iron Man states, before muttering ‘Heh heh’. Captain America just looks at his “teammate” and thinks that although Tony Stark is officially code-named “Iron Man”, he has been calling himself the “Steel Corpse” for a decade, and that it suits him. Stark’s human appearance has become indeed corpse-like. Captain America reminds himself that the records say some sort of virus - mutant-derived, naturally - and Stark has been fused in the armor ever since, slowly digested by the machine. It is now hard to say how much of a human is left in there, but there is precious little stability.
Iron Man stares up at his next opponent, and calls out ‘Opening file: obesity jokes…’, but his opponent, the Blob, shouts ‘HEY! No foul-stinking robo-zombie’s gonna move the Bl-’ he doesn’t get to finish his sentence, as the Hulk appears and knocks the Blob aside. The Hulk races after the Blob and wraps his hands around the Blob’s flabby neck. Captain America watches, and tells himself that Bruce is in deep with the military - his file is classified - but Captain America knows one thing about him - he really, really hates mutants. The Hulk watches more mutants trying to escape. Captain America decides that they have all got their reasons, their rationales “for the security of the many”, but that with Bruce, it goes deeper than that. ‘Stinking. Pestilent. Vermin!’ the Hulk shouts as he throws the Blob into several other mutants.
Suddenly, Redback drops down on the mutant Marrow. Captain America knows that her case is simplier - her name is Jessica Drew - although she has never used the name, or spoken any word at all. She has been this free country’s top killer for the past eight years, and can count Mr Sinister amongst her victims. Captain America is not going to pretend that Redback does not make him uneasy. ‘But then…desperate times, right?’ he tells himself. For Redback, it is a matter of duty, nothing more just doing what she is told, providing that includes killing.
‘Wait -’ Captain America calls out as Redback is about to shove a spike though Maarrow’s neck. Redback hisses, and suddenly, the Invisible Woman materializes beside Redback and grabs her wrist. ‘These people need to be controlled, Redback. For their safety as much as the world’s’ Invisible Woman explains. ‘Not murdered’ she declares as she throws Redback from Marrow. ‘Sue. She may be trouble’ Captain America tells himself. ‘You need to manage your team, Captain America’ Susan declares as she suddenly places the Hulk, Redback and Iron Man in a large invisible bubble. Captain America looks at her and reminds himself that he has read the file, that she knows what she has been through.
Captain America looks at the force bubble and tells himself that Susan’s powers are as tough as they come but her heart…. “Desperate times”, like he said, you do what you have to do, but he is not sure Susan understands that. ‘Please, mutants! Return to your cells!’ the Invisible Woman calls out, while Captain America thinks that you do the best you can. ‘Screw you, fascist!’ Marrow shouts as she smacks the Invisible Woman in the back of the head with a piece of bone. Suddenly, ‘Non-lethal, yes? Ha, yes. I’ll handle this’ a voice calls out, and in a flaming blaze, a skull-faced being on a motorcycle appears, and wraps his chain around Marrow’s neck. ‘Gaze into the face of Vengeance, sinner!’ he calls out.
Captain America tells himself that he has no idea where they found Johnny. Marrow stares into Vengeance, unable to speak, when suddenly, ‘Oi, mate. Gaze into the face of “$%&# you”!’ Chamber declares as he comes up behind Vengeance, and unleashes a massive burst of power, seemingly destroying Vengeance. ‘Go! Go!’ Chamber calls out to the other mutants as he grabs Marrow and claims Vengeance’s motorcycle as his own, he speeds away, with the other mutants in tow. The “heroes” are left in the smoke, as Captain America hangs his head: ‘And that’s how it begins…with defeat and discord and death. Like someone’s telling us to start as we mean to continue’ he tells himself.
‘Avengers?’ a voice booms.
“Assemble” Legacy utters, as she looks frustrated.
