Group X/X-Men “Relations”

(Page 1, panel 1. Sinister and the Army teleport out.)

Cap (N1):We pick things up in the middle of things.
Cap (N2): Mr. Sinister hired the Army to steal some needed chemicals with him.
Cap (N3): But when the X-Men and Group X came,
Cap (N4): They left.
Cap (L): Oh great. Not again.
Spyre: YOU!!

(Panel 2. Spyre strikes Gambit, sending him out of panel.)

SFX: POW!!!!!!

(Panel 3. Spyre rushes over to the fallen Gambit.)

Spyre: You ought to be dead fer what you did to me!!
Cap (N1): It was a long time ago.
Cap (N2): And Gambit was a very different man.

(Panel 4. Rogue manages to restrain Spyre, by getting her into a full nelson.)

Rogue: Calm down! Ah don’t know what he did to you, but -
Spyre (interrupts): Let me go!!!
Rogue’s thoughts: (It’s like tryin’ to restrain a bucking bronco.)

(Panel 5. Spyre throws Rogue into Gambit as some of the others try to stop her.)

SFX: WHAM!!
Lotus: Vicki, stop this! He’s our friend!
(Panel 6. Spyre faces Lotus.)

Spyre: He may be your frand, but he ain't mine!

(Page 2, panel 1. Lotus stands between Spyre and Gambit. Some of the other X-Men check on Gambit and Rogue.)

Lotus: Vicki, when we agreed to be a team, we agreed to work for the common good. I know there are things in your past that you are not proud of.
Spyre: Lecita, git out of mah way. That man put me in the hospital fer two weeks. Ah nearly lost mah sight because of him.

(Panel 2. Spyre knocks Lotus down.)

SFX: WHACK!
Lotus: UHN!
Cap (L1): Dumb!
Cap (L2): I should have expected that.
Cap (L3): Why didn’t I?

(Panel 3. Rogue, now better, and Diving Owlrestrain Spyre.)

Walking Eagle: Vicki, you must let go of the pain. The past cannot be altered.
Spyre: Let go of me!!

(Panel 4. Lotus stands.)

Lotus: Don’t make me have to do this, Vicki.

(Panel 5. Lotus discharges a white light from her forehead onto Spyre, hitting her.)

Spyre: UHN!!

(Panel 6. Spyre slumps over, still being held by Rogue and Walking Eagle.)

Lotus: Anger does not help the situation, Vicki. If you’ve got a problem with him, you have to talk it out in a calm, rational manner.
Spyre: Damn you, Lecita. Ah’ve waited years fer this and you had to ruin mah revenge.

(Page 3, panel 1. We see Dormira stunned, with a blank expression on her face. Colossus stands next to her.)

Colossus: Tanya? Is that really you?

(Panel 2. Dormira does not move, or react. Colossus gets worried.)

Colossus: Tanya? Are you alright?
Mindpath: You know her real name?

(Panel 3. Colossus turns to Mindpath.)

Colossus: Da. We grew up together at the Ust-Ordynski Collective. Her name is Tanya Radinova. We were classmates from the 6th grade until I left.

(Panel 4. Dormira suddenly bolts, running as fast as she can, and knocking down Colossus in the process.)

SFX: WHACK!
Cap (N1): She didn’t know what to do.
Cap (N2): All those years of being trained, whatever she did in secret, and her time with Group X couldn’t prepare her for this.
Cap (N3): She was suddenly a little girl again to someone.
Cap (N4): So to avoid having to decide what to do,
Cap (N5): She ran away.

(Panel 5. Colossus stands.)

Mindpath: Dormira! Wait!
Colossus: What got into her?

(Panel 6. Mindpath runs after Dormira.)

Mindpath: Tanya, stop!

(Page 4, panel 1. He finds Dormira in an alcove, crying.)

Cap (N1): It’s the first time she’s shown emotion in years.
Cap (N2): And all the pain comes rushing forward.
Cap (N3): Years of holding back suddenly rush forth.
Mindpath: Dormira, why?

(Panel 2. In a rage of emotion, Dormira strikes Mindpath, sending him spilling out of panel.)

SFX: POW!!
Mindpath: UHN!
Cap (N1): She is lost.
Cap (N2): Alone.
Cap (N3): No way to tell anyone anything.
Cap (N4): It hurts to keep it all inside.
Cap (N5): And it hurts to let it out.

(Panel 3. Colossus, now powered down, enters, and sees Mindpath on the ground, hurting.)

Mindpath: Uhn...
Colossus: Tovarisch, are you alright?

(Panel 4. Mindpath holds his head in pain.)

Mindpath: I knew she was strong... but I never thought she was that strong.
Colossus: Let me talk to her.

(Panel 5. Colossus approaches Dormira.)

Colossus: Tanya... what is going on? I am still your friend, nyet?

(Panel 6. Dormira cowers in the corner, still crying.)

Colossus: What happened to you?
(Page 5, panel 1. Colossus tries to touch Dormira.)

