Disclaimer: As always, I don't own these charachters - Iron Man, the X-Men, the Avengers, etc etc (guess what? they belong to Marvel and Disney...)Keep in mind that I'm the moral owner of Blackdragon, though. and that no way i'm getting money from this piece of literature.... I'd like to, but it's still merely a dream... spoiler alert:Not Exactly spoilers here, just X-men backstory and few things related to the Invincible Iron Man title (just a paragraph or two, actually) BLACKDRAGON ISSUE #34 - walkthrough featuring Charles "professor X" Xavier
"What the…- Chris is currently sitting on a sofa of one of the last Avengers hideout the team finds themselves in, almost nine PM, a black t-shirt and jeans on, jacks of her I-pod in her ears, keeping repeating the last couple of albums from the Foo Fighters, a Moleskine book and a fountain pen in her hand, busy, while looking with part of her new "team-mates" to Danielle who keeps playing, and writing equations and making counts. Suddenly, she stops, and, as she closes the books, silent and a little cold – and even annoyed, lifts her look in front of herself, yawning a couple of times – bloody hell, I can't believe it's been 3 days from the last time I slept… I was so kept in the math that I even forgot it! – She says leaving her spot, looking at Jessica Johns-Cage and Jessica Drew – did you know that the lack of sleep has on the brain the same effects of alcohol? Technically speaking, as for now, my reflexes are the same as I was drunk... – she yawns again , walking in direction of her room – better if I rest a couple of hours, 'till it's safe out there…"
Omega level telepaths can sniff each other around, and I'd like to remember you that I'm actually an omega class telepath. She mentally says as, once closed the door, she leans against its wooden surface with her back, crossed arms, annoyed; annoyed by what, she precisely doesn't know: his mere presence, the fact that he seems to underestimate her every time she is at his presence, or maybe the fact that she doesn't want to have him, or any other x-people, around herself right now. She moved on. She left them. She is an Avenger right now, she'd like to tell him, but the words die in her mouth, and in the back of her mind, and so, she remains still, in front of the astral plane that finally merges from the shadow, revealing his identity –an identity she was already aware of – "Charles" she angrily says, tightening her teeth, and, as a matter of fact, she does it at loud. She doesn't call him by name with her mind, but with her voice. Things have changed, in the last months… this is actually the second time she sees him alive after his "second coming" thanks to the former servant of Magneto called Exodus, to Erik's help – that she has already fought against – and former X-men ally turned enemy turned enemy… what was her name? she just remembered she was a sentinel, and use to be Malice for a while. And that she was Indian.
*I just wanted to… We were in synch when we helped Emma to get into Sentry's mind, and I saw your memories, and…*
#you close your mouth, Charles. You though I haven't noticed you trying playing games with my mind? Trying to convince me to go back to the institute before… and to Utopia later? You tried to convince me that I wanted to make sure everything was all right, that Cerebra was working fully and in the right way. When it didn't work, you tried to convince me that Scott had called to tell me Osborn was going to attack again – she pauses – a good stratagem. It seemed something I could have thought on my own. But I've improved. I can sniff you. #
*I just wanted to talk with you *
#Have you ever heard of communication devices? You may not know it, but they're better than a man playing games with people's minds. – She laughs – oh, God, every time I try to defend you, here you are, doing it all over again! # She thinks that, in "reality" she'd not face him right bow, and she wonders if she is contacting her because his body is still too weak after what the evil monster known as The Dark Beast did to him.
*I don't do it lightly* he assures her, looking sad, in the distance.