In a secure facility, the Avengers have assembled in front of General Castle, a man more decorated than a Christmas tree, and intense like a caffeine cluster bomb. General Castle is the Chief, and he does not look very happy. ‘Explain’ he booms. ‘Teething problems, Sir’ Captain America replies. ‘Logistical function error: We suck’ Iron Man states. ‘Unreliable personnel’ Bruce Banner suggestions, while the Invisible Woman declares that there has been a breakdown in cooperation. Redback remains silent. General Castle tells Susan to continue, to Susan announces that teamwork has to be the key. ‘When I was with the Four we made it a priority to -’ Susan begins, but Bruce shouts ‘Ha! That’s your shinning example? A dysfunctional dynasty of confirmed traitors?’ he asks. ‘That’ll do, Doc’ Captain America tells Bruce, while Susan frowns and tells Bruce not to call them traitors.
Captain America thinks to himself that no one wants to say it, but that it is in the air: Banner has a point. Everyone remembers where they were the day the Four went down - America’s favourite family, caught harbouring mutants, but there is a lot fewer folk who know the truth behind who shopped them. Captain America recalls that one of the Four’s houseguests - Wolfsbane - had an accident. But it was nothing personal - Susan’s testimony was real clear on that - there was no blame attached, but it cuts to the heart of the problem: all too often mutants cannot even control themselves. Susan figured that meant someone has to do it for them - but her husband didn’t agree, and he was taken away.
‘You…you don’t ever mention them again’ Susan utters. Captain America puts an arm on her back and tells her that it is okay, before informing General Castle that Sue is correct. ‘We failed to operate as a unit. We’ll try harder’ he assures General Castle. ‘You’ll have to’ Castle replies as he clicks on a remote, which turns on the monitor behind him, depicting several buildings levitated into the air above New York City. The General informs the heroes that at 1900 hundred hours, a siege scenario ended when twenty-two buildings - bricks, mortar, terrorist occupants and all - were forcible levitated from New York City. The General announces that it goes without saying such a demonstration of power represents an escalation in the mutant crisis. ‘It also goes without saying it can’t be left unanswered’ he adds.
General Castle informs Captain America and the others that as of nightfall, satellite trackers lost the stolen architecture, and intelligence posts the mutants may for a defensible sanctuary around it. ‘Your mission is very simple: Stop them’ General Castle announces, before declaring that as for the building’s location, they have some “specialist” equipment to aid them in their search.
A short time later, Iron Man flies through a clearing in a forest, the others alongside him, all standing on an invisible force field, courtesy of the Invisible Woman. Bruce Banner holds onto a leash - and at the other end of the leash, down on the ground is the mutant named Weapon-S, who trudges through the swampland. His lower jaw and mouth is gone - instead two sharp tusks protrude from his face. ‘It’s repugnant. It’s intolerable. It’s - Bruce begins, but Captain America interrupts, telling Sue that it is turning south. Bruce remarks that it is degrading enough that they must concern themselves with mutants at all. ‘But to employ them…?’ he asks. ‘It volunteered, Banner. We should be grateful’ Captain America replies, while Sue asks ‘And who knows what the poor man’s endured in captivity…?’ Captain America suggests that freedom in exchange for his help is the least they can do.
‘Smell you, bub. Taste yer stink…’ Weapon-S utters. ‘So you take pity on the scum that betrays its kind? How apt. From a woman who sold her family’ Banner tells the Invisible Woman. ‘I warned you -!’ Sue shouts, but Captain America calls her back, and tells Banner that he is out of line and informs him that Weapon-S was given a choice, and he chose to do the right thing, tough as it is. ‘Do did Sue’ Captain America adds, telling Banner that his hate has no place here. Banner pauses, before uttering ‘A choice. Let me tell you about mutants and “choices”, Captain’ he begins.
Banner continues, explaining that his choice was to devote himself to science in service of his country, and ten years ago, that mean constructing a device - a pulse array - to sterilize dangerous mutant. ‘They had a choice too. They volunteered’ Banner claims. He tells his companions that moments before initiating the pulse array, he was still calibrating the emitters - and a young mutant with sonic powers panicked. Banner tugs hard on Weapon-S’s leash as he declares that panic breeds terror where monsters like mutants are concerned, before he continues, revealing that the device misfired in the gamma spectrum, and it changed him in ways the military still do no understand. He adds that for three minutes, blinded by pain, he was just like these mutants - beyond control.