Colossus: It’s alright, Tanya... you are amongst friends now.
(Panel 2. Dormira lashes out, trying to strike Colossus. Colossus narrowly avoids getting hit.)

Colossus: Boszche Moi!
Dormira: NYET!!!

(Panel 3. Dormira bolts again, running away.)

Mindpath: We’ve got t’get Lecita on this.
Colossus: The Professor should see this too.

(Panel 4. Mindpath goes back over to find Lotus standing next to Spyre.)

Spyre: Damn you, Lecita. You ruined everything fer me.
Lotus: Or just saved you from making the biggest mistake of your life.
Mindpath: Lecita, we’ve got another problem here.

(Panel 5. Lotus turns.)

Lotus: What is it now?
Mindpath: It’s Dormira. She suddenly snapped. Nobody can get near her. She’s acting like a frightened little child.

(Page 6, panel 1. Lotus thinks.)

Lotus: I’m going to need your help on this one, Professor.
(Panel 2. Go back to see Dormira cowering in a corner, crying. Colossus stands next to her.)

Cap (N1): The reasons why she acts this way are long, complex.
Cap (N2): A scared little girl torn from her home.
Cap (N3): Something very top secret.
Cap (N4): Living with the guilt of leaving.
Cap (N5): Her heart was hard as a rock.
Cap (N6): But Colossus didn’t see it that way.
Cap (N7): And maybe... she loved him somewhat.

(Panel 3. Colossus sits next to Dormira.)

Colossus: We will wait for the Professor, Da? He will know what to do.

(Panel 4. Pause.)

Cap (N1): He worries for her.
Cap (N2): She wasn’t like this when he first met her.
Cap (N3): He wonders what life did to her to make her this way.

(Panel 5. Enter Lotus and Professor X.)

Lotus: Dormira? What’s going on?

(Panel 6. Xavier concentrates as Lotus continues to talk to her.)

Lotus: We’re your friends, and we’re here for you now that you need us. You’ve pent up some very heavy emotions for a long time... tell us about them.

(Page 7, panel 1. Xavier turns to Lotus.)

Xavier: I’m getting a mass of jumbled, confused images... some of them very disturbing.

(Panel 2. We see Dormira in a flashback, several years ago. She wears a red uniform, and is seen breaking the neck of a man in a coat and ushanka.)

Man: [Please, for my children, do not -!*]
SFX: SNAP!!
Cap (N): *Translated from the original Estonian.

(Panel 3. Go back to the present.)

Xavier: She’s emotionally collapsed, I can’t find her in her own mind.
Lotus: Having held it in for so long, she was bound to snap like this... but I never figured it would be this bad.

(Panel 4. Dormira activates her teleporter, and teleports out.)

Lotus: Let her go.
Colossus: I do not understand, professor. She was a very happy child in Russia. She was always the one who made us smile when things were down.

(Panel 5. Lotus is solemn.)

Lotus: Something major happened to her - something the Russian government is keeping very secret. Something that turned her from being a smiling little girl into a heartless woman.

(Panel 6. They continue to talk.)

Lotus: We tried to get some information about her from the Russian government. All the files about her after she turned 13 are sealed and marked “top secret.”

(Page 8, panel 1. Go back to Spyre, Gambit, Rogue, et al.)

Spyre: The worst part is... you don’t feel guilty about it, do you?
Gambit: I feel tres guilty, Vicki... but I know there’s no way to make it up to you.

(Panel 2. Spyre touches her badge.)

Spyre (1): Computer, git me out of here.
Spyre (2): When we meet again, Remy... pray your frands are with you... because Ah’m gonna do what yer mama should have done long ago.

(Panel 3. Spyre disappears in a flash of light.)

Cap (N1): He wishes he could say he was sorry.
Cap (N2): But how do you talk to an enraged woman like that?
Cap (N3): He tried, quite a bit.
Cap (N4): But Spyre was not in a mood to accept things.

(Panel 4. Flashback to several years ago, in New Orleans. We see Spyre walking down the street with a man. They have an arm around each other. They are walking down St. Charles St., where the ante bellum mansions are.)

Cap (N1): New Orleans, circa 1985.
Cap (N2): Right now, Vicki Loxberg and her boyfriend are enjoying a quiet walk down St. Charles St.
Cap (N3): But things will go wrong for them...

(Page 9, panel 1. Suddenly several small explosions go off in front of both Spyre and her lover.)

SFX:Boom! Boom!
Spyre: UHN!

(Panel 2. Enter Gambit.)

Gambit: I be taking your purse, chere.
Spyre: Git away from me!

(Panel 3. Gambit and Spyre struggle over her purse.)

Spyre: Ah’m warnin’ you, don’t make me have to hurt you.

(Panel 4. Spyre swings at Gambit, missing.)

SFX: SWISH!!

(Panel 5. Gambit throws an explosive ball at Spyre, which explodes in her face.)

SFX:Boom!
SpyreUHN!!