#yeah, sure, that's why you do it so often… - she sarcastically laughs a little, cold with him – I'm doing my best to not hate you, Charles, but it's extremely hard to maintain this promise… and it is better if you stop wasting my time…#
*My memory is… my memories are impaired, Christine. I don't know enough about my past to answer your accusations*
#Oh, Charles, believe, I know plenty, even too much… there's a lot you have to answer for! #
She snaps, her eyes flaming in psych energy, – she remembers how sweetly she said his name as she called him before the coming of the Messiah Baby, and she can't believe she is so distant now… but, why is she shocked by the realization that he is a liar? He brainwashed the x-men to not let them find out about Vulcan's team. He brainwashed McCoy's family. He brainwashed Bobby Drake's whole town, to let him free from jail. He used to be part of the Illuminati. He is a player, a player who plays with people's mind. A player that brainwashed her, letting her forget her family, and right now… right now, she can't be nice with him, doesn't feel at all like being nice. – #hope you don't mind being here#
That has been cruel. She has just bran the conversation on the astral plane, on her "mind-room", but not in the same place she has conversations with Pete and her friends… but at the school. At the same school she was months ago. The school as she saw it the last time she was there - destroyed, abandoned.
"It's bad, isn't it? That's' your worst dream coming true. Because, Charles, I know you. You think that, without the solid evidences of our presence here, we're nothing. How do you feel, Charles? What do you think your precious X-men are? - She stands, looking at him, cold, and mad, and observes as he knees and takes the piece of metal with the inscription "Xavier Institute for higher learning" in his hands, almost crying – you say it's the past that defines us, and without our past, what are we? But you… - she closes her eyes, tears leaving her black orbs, as her voice is broken by her cry as well – you stole it from me, Charles. – she pauses, as a violet shining door of energy appears at his back, and Chris start to walk in its direction, passing Charles and giving him her shoulder - maybe someday we'll discuss about it. Hell, knowing me we could even laugh about it. But right now, better if you keep your distance... and congratulations for your new little nation. You and Eric enjoy it while it last. – as she approaches the door for the outside world, she stops, a step from the entrance, as the door is suddenly covered by bricks – enough games, Charles. I'm leaving that you like it or not. We can do the nice way or the other way around… try to fight me and I'll fight back."
"I gave myself the responsibility to teach you, Christine, and I'm not done yet" he grins, as a victory.
"Teach? You never taught me! I've never been enough good to be one of your X-Men! – She snaps again, like a rabid animal, facing him again from the distance, tears of rage from her eyes – you just used me! Say it right, Charles… say you're not done using me!"
"I'm just traveling back, where the journey begun… my journey. we shall not cease from traveling and the end of all our journey will be to arrive back where we started, and see the place for the first time" he smirks, still a little sad, while looking at her, who has turned to look at him.
"You know, Charles, you're tempting me to try to see if the wounds one receives on the astral plane can be reversed on their physical self or not…" she grins, but her one is not of happiness, or satisfaction. She is full of rage.
"Even with all the holes in my memory, I still know you too well, Christine. You'd never try to hurt me."
"Oh, yes – she says as she faces him, inches from his face – you know all of us. Me, Sage, Scott, Hank, Jean, Bobby, your own son… you read us like we are book, you see through us. And you write in the margins of our souls, so that we could be and act as you wish. – She pauses, looking more enraged than before, but, somehow, calmer, and evil smile of her lips – tell me, Charles, how long did you write in my margins? What did you write? Had I really joined your intelligence on my own or was it simply another game you played in your interest?"
"I don't think you belong here. You have so many questions, and no answers. And it's not here you'll find them. This part of your journey – he says as he forces the landscape to change, showing her what used to be the Avengers mansion and then Avengers Tower – it doesn't suite you. You voyage started with your people, it has to end with your people, for you, and for us. There are less than 200 of us left, we need every single mutant at disposition and I'm sure Scott would be glad to have you back."
"Oh, right… Scott. You know, I thought he was better than you, but I've recently realized something. You taught us, and you made us in your own image, liars and manipulators. You laid to us… you kept secrets… and we do the same: Scott and Jean, Scott and Emma, Scott and the team, me and my brother. We all lie to each other because of you. At least Erik had the decency to be honest with everyone! - She screams, as the landscape comes back to the one she created. – It's funny, isn't it? I used to be your little spy… and now I'm Scott's sweet killer… at least in his dreams."
