‘A little cage like this won’t hold the New Mutants, Spyder!’ Bobby “Sunspot” DaCosta shouts angrily as tries to break through the web-like bars. Spyder simply replies that they bend, and as they bend, the tension increases - until they snap back - which is indeed what happens as “the great and terrible Sunspot” as Spyder calls him, is propelled back in the cage. Sam “Cannonball” Guthrie pulls Illyana “Magik” Rasputin out of the way, while the alien New Mutant Warlock transforms his hand into a giant glove, and catches his cocky teammate.
Back outside the cage, Spyder, who has Lila Cheney bound in ropes and wearing a power-dampener, and Gosamyr chained on a leash boasts that his cage is impervious to the New Mutants varied powers. Spyder turns to Lila who he exclaims is still struggling for escape, remarking that she is a creature of strong feelings, as well as an unparalleled long-distance teleporter, who will provide a useful decoction when he is through using her in other ways. Spyder pulls Lila, Cannonball’s girlfriend, up closer, exclaiming that she will make such a brew - all melted down to her emotional essence!
The mysterious alien Gosamyr exclaims ‘You wouldn’t she’s too valuable! You’ve spent too much, acquiring her!’ Spyder takes a sniff from a container and remarks that Gosamyr knows he is a collector of bodies and souls, distilling from them feelings and keeping those feelings to decoct when the need for them arises. ‘Feelings? Ha! All your feelings are illusion -artificial flavors stolen from other people!’ Gosamyr exclaims, ‘Your only real feeling is greed!’
Spyder ties Gosamyr to a post and remarks that as she and her family have reason to know, although it is already too late for them. ‘No! You can’t mean that, you don’t know what you’re doing!’ Gosamyr shouts. Spyder boasts that he knows well, all too well, before dragging Lila along the ground behind him telling her to witness their unveiling and know the power of the being who is her master!
Cannonball shouts that he has heard enough of this junk, and begins using his power to blast through the cage, despite his co-leader Danielle “Mirage” Moonstar telling him not to, he simply replies that he is invulnerable as long as he keeps blasting, but he gets tangled in the web-bars. Spyder laughs at this and tells Lila that ‘those children’ will make quite an unusual brew, before adding that this is just the gesture he would expect from the noble Cannonball. Spyder remarks that, fortunately, the bars have been designed to absorb Cannonball’s blasts and turn the energy back upon him!
Indeed, as Sam is forced to the ground, smoke rising from his body. Rahne “Wolfsbane” Sinclair transforms to her lupine form as she rushes over to her friend, while the others gather around him also. Spyder remarks that Wolfsbane is a passionate creature, with little but raw feelings. Wolfsbane shouts at Spyder, telling him to stop it, before she leaps at the bars, but becomes tangled. Spyder remarks that Rahne has far more feeling than brain, pointing out that she is now learning, to her own dismay, that5 the area between the bars is being electrified. Dani calls out to her best friend to come down, then calls to Spyder, asking him to let her go.
Dani goes over to help Rahne, only to also get electrified, and Spyder declares that the bossy Mirage should have used her power to conjure herself some non-conductive gloves. ‘Monster!’ shouts Magik. Spyder addresses her as the Darkchilde and asks what right she has to call him monster, before remarking that she will perhaps be the most useful of all, her unbridled rage being such a commodity. Spyder adds that he can feel the power of it growing, demanding release and suggests that perhaps he can free it.
‘No!’ shouts Sunspot as he goes over to Magik, until Warlock points out that Bobby will be shocked too. However, Warlock can withstand such power, so he increases his mass, then pulls everyone from the electrified bars - although he gets fried in the process. ‘But Self has saved them nonetheless!’ Warlock exclaims. Spyder just laughs, before announcing that he is going to inspect his other merchandise - little Gosamyr’s family!
Gosamyr calls out to Spyder, telling him to stop, that he doesn’t understand the power he will unleash! Mirage tells Gosamyr to quit whining, ‘It’s all your fault anyway!’ Magik is about to say that she wishes she could teleport them out of here, but Mirage tells her to not even think about it. Warlock agrees, pointing out that it would mean travel through Limbo, which has now become the last resort for anything.
Dani remarks that Lila could teleport them home - if they could free her, to which Rahne points out that is why they cam here, so that is what they must do - not only for Lila’s sake, but their own! Gosamyr calls out to the New Mutants, telling them that she wishes she had not led them into this trap, to which Spyder remarks that Gosamyr herself is the trap - ‘The pot of poisoned honey…the ravening carnivore disguised as a flower!’
Spyder exclaims that it is a characteristic of her alien race that those associated with her will tumble to their deaths - ‘As you mutants will soon tumble to yours!’ Spyder finally departs to check on Gosamyr’s family, leaving guards to watch the New Mutants, and a forlorn Gosamyr remarks ‘Spyder is right. I suspect…know in my hearts what Spyder plans. I have to stop him to save their lives - to save this world…if only I could free you!’ Sunspot watches Gosamyr longingly.