‘In that short time I slaughtered my best friend. My colleagues and commanders. And my fiancée’ Banner announces. Susan tells him that he is awful, but that he cannot blame the child for his pain. ‘Oh, that’s not the awful, part, Storm. You see…the blast shredded those volunteers. Scattered their flesh and bone…drove their atoms beneath my skin like shrapnel’ Banner reveals, as he angrily declares that there is something in these mutants - something coiled like a worm in their genes which mere science cannot unravel. ‘It’s name is “evil”, Sue Storm, and it infects out world like a disease’ Banner declares, before gritting his teeth, and eyes-wide, announces that he will never be clean again.
Suddenly, ‘Tactful interruption protocol: Hey! Tense people! Eyes front…’ Iron Man calls out, announcing that he thinks “Fido” found it. Everyone stares up at a massive citadel, concrete and vehicles scattered like a wasteland around it. Weapon-S announces that there are many mutants, many smells - weak, hiding, not like him, before he asks if he is free and can go now. The Invisible Woman gazes at the fortress and declares that it is so big. ‘That rather depends on your perspective’ Banner calls out as he transforms into the Hulk. Captain America tells Banner to stand down, adding that there is no action until they get a sit-rep command. ‘Filth! We go in! We crush now!’ the Hulk booms. ‘Negative. “Beyond control”, remember? That’s not us. We wait for orders’ Captain America declares.
Iron Man raises his face-plate as he looks at Captain America, informing him that the General’s commands are “Code Omega”. ‘What’s that mean, Spangles?’ Iron Man asks. Captain America looks anxious: ‘Omega? It…’ his voice trails off, and he reminds himself that it means impunity. It means they are sanctioned to use lethal force. The Hulk begins to laugh - he knows what it means. ‘Means they say kill! Kill mutants!’ he shouts. ‘I free yes?’ Weapon-S asks, tugging at the leash. Susan looks horrified - ‘Wait a minute. I didn’t agree - which mutants? She calls out. The Hulk tugs on the leash, and Weapon-S is flung over to him. ‘All of them!’ the Hulk booms as he claps his hands together - squashing Weapon-S’s head in between them….


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

[Assistant]
Avengers, chapter 2 (First story)<br> Dazzler (Second story)
First story:
Fortress X, 998 days ago. ‘For the record: I’ve never hated mutants’ Captain America thinks to himself. ‘For all their protests, all their rage and violence, I’ve never thought them evil’. He decides that what it comes down to is mutants cannot see the situation like humans do. ‘We real humans’ he tells himself. Captain America decides that mutants call understand that it is not about prejudice or injustice or cruelty - it is starker than that, as mutants are simply too powerful, too unpredictable, to be left to their own devices. ‘So it’s up to my team to make them understand’ Captain America boasts.
At that moment, a mutant is watching guard at one of the many windows of Fortress X. An instant later, blood pours from his neck as Redback slashes his neck with a blade that extends from her wrist. Thanks to the Invisible Woman, Redback, Iron Man and Captain America are invisible as they break into Fortress X. ‘I’m gonna be sick’ Susan announces as she keels over. ‘Sue Storm Moan-o-meter: 15-16-17-18-19’ Iron Man jokes, until Captain America tells him that is enough, before Captain America orders Sue to get their cloak back up. Susan vomits, as Captain America announces that they are going in.
As they walk down a corridor (or in Redback’s case, crawl along the wall of the corridor), Captain America thinks to himself that the saying “For the security of the many, the few must sometimes suffer control” until today meant “arrest and detain”, but now, not it seems there are more efficient forms of control. Suddenly, Bruce Banner’s voice is heard of Iron Man’s communicator who informs his teammates that telemetry suggests a blast-shielded chamber is on the next level, so it must be Magneto. From his position on a hillside outside Fortress X, Bruce Banner stands with General Frank Castle, and several soldiers. ‘There will be sentries. Kill them all’ Banner orders.
Peering around a corner, Captain America asks Iron Man to remind the doctor that he left him at camp on request of the General, probably because he is a 600-pound liability and not a strategic insight. ‘I’ll lead my team how I see fit’ Captain America adds. ‘So you don’t intend to commit murder?’ Susan asks. Captain America fires a dart gun at a mutant, and replies that Magneto is a terrorist, a military target, that if you cut off his head, the body dies. ‘It’s not murder. It’s orders’ he adds, before crouching beside the blonde mutant and pulling the dart out of her neck, he tells Susan that, since she asked, he has no desire to kill anyone unless he has to.