"You can like it or not, but we need each other – he says as, once she is walking in direction of the door, still closed, he removes the bricks – you are free now, Christine, To leave, if you like. I won't keep you here any longer against your will. But… - he pauses – I'd like to read your mind, and… arrange your powers. I remember it was Lucien's fault the awakening of your powers, and now that you've faced him again, and the knowledge of what he did… god only knows what's going on with your powers and your psyche."
"You want to… what? How could you dare to even ask this?" the rage is free, and Chris is full of rage, and she isn't pulling back this time, she is releasing it. She is letting it go, as telekinetic blast of solid energy, similarly to the Invisible Woman's force fields hits the "landscape" around Charles, like it was real, destroying what was left of the mansion, and, as she comes close and closer, she grabs him for the collar, tears evident in her eyes.
"You let an assassin in your mind, and you dare to ask permission to enter in my psyche? I don't care how you rationalize it, Charles. You forced me to do things you wanted me to do for years, and now here you are, trying to do it all over again, and you dare to hold me here against my will…"
"It's for your own good, Christine. You went through so much… your mind is in pain, damaged, wounded, and I can help you to..."
"Shut up! Just… shut up. – She says, as she releases him – do you honestly think you are a hero? You're not better than the people we fought. You're not better than Erik."
"I had a dream, an ideal. And it was more important than everything else in my life. It's what I… I rebuilt myself around it, when I died. It was the only thing I could remember, the only thing I could cling to."
"Erik is an idealist, and so Apocalypse, even Osborn, all in their own twisted way. You can't buy yourself off this by saying you meant well – she pauses, turning in direction opposed to him, sad, at crossed arms – it's not enough for me, Charles. The core you built...- she pauses again, struggling to find the words – you rebuilt me around a core that was, in fact, a lie. You took me away from what I was, and re-assembled me as you wished, like a soldier does with a rifle. But the only difference is that the soldier goes into battle on his own, while you send me.- she turns again, looking, from the distance, in his eyes, the "wind" moving stands of her brown-reddish hair - And them."
"I was at your side! You know I've always been!" he almost shouts, getting closer to her, who, as an answer, almost laughs.
"But it was your war. You made me... us… battle your own war. You told me what I needed to know, what I needed to remember and think. And edited out the part you didn't like. Part that were, let me say it, things done by you, mostly."
"What I did, it was to protect you, to train you, to teach you. Lucien found you when you were merely an infant, but look at what I've done; my justification is that you're still alive."
"Lucien wasn't after me because I was a mutant, Charles. Don't try to use it at your advantage; because it's not gonna work."
He pauses, as he walks in direction of the door to leave before her "It was good to see you again, Christine. Hope my apology will mean something to you in time."
"What do you think you are doing, Charles? – She says, giving him her back, grinning satisfied – oh, Charles… why do you people always underestimate me? I'm an omega class telepath. I knew what you were going to do even before you did it. If you think it will be that easy leaving my mind once in… you're wrong, Professor. - as she says so, the door vanishes, and everything around them changes, the lands falls, and where they were and where they are, are suddenly 2 completely different things: a exit-less gothic like labyrinth, dark and cold, made of metal, like something that could only belong to Magneto – I can spot a thought that doesn't belong to me even on my own, nowadays. I think it's because of my computer-like abilities. I immediately recognized it for what it was, and you're going to have a taste of your own medicine, Professor" she keeps doing it. She keeps underlining that noun, that substantive… his codename, like it was something… something bad. And he understands it, once he starts to lifts his eyebrows, because of her grin, because of her eyes, the way they shine, their light… like she was possessed. Possessed by rage, possessed by regret, and, over all, possessed by guilt for what he made her do… what she did to her friends, and family. But Xavier, Charles is Charles. As she said, he is a professor. He was her professor. He taught her, and there's no way in the world he is going to let her surpass him in his own field. He is not scared, and, as she comes closer to him, he answers to her grin with the same posture, even if the woman coming closer to him, wearing, strangely, a black version of Emma's last X-Men outfit, is becoming a giant, and is taking him in her hands, trapping him inside.