Meanwhile, hundreds of light years away…the planet Earth, more specifically, the sprawling Manhattan. The powerful mutant Magneto a.k.a. the Master of Magnetism, who just happens to be the disapproving headmaster of the missing New Mutants flies across the bay at sunset, thinking how beautiful it all looks from up in the sky, and yet, also threatening. He wonders if it is merely his mood, or perhaps something more sinister. Magneto thinks on his reasons for coming into Manhattan - Sebastian Shaw a.k.a. the Black King of the Hellfire Club has called a meeting of the Inner Circle to discuss the strange, seemingly occult, happenings throughout the city.
Magneto thinks on how Shaw is much taken with meetings and his own importance, and decides that, in time, that must be dealt with. Magneto supposes that this does give him an excuse to be here, one less galling than his true purpose. His true purpose of course being the New Mutants, whom he has trained in the use of their powers and now they have disappeared again, on some foolish rescue mission against alien invaders or so he has been told. ‘That they would leave school grounds without permission galls me!’ he shouts as he approaches the prestigious Hellfire Club.
Magneto lands in an alley off to the side of the Club, thinking that as White King of the Hellfire Club he has the same rights to the equipment as other members of the Inner Circle, but to use that equipment to scan fro the New Mutants yet again, and to have the others know what he is doing, is humiliation beyond endurance. Suddenly, Magneto sees the fire escape unravelling, and it begins to attack him!
But Magneto is, of course, the Master of Magnetism, and he easily fends himself against the bizarre assailant. Magneto thinks to himself that no villain would dare to test his humor as the children have, before boasting that, soon, the New Mutants will not be able to disobey! He transforms from his red and purple costume, into a stylish white suit as he enters the prestigious Club, thinking to himself as he enters that, after the strange attack in the alley, he shall need to reassess his attitude towards Shaw’s meeting.
Magneto enters the restricted chambers beneath the mansion and greets Shaw by admitting that he was right, something strange is indeed happening in the city. Magneto reveals that he was attacked, but before he can sat anything else, Shaw interrupts, remarking ‘And survived, I see. Good. I feared you were going soft!’ Magneto asks Shaw what led him to that conclusion, to which Shaw remarks how Magneto used to lead the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants with an iron hand - ‘No pun intended, my friend’ Shaw adds, before exclaiming ‘And now, in your dotage, you cannot control six unruly teenagers!’
‘Or so our White Queen tells me!’ Shaw adds as Emma Frost a.k.a. the glamorous White Queen enters the room, greeting Magneto, and telling Shaw that he misquotes her, and misrepresents her attitude for that matter. Emma declares that Magneto’s students are spirited and adventurous of course, from time to time, they will test the rules. The White Queen assures Magneto that they will find his students, if they are still on Earth, adding that, she suspects, in return, he will enforce discipline more stringently, with the strength of hand she has always so much admired.
The final of the four ruling Hellfire Club members, Selene Gallio a.k.a. the seductive Black Queen stands back from the group, thinking to herself that Frost plays a dangerous game, taking the White King’s side against the Black! Selene thinks that if Frost’s goal is to provoke Shaw, then she has obviously succeeded, ‘And if you seek to split the Hellfire Club, White pieces against the Black…you’d better watch your back!’ are Selene’s silent thoughts.
Back on Spyder’s planet, Gosamyr whispers to the New Mutants that, perhaps there is a way she can save them. She reveals that few of the “shes” of her kind could do this, though some in her line, have used it as an escape from shame. Within seconds, it “removes” from them their ability to influence the world around them. Gosamyr slumps down, revealing that it is called “The Minor Death”, before assuring the New Mutants that she will do it in return for their sacred promise that they will free her family.
Warlock, who knows about Gosamyr’s species, tells his friends that it is not like her kind to express concern about members of their family, or any other beings for that matter - they are more likely to trick them into killing each other! Sunspot tells Warlock to chill out, adding that people change and that people aren’t necessarily always like their parents. Bobby remarks that Warlock’s own father tried to kill them all. Sunspot tells Gosamyr that they will rescue her family if they can. Gosamyr slips from the shackles she was in, thanks Bobby, then, to the surprise of the New Mutants, she vanishes.
Down by the New Mutants’ cage, two guards mutter ‘What’s that?’, ‘You feel it?’ while Gosamyr, unseen, thinks that the floating implement is controlling the cage, so she has to time her leap just perfectly, so that she can knock the guard aside, but she misses, instead knocking the guard into the cage. ‘I missed…I failed!’ she exclaims. But Sunspot exclaims that she didn’t fail, for the guard is a drain on the energy, and Bobby braces himself as he grabs the electric bars and using his incredible strength kicks the second guard, ’like he’s a soccer ball’ into the electric bars also.
That though causes the cage to overload and though the web-like bars disappear, the New Mutants have to dodge clear before the roof of the cage slams down and crushes them. Immediately, Bobby calls out for Gosamyr, asking her where she is. Bobby sees what he thinks are Gosamyr’s wings on the ground, and begins pulling at them. Warlock asks Bobby what he is doing, before deciding that it doesn’t matter what he is doing, as Bobby is his friend. Warlock comes to Bobby’s aid by disposing of a guard that creeps up behind the unaware Bobby.
Sunspot wonders if perhaps Gosamyr wrapped herself up in her wings to make herself disappear like