‘And if you do?’ Susan asks. Captain America pauses, before replying that he will cross that bridge when he comes to it. Still invisible, the four Avengers enter an area where several mutants are gathered, including Avalanche and Callisto, who is drinking from a large bottle of alcohol, another in her other hand. Susan walks alongside Callisto, whose enhanced senses picks up Susan’s invisible footsteps. ‘Who’s there?’ Callisto shouts, as she waves one of her bottles around - which smashes against the Invisible Woman, causing her to lose concentration over the invisibility cloak.
‘Cloak’s down! Take them!’ Captain America orders, and so, the battle begins. Captain America fires at Avalanche, while Redback goes up against Bliss. For what it is worth, Captain America keeps his word, nothing lethal - just tranq-shots and body-blows - incapacitate and then move on. Captain America tells himself that he is no assassin like Redback, nor a machine like Iron Man. ‘Object: Fish. Context: Barrel. Pew pew pew’ Iron Man shouts as he fires some plasma blasts, while Colossus suddenly grabs Captain America’s gun, and Warlock goes for his shield. Susan forces Colossus back with an invisible force field, while Captain America smacks Warlock at the knee joints. ‘Besides, they’re no real threat, these mutants. There’s no cooperation, no unity. They stand apart; they fall apart’.
‘ONWAAARDS!’ Captain America orders as the Avengers surge onwards, pushing through the mutants. Captain America tells himself that there is a seduction in the violence, a joy of progress, of doing something that has got to be done - which brings down the red mist like a sunset - until all of the soft options are gone - and the blood is roaring like life itself. The rabble is too dense behind them, and the only way is forward. A door opens up ahead, and a blue-skinned woman stands there p Mystique. ‘Drop the weapon! Drop it!’ Captain America orders. ‘No. Wait - stop!’ Mystique calls out. But Captain America is ready to find the way forward and fires his machine gun. He enjoys it. ‘No!’ Susan shouts as she pushes Captain America’s weapon to one side. Captain America may have been ready to move forward, but Susan was not. ‘She keeps our heads…and breaks our hearts’
Susan bursts into the room - toys are scattered across the floor. Bullet holes line the walls, and several young mutants are huddled in a corner, while Mystique lies on the floor in a pool of her own blood. Captain America and Redback enter the room as they and Sue stand over Mystique’s body. ‘She was guarding them…’ Captain America remarks. ‘Look at them, Steve…look at the fear. Look at the care!’ Sue declares, announcing that these are not military targets. Anxious, his eyes wide, Captain America replies ‘But…we’re soldiers. It’s just orders’. Suddenly, ‘What about the…the little girl?’ Mystique asks. ‘Huh?’ Captain America asks. Mystique looks up at him from the pool of blood and replies ‘She’s human. She’s only eleven. She writes stories’.
Mystique, though weak, continues: ‘Stories so powerful they…they sear the soul. Stories to uplift or devastate. Stories of such beauty her school teachers know they’ll change the world’. Mystique asks Captain America what would happen if that little girl was being raised as a communist, or an anarchist, or a fundamentalist. ‘Will you kill her too?’ Mystique asks. ‘And what about the scientist with…with contrary views on drug control? Or the pink-vote politician? Or any opinionated folks with an IQ over 150 and…and bigger muscles than yours? Or anyone special and unpredictable and unique who you can’t control. Where does it end, Captain Am…Amer…ck’ Mystique asks with her dying breath.
There is silence as Captain America, the Invisible Woman, Iron Man and Redback stare down at Mystique’s body. The silence is broken by Redback - ‘This is wrong’ she states. Iron Man and Sue look at her. ‘You have a voice?’ Iron Man asks, shocked, but Captain America remains stoic, frowning. ‘We all do’ Captain America states, before asking Tony to open a line to General Castle. ‘Tell him we quit’ Iron Man looks surprised. ‘Th…that’s, uh… oh crap’ he mutters, as energy starts crackling around him, emitted from his armor. ‘Negative, negative, negative, override’ Iron Man calls out, urgently as he raises his hands to the children, still in the corner. ‘The machine…can’t stop it!’ Tony calls out, as the voice of the machine states ‘Extant objective: code Omega!’ it announces.