"C'mon, Christine, we both know my mind is stronger than yours, if we'll fight, you know what the outcome will be"
"Oh, Charles, please. I didn't know you thought so little of yourself – she keeps grinning, an evil smile while he is at her eye-level – once I felt you trying to reach my mind… I was waiting for you, Charles. I've already programmed this. The moment you entered in contact with me, the moment you dared to enter in my mind… - she stops, as he stops to grin – my mind works as a computer, and, as a computer, can produce viruses. It's what I did to you, even if you weren't realizing it, too full of yourself. I'm a virus Charles, a virus you caught… I installed blocks, and inhibitions, failsafe programs and blind spots. Did you realize it was in my mindscape you were going to walk through? That once inside… - she pauses for dramatic effect, closing him in her hands, and playing with the deck of cards she "realized" with the scenes of his life just like Gambit would do with his own deck, she suddenly realizes a film can – you'd be my possession?"
"I'm here to help; I'm here in good faith! I'm not here to harm you!" he cries, full of rage, as her.
"That's why you're still on your legs and not same kind of ameba, Charles – She pauses again, facing him, still trapped inside the film can, sad, eye-closed – you can't imagine how much I'd like to teach you a lesson the hard way. I'm not going to forgive you, Charles. I'll never do. But I want answers. I want to know why you're doing this… and why you did what you did. - As she says so, even before he could talk her back, she turns on the projector – believe me, Charles, this isn't something I'm looking forward to. Horror stories have their place… and God knows I'm not the squeamish type… although I'm pretty sure there will be scenes I'll not give a look at."
Hank, I run a school for people like you. Here, you'll learn to use your abilities for the good of this world.
"It was always the altruism, right, Professor? It was your first card…" she grins, at crossed arms, as, both on their legs, are walking a black and white movie of the first meeting of the X-men with hank McCoy, when he still looked human.
"What does this pathetic charade would mean, Christine?" he turns to look at her, shouting, mad, full of rage. And she grins, because he is playing her game.
"It's a walkthrough test, Charles. And I'm pretty sure it will hurt."
"Do you think the X-men… do you think Scott and Emma will welcome you at open arms just because you're torturing me?" and now they're at the school, few hours later, and Hank in fresh and clean, and in debating with Charles.
"It will not hurt you physically, Charles – she says as she walks and goes to seat on the desk –just on an emotional level. I need to understand how you'll react to these memories."
"Release me. Now, or, otherwise, I'll have to make you." He closes his fists, and can't look at her. She is so different, too different, from the first time he met her.
"Oh, please. Your company isn't something I'm looking forward to. Even a little of that goes a long way. But I need – she says, exasperated, facing him again, and standing close to the "mental" old Xavier – to see how you will react, if you really feel guilty for what you did to all of us."
"I took the liberty to erase the memory of your existence from the mind of the ones who met you, Hank" "you can control people's mind?" "I do it only as a last resort. Would you prefer to be remembered by them with hate, fear and regret? Don't think it is better this way? "
"He was unhappy and vulnerable!" he shouts, and, as he does so, the room falls into pieces, changing landscape, bringing them to an earlier time, in Fort Washington, Long Island, outside a prison, with Xavier facing Bobby Drake along an extremely young Scott.
"I made disperse the mob in front of the jail peacefully and asked them to forget all about you" "you can you do that?" "I did it, and I send home your parents, too. I run a school for people like us, where people like us learn how to control their abilities and to use them for the good of this world." "But I can't abandon my family…." "I made them forget your powers; they'll think you'll be a plain student at a plain school." "I don't want to become a stranger for them…" "Sometimes, Robert is better for our loved ones to not know."
"I guess it was the same thing you thought about Bobby, right? His father was a good man before you brainwashed him. He accepted his son, but once you did your magic… - she pauses – he was an anti-mutant activist, Charles, for years…. And Bobby blamed himself for this, because he thought he was the one to accept it, he thought you discussed this "possibility"!"