(Page 10, panel 1. Spyre clutches her eyes as Gambit gets her purse, and runs.)

Gambit: Some other time, mon ami.
Spyre: Git back here you low-down polecat!!

(Panel 2. Hospital in longshot.)

Cap (N1): Tulane hospital.
Cap (N2): Right now, Spyre and her love are being treated for injuries.

(Panel 3. Go inside to see Spyre facing a doctor. Spyre has bandages on her eyes.)

Doctor: You were very lucky, Ms. Loxberg. Your mutant nature affords you a modicum of resistance to this. If you were a normal person, you would be blinded for life. However, you should have your sight return in a few weeks.
Spyre: That’s good to hear. How’s Bobby doin’?

(Panel 4. The Doctor turns.)

Doctor: Your companion wasn’t so lucky. We had to amputate his leg from the knee down to save his life.
Spyre: Ah want to meet him.

(Page 11, panel 1. Spyre is lead by the doctor to a bed. She now has a white cane.)

Cap (N): Later...
Doctor: Here we are, your friend is here.
(Panel 2. The Doctor leaves as Spyre feels for a chair.)

Bobby: (worried) Vicki... what happened to you?

(Panel 3. Spyre finds the chair, and sits.)

Spyre: Bobby, Ah’ve been blinded temporarily. Ah got me a few cuts and bruises too. The doctor says Ah should see again in a few weeks.
Bobby:Well, the police have taken a statement from me. I saw his face, but I really didn’t concentrate too much on him after my leg was hurt.

(Panel 4. Spyre takes Bobby’s hand.)

Spyre: Ah still love you, Bobby. Ah jest wish Ah could catch the polecat that did this to us.

(Panel 5. Spyre gets close to Bobby. Bobby sits up)

Spyre: Ah’d show him a thang or two.
Bobby: You’ll always be forever beautiful to me, Vicki.

(Page 12, panel 1. Go back to the present. We see Lotus and Professor X outside Dormira’s room.)

Cap (N): Meanwhile...
Lotus: We’re going to have to try something drastic, Professor.
Professor: What exactly do we know about her past?

(Panel 2. Lotus is solemn.)

Lotus: Very little. According to the Soviet records, she was born in Riga, Latvian S.S.R. She was about 10 when the government suddenly, and without explanation, relocated her and her mother to an unnamed collective. After that, everything was classified top secret.
Professor:And only she has the answers...

(Panel 3. They open the door to see Dormira sitting on a chair, with a blank expression on her face.)

Lotus: Dormira?

(Panel 4. Dormira turns to Lotus.)

Dormira: What do you want?
Lotus: What happened back there?

(Panel 5. Dormira responds.)

Dorrmira: That is classified, comrade.
Lotus>: Well, someone wants to speak to you.

(Panel 6. Enter Colossus.)

Colossus: Tanya, are you alright?
Dormira: I am not this Tanya you speak of.

(Page 13, panel 1. Dormira is stalwart.)

Cap (N1): How could she be?
Cap (N2): Tanya Radinova was a girl who could smile.
Cap (N3): A girl who loved life.
Cap (N4): A girl who could love things.
Cap (N5): Dormira is none of that.
Cap (N6): But could they be the same person?
Cap (N7): One thing is for sure.
Cap (N8): We’re not going to find out for awhile.

(Panel 2. Colossus turns away from Dormira.)

Colossus: I am sorry, I was mistaken.

(Panel 3. Exeunt all but Dormira.)

Cap (N1): And her scare is over...
Dormira: Piotr...
Cap (N2): Or is it?

(Page 14, panel 1. Flashback. We see a young Tanya Radinova and Colossus playing at a school in the Ust-Ordynski collective, on the shores of Lake Bikal. The two of them are throwing a ball back and forth.)

Cap (N1): Several years ago, at the Ust-Ordynski collective.
Cap (N2): A young Tanya Radinova and Piotr Rasputin play.
Cap (N3): They have hard lives.
Cap (N4): But they are happy.

(Panel 2. We see about 3 armed soldiers enter.)

Soldier: [Tanya Radinova, you will come with us.*]
Cap (N): *Translated from the original Russian.

(Panel 3. Tanya gives the ball to Colossus.)

Tanya: [I will be right back.]

Cap (N1): It would be the last time either one of them saw each other.
Cap (N2): Maybe.

(Page 15, panel 1. . Later. We see the members of Group X sitting in the lounge of their plane. Spyre is sitting with her arms folded across her chest, and has a general air of “leave me alone.” Dormira is missing.)

Cap (N1): And after all good-byes have been said,
Cap (N2): The teams head for home.

(Panel 2. Lotus looks outside at the sky.)

Cap (L1): Not bad, considering.
Cap (L2): Vicki should come out of her rage soon.
Cap (L3): As for Dormira... well, who knows.
Cap (L4): We don’t even know if her real name is Tanya Radinova.

(Panel 3. The Group X plane jets away.)

--End--