Tony turns to Steve and tells him that no human should be controlled. ‘How do I help you?’ Captain America asks. ‘Not me. Help them’ Iron Man replies as his hand is still aimed at the children - but Captain America raises his machine gun to Iron Man’s head - and fires before Iron Man can kill the young mutants. General Castle hears the BDAM over the communicator on Iron Man’s armor. Captain America picks up Tony’s arm and speaks into the communicator: ‘General Castle?’ he calls out. ‘Captain’ the General replies, telling Captain America that before he says anything, ‘And I’ve no doubt you’ve got a principled little resignation speech all lined up’ the General adds, informing Captain America that there is something he needs to understand.
Several other mutants enter the room where Captain America, Redback and Sue are still gathered, and Captain America listens to General Castle still: ‘You’re going to die’ the General announces. ‘You hear me, turncoat? You haven’t saved $#!&’ General Castle declares, warning Captain America that he is going to die - along with every last America-hating, filth-spreading, family-murdering mutant there is. General Castle informs Captain America that extinction has always been the aim, and points out that a nuke would have done that, but for that they had to be rid of Magneto. ‘You couldn’t even manage that. Plan B’ General Castle declares.
Frank Castle smirks as he announces ‘A chemical bomb…two megaton. No detonator, no metal parts. Triggered at source by a true patriot. He gets into position, my men and I pull back like crazy, and mutantkind officially joins the dodo’ he explains. ‘You found a patsy to die for your genocide?’ Captain America asks via Iron Man’s communicator. Susan begins pointing out the window, while General Castle replies that he doesn’t think his “patsy” will mind too much, and suggests Captain America take a look outside a judge for himself.
Banzai, Captain America. Burn in hell!’ Frank Castle replies, while Banner, now transformed into the Hulk, and with the bomb strapped to his back. ‘NO. MORE. MUTANTS!’ the Hulk booms.
Captain America, Redback and Sue race out of Fortress X. Captain America is still holding Iron Man’s arm for communication purposes, and Sue throws an invisible force field around them while several mutants, including Legacy and Legion, stand nearby. Captain America turns to the mutants and tells them that he cannot order them, that he doesn’t have the right to do that. ‘But if he gets through us… when he gets through us…you’re next’ he warns them, suggesting they stand ready. ‘And stand united’ Captain America adds, as he, Redback and Sue rush towards the Hulk.
‘Hold him! Not one more yard!’ Captain America orders as he lunges at the Hulk, while Redback attacks the Hulk from the side, and the Invisible Woman uses her force field. Captain America remembers Susan saying “Cooperation has to be the key”, and realizes she has understood that from the beginning. He tells himself that when something matters, when something is unjust, regardless of who says different, then it is not about control or rationale or orders  it is about working together to make a difference - or dying together if you can’t.
From the hills nearby, General Castle is watching the battle through binoculars. ‘Storm’s the problem’ he announces, before telling a soldier to aim for her shield and spread her thin, as Banner must get closer to the tower. The missile is launched, although Captain America and Redback are knocked aside, the Invisible Woman holds her ground, and her force field remains around her. ‘Ha! Pathetic! Useless traitor!’ the Hulk calls out as he slams a fist down on the force field. Captain America calls out to the mutants: ‘The few…stronger together!’ he shouts. ‘Failing! Weak! Weak!’ the Hulk booms as he continues to pummel Sue’s force field. ‘Cooperate, damn you. Work together! Help her!’ Captain America pleads, as he lies on the ground, his lower legs blown off - and an instant later, the Hulk smashes Sue’s force field.
General Castle smirks in delight. ‘Help yourselves…’ Captain America whispers. Legion and several other mutants look horrified, as does Redback. The Hulk holds Sue up above his head, his hand wrapped around her neck, and he shouts ‘Finished! Like mutants! All vermin! All race-traitors…finished! Unworthy name “human”!’ he declares, but before he can kill Sue, his arm is severed. ‘Wh-?’ the Hulk utters. “Human” Redback remarks as she clings to the Hulk’s shoulders, Iron Man’s glove around one of her arms. ‘You don’t know the meaning of the word’ Redback tells the Hulk, as the glove begins to emit energy p and an instant later, there is a massive burst of energy, and a huge explosion.