"You know what's in my mind, and what was then!" he shouts, almost hitting her with his right fist, hitting a "false" wall of the school.
"There's doubt, Charles, and uncertainty. You fear you did this just to see if you could, if you were able to. – they both pause, as they walk away by the room, walking through a door and finding themselves walking through a dream-like corridor, something that seems to have come out from Vertigo's doing – I notice you didn't deny my accusation, Charles"
"I can't defend myself, Christine – he says, gesturing a little with his hands, less exasperated by her, more quiet and more guilt – I remember these actions… barely, but I still remember them… the facts and the words. What I don't remember are the actions behind them."
"Here we are – she says, standing at a closed door that, once opened, revels again a room, the first room they found themselves in, Xavier's studio; before the let the main characters of this play to appear, Chris pauses, and looks at the man who considered for years like a tutor, a father figure – after Genosha, when I come back… I started to reconsider myself, and to see my powers in a different way. I think it was what Tony was expecting from me, though; I've always been good at do what people wanted me to do. Tony needed me to be cold and distant, cynic, and sometimes… sometimes I think I feel the way God must feel, weighing men's souls in my hands.- She closes her eyes, standing still at his side – because of you, I can't remember how I felt when my powers first manifested themselves… I can't remember if I felt like a Goddess or a monster. I wonder if you do, considering what you went through."
"I… I think… - he pauses, correcting immediately him – I felt like you did. I was terrified. I was a child, in a maze of adult minds… I was so small. Everyone had their own world into their minds; it was like walking through the infinite. I thought I was going to get lost inside it, to never be able to find my own thoughts again. – He pauses again, looking at her, serious and cold again – but I've never speculated about how God could or could not feel."
"Are you sure about it? I'd not bet on this… - as she answers to him, a grin of rage appears on her face, accompanied by two figures: always Charles, years later, and an extremely young Rogue, who's crying, desperate as she was dying, under his cold and emotionless eyes – I presume you remember Rogue… Anna, if you prefer."
"Professor, I don't know what to do, I'm going crazy!" "so you said to my X-Men when you first arrived her, but you don't need to pretend when we're alone. I know that, like everything you did in your life, you came here just for self-interest. Of course you want to be saved by the consequences of your actions…but only because they are cruel and ruthless. One day you could be worthy saving, even worthy my help in controlling your powers… but that time is far away. You'll have to prove yourself. I'm not going to offer you pardon… or any gifts for free."
"People always say that God has the power to help us. If you had the power to help Anna back then, and you didn't play God, why didn't you offer her a decent shot at life?"
"I did what I thought the best. I knew she was capable of changing… of redeem herself. I couldn't tell her I wasn't able to help her, 'cause she would have come back to Mystique, to a twisted life that was destroying and dooming her. I told her what she wanted to hear.- he pauses, on his knee, trying to caresses the face of the mutant that now has the full control over her powers, but that, at the time, for more than 10 years, hasn't been able to touch anyone or anything who was breathing – I thought I'd forgot almost totally it"
"There's nothing you have forgot, Charles - she clarifies, crossed arms, looking cruelly at him, sitting again on his desk – I found a piece here, another one there, and I put them together. It's like splicing a damaged tape back together. You have suppressed your memories, Charles, fragmentized them and put them in different pieces, but nothing's lost."
"Did you wonder if there was a reason behind it? Maybe it was for the best! - as he leaves his spot and goes closer to her, hands in his pockets, the find themselves again in the vertigo-like void – I was arrogant, and sure of my own rectitude that I never…"
"I have enough of this Bullshit, Charles! – She says as she slaps him on the face, first time first – why can't you accept that you can be wrong? Of course you were arrogant… the one like us… we all are! My arrogance came from being young, because I've never been tested against the world coming back bleeding, because I couldn't remember it, because I could change things, if I wanted. Everyone hits the wall once or twice, even more times; maybe… they all did but us, because they don't have powers like ours. We are sinner, Charles, we made mistakes, and commit sins… but Tony… you… even my boyfriend… there's people who keeps telling me that our sinners are bigger and more bearable because our reach is greater. – she keeps shouting at him, eyes red now from the tears, as they are now inside the monitor room outside the Infirmary, years before Rogue but after Scott, after Rogue, after Bobby, and as she comes closer to the glass, skimming over it, looking at a merely out of teenage Scott and Charles, she quits shouting at him, and lets him go – tell me, Charles, what's that for you? Is that another station? The place where you understood what you were? I told you it was going to be painful… this is the only way."
"Alex and Jean, they were there… professor… what I've done?" " there's hope, my boy, now, all you need to do is relax, and sleep." "but… I can't… I can't…"
"Did you realize that this Xavier and you have become one and only? - she asks, as he looks at his legs, realizing it has been the one to do the talking with the now sleeping Scott. – You didn't look at this, you lived this. Why? What did you feel? What do you feel now?"
"I'm not a puzzle to solve to you or anyone. Even Emma tried this game on me. I can't undo what I did, and I'm not going to try to justify it. I'm not going to plead my cause to you or anyone"
"You needed Scott back in shape for save the others, trapped on Krakoa. But you never asked him. You took him from granted, like you did with every one of us. You were God, the great Majesty, and we were the ants."
"I accept my guilt" he screams again
"Oh, no, you're convincing yourself of it, because you don't like to think about what you did. Sorry, not enough. – she snaps her fingers on her right hand, and show him everything – look at what you did, Charles, then we'll discuss "guilt" together… wonna remember the time you killed your own sister while you were still in your mother's womb – she flashes him images of him and Cassandra – when you erased Erik's consciousness, transforming him in a vegetal and creating Onslaught – flashes – and, what about the one who suffered the most? They were the ones you said you cared for. Scott, Gabrielle, Logan… and even me. Because you had a greater good to follow, but, in truth, it was just an excuse to do whatever you wanted!"
"I didn't have these memories anymore!"
"As I told you, Charles – she says, kneeing at his side, still cold but less cynic – you can't lift yourself by your own bootstraps… it's a question of leverage. It's not only easier for someone else to find the right fulcrum… it's easier for me, because of what I am, for the combination of my powers."
"You do what you came for, woman – he says, clenching his teeth- you proved your point. Now let me go"
"You know, Charles – she says, less and less cold, caressing him – if you were God, all seeing and all knowing, the things you did… you'd be unforgivable. This is the standard you're judging yourself, Charles. And it shows you haven't learned anything."
"I have enough of this now!"
"I came back hare for my memories, Charles – she says, as she touches his forehead with her right index, finding themselves in a place he merely remembers – consciously – and a place she doesn't remember at all, at least, not at the time. – That's what I really came here for, Charles. I came here for my past….Please – she pauses, as they find themselves in a child's room, the room of a baby girl, of a merely 4 years old baby girl, who's trying to hide herself inside her wardrobe, between tears, pushed inside it by her older sister, a teenager, while a monster, a roaring creature she recognizes immediately as Lucien, is trying to force the door – I didn't remember Marion this way… I though this memory was lost to me" although painful, she smiles, seeing her sister, being at her side. – I need to know if she died, I need to know if…"
"No- he states, smiling a little, as he sees it… as they see it. They see Lucien, finally inside the room. They see Marion fighting him with a psy-sword. They see her vanishing like into oblivion, teleported by some unknown force, like a teleporting disk of Illyana, they see him approaching her, scared as never before, as she never will be again, with her parents dead downstairs… - but I'm not sure what happened to her."
"How do you… - she pauses, as she looks at the scene, forming in front of themselves – oh, here it is, the memory we were looking for..- she is scared like that day, as she sees Lucien taking her, ready to eat her, to take her head like he promised to his master… but then… - it was me? I… I stopped him?"