‘Eagle one, you got visual? Did the blast reach the tower?’ General Castle calls out from the safety of the hills. ‘Anyone?’ he radios. But gets no response. ‘What the hell happened before detonation? Could’a sworn I saw some sorta light’ the General remarks as he looks out at  the decimated land before him.
But, at the grounds outside Fortress X, ‘Sue…?’ Captain America calls out as he and Legacy are kneeled beside the Invisible Woman. ‘She’s gone’ Legacy tells Captain America, while up in the air, Legion, Hellion, Psylocke, Carmella Unuscione and Revenant have used their power to secure a force wall around Fortress X. ‘The force field wall. It worked. She showed us the way, darling. You all did’ Legacy tells Captain America as she touches him. ‘We’ll never forget you for that’ Legacy utters, while Captain America passes away.
Today, Legacy hangs her head as she remembers her encounter with Captain America. ‘You there? Hey, Reaper!’ Cannonball calls out over communicator. ‘Huh?’ Legacy asks. ‘I said: How’s the barrier holding up? Any sign of that top bomber?’ Cannonball asks. Legacy gazes out a window and replies ‘That’s a negative, Sam. Shield’s holding just fine’ Legacy tells him. ‘Uh-huh’ Cannonball replies, while he, Colossus and other mutants examine the damage down below after a recent battle. Cannonball tells Legacy that for what it is worth, he is sorry that she does not get to see much action out here, but points out that they have all got their orders, and it makes for a lousy defense if your soldiers can’t even do what they’re told’.
‘You’re wrong’ Legacy replies. ‘Excuse me?’ Cannonball asks. ‘I said you’re wrong, Sam. We’re the few in here. Soldiers are the last things we wanna be’ she tells him, and Legacy looks out over the ruined landscape around Fortress X, as she tells Cannonball ‘It’s heroes we need’….
second story:
Inside the sewers beneath Manhattan, three mutants trudge through the water, the dark tunnels illuminated thanks to the light power of Dazzler. A young male mutant darts around the tunnel and announces that he has checked the tunnel up ahead and that it is all clear. ‘Ugh, how much farther, Gabriel? My stupid shoes are killing me’ Dazzler tells the young man, who replies that it s just a few more miles, and that once they get out of the city limits, it will be a lot safer, as there will be fewer patrols and scanners. The third mutant tells Dazzler that her whole outfit is stupid. ‘We’re on the run, not the runway’ she points out. Dazzler frowns and tells the young woman that it is her stage costume, as Exonim soldiers attacked her in the middle of her own concert. ‘Whatever’ the other woman mutters, before lowering her coat, revealing her wings, and declaring that she finds a coat big enough to cover her freaking wings, and now it smells like dookie.
Gabriel calls her Angel and tells her that down here she doesn’t have to hide her wings, just like Fortress X. ‘We can use out powers as much as we want there’ he points out’ Gabriel adds, but Dazzler tells herself that all he can talk about is Fortress X and his ticket to a new life. Me, I think life’s over’ Dazzler tells herself. Gabriel announces that he heard everyone gets a codename, too. ‘What do you think of “Velocidad”?’ he asks. ‘The recording contracts, licensing deals, the money - all gone. Now I’m just a crazed monster terrorist: a mutant’ Dazzler tells herself. Suddenly, Gabriel holds a hand up to his face and asks Dazzler to turn her light down - but it’s not Dazzler, and a beam of energy knocks Gabriel back against the sewer wall.
‘Oh no oh no!’ Angel gasps as she puts her hands to her head. ‘It’s him’ Dazzler tells herself as she looks at the man hovering before her, flanked by several armored soldiers. ‘I really can’t decide what’s more disgusting. The smell down here…or that half-girl, half-fly freak’ he declares. Dazzler stands motionless as she stares at the most terrifying man alive to any mutant - Stephen Strange, the government’s top bounty hunter. Dazzler read on the internet that Strange uses sorcerery to trace and kill mutants - and that no one has ever escaped him. ‘But screw him. I outsold Gaga on iTunes!’ Dazzler think to herself as she releases beams of solid light energy at Strange, who holds the energy back with a force field.