"You froze almost the whole city of London – he pauses, going near her little self, crying while everything around her is motionless – seeing your parents' deaths, awakened your powers… and you lost yourself in the world's thoughts, and, in order to get back home, you froze everything, to not ear it. – He pauses – Lucien… you didn't froze him, but you… somehow you made contact with him. You reversed on him all the people's thoughts, and he couldn't stand it, he had to leave."
"I remember- she says, as, dressed with her normal clothes, looks at Xavier entering in the room and put a hand on her head. – I remember you coming, touching me. And I fall asleep. When I awakened… MARIA, Howard, and Tony were there."
"Apparently, I was there too- he says, as the images changes again, and he was there with the Starks, with Tony, and one moment they see him, and the other one… -I'm sorry"
"Pretty sure it wasn't going to be easy, explaining them that mum was magical and Dracula's most loyal servant killed her and my father- she says, a little cold, but like she was getting it…. And, then, here they are, both the images: Scott asleep, and her, doing the same - Look at them, sleeping that peacefully. You thought the truth was going to broke us? When Scott learned of Gabriel's death, Gabriel was alive again… and when I found out about what happened to my parents, it was because their killers had come back to get me, and just because someone told me, I didn't know any of it. Neither of us deserved to live with that burden – she says caressing herself- not for a single day."
"Christine, I… – he pauses, looking at the soil – I really thought it was right and…"
"You'd deserve to be kicked in the ass repeatedly for what you did to us, Charles – she smiles, a little – but your choices, your consequences. Like everybody, like all of us. -As she says so, they find themselves in her room, her in physical form, almost whispering, and Xavier in his astral form. – make me proud. Listen to the ones who truly love you. Concentrate on what matters, and don't dwell on what can't be changed. We've made mistakes, but I also knew a great joy, so I have no regrets." Moira said while she was dying. I think she was right… it's what we both need to remember right now, don't you think? – She pauses, walking into his direction, right hand on the back of her head – but…. Not ask me to absolve you."
"I.. – he says, crying even in his "ghost-form" – Jean told me more than once that life and death can be the same thing… that death can open new possibilities. And I think – he smirks – that she knew better than anyone. I'm glad I saw you again… that we helped each other… and I know you're in good hands… your own. - As he says so, he offers her hand, and, instinctively, she grabs for it like for dear life, like she could really touch it… and, although she can't, he knows that it's all in the gesture. – good bye" and, as he says so, he vanishes, in purple light, and Chris walks in direction of another wardrobe, and, again, knees in front of it, she fights to put back the tears.
"We all did mistakes, Charles. Your biggest one was to send us to do your dirty work, without asking us – as she says so, she opens a closet and take something from it, a purple piece of fabric with something in it, holding the package in her hands, trembling – we all do mistakes, but if we do them on our own, it's just us the ones who has to live with the consequences. And I fear that soon I'll have to be the one to deal with them… because someone will have to stop Osborn… and I'm not sure I'd be able to allow them to be the ones to be hated for that…" as she whispers that to herself, she puts the gun that formerly belonged to Domino back into its place, almost jumping, scared that she'll not make it in time… but, as soon as Miss Marvel opens the door, the gun is back in the wardrobe, and she is sitting with her back against the bed, crying eyes at the ceiling.
"Chris, there is some news… Natasha contacted us, said she has some information about Tony…" Carol says, kneeling in front of the team-mate on the verge of crying, putting a hand on her right shoulder.
"Osborn has him, I know it. It was everywhere." She wipes her tears away with her sleeve, like she was a child. Remembering the child she once was, and remembering the times she did it as a child, when she lost her parents: Tania and John, the parents that she merely remembers, and Maria and Howard – mum and daddy, her mummy and daddy, hers and Tony's.
"No, he doesn't. She said she wants you and Captain America to join her as soon as possible… you have to go to Oklahoma."
Next: A gathering of heroes has to take a stand; as Tony "Iron Man" lies in his death bed, they have to take a decision... is he worthy saving, or the world is better off without him? be here next month as the greatest heroes of the world come back together in order to see if RIASSEMBLING TONY STARK is possible!