One of the soldiers begins shooting, but Strange shouts ‘You idiots! Stop! I have this!’, while Dazzler and Angel cower against the wall, now littered with bullet holes. ‘Stop it! Leave me alone!’ Angel shouts as she starts to flap her wings. Strange chants something in an untranslatable language, before dowsing Angel in energy, killing her. ‘You idiot! Your ricochet fire could have killed us’ Strange tells the soldier, before another announces that the other mutant must have escaped. ‘Of course she did. Find her. But be warned, if I hear one gunshot, I’ll turn your skins inside out’ Strange warns the soldiers. ‘The girl is mine’ he declares.
At that moment, down another tunnel, Dazzler is running for her life. She tells herself that when the bullets started, fight or flight just took over, and it was a good minute before she even realized she was running. ‘So I’m lost’ Dazzler admits, not to mention she is exhausted, as she never used her powers this much, probably because she hates them, because she has spent her whole life trying to pretend they don’t exist. Dazzler admits to herself however that it feels good to use them, and even better now that she has a plan. Dazzler begins by shining ultraviolet light, as it is perfect vision for her, but pure darkness for them.
Dazzler creeps through the tunnel while converting sound to light energy to mask any noise her footsteps might make, so she can get a drop on the soldiers  without making a sound. Dazzler does so, striking down a soldier. Her plan?? Simply to get out of these tunnels, and to take out as many soldiers as she can. She thinks her plan is going well, as she comes to a large grate in the tunnel. She tells herself that this is the first time she has ever been happy to see New Jersey. Suddenly, red energy solidifies around the grate. ‘Oh dear. So close. If only that unbreakable gate of Cyttorak weren’t blocking your way to freedom’ Strange announces as he appears behind Dazzler.
Strange remarks that this is a first for him, that he has never killed an honest to god celebrity before. ‘No. You’re the one who’s going to die today’ Dazzler replies, while telling herself that this is it. ‘Do or die’. Dazzler turns around and tells Stephen Strange that this is not just for her, but for Angel and Gabriel - before Strange decimates her in his mystical energies. ‘We’re done here’ Strange tells the soldier. ‘Make a note when you turn in this invoice…I want double hazard pay for making me come down here’.
An undetermined amount of time later, Dazzler opens her eyes in a hospital bed. ‘I think she’s coming around’ someone says. ‘Good morning, Dazzler’ another greets Dazzler, who looks up and sees Angel and Gabriel. ‘But I saw you die. Is this Heaven?’ Dazzler asks. ‘Close. Welcome to Fortress X. And the name’s “Velocidad”!’ Gabriel replies. ‘Yeah, look out for Mister Mutant Pride here. He won’t even respond to “Gabriel” anymore’ Angel remarks. Dazzler begins to ask how they got here, before seeing Magneto through a window. ‘And Strange?’ Dazzler gasps as she sees the two men talking. Dazzler leaps out of bed: ‘Strange! I’ll kill you!’ Dazzler shouts, while Velocidad and Angel try to hold her back. ‘Let go of me! Don’t you see? He tried to kill us!’ Dazzler declares.
Velocidad smiles and tells Dazzler that she doesn’t understand, and explains to her that Strange works with Magneto, that he is one of the good guys. Dazzler looks shocked, while Angel explains that Strange teleported them here, right under the Exonims’ noses, and that all the mutant hunter stuff is just an act. ‘Strange has saved dozens of mutants’ she adds. Magneto greets Dazzler by addressing her by her true name, Alison Blaire, and welcomes her to Fortress X. Strange bows in front of Dazzler and apologizes for the deception and cruelty, adding that he has a reputation to protect.
Dazzler tells Strange that the Exonim soldiers attack Fortress X every day. ‘If they see any of the mutants you’ve saved, they’ll know…’ Dazzler’s voice trails off, but Strange points out that it is probably a matter of “when”, not “if”. Dazzler tells him that when they find out, they will hunt him too. Strange tells her that they will eventually turn on him in any case, so he might as well give them an actual reason. Dazzler points out that Strange would be safe if he stayed here, but Strange replies ‘With so many lives at stake? No. Death is dull, my dear. Everyone does it’ Strange adds that it is how you live your life that really sets you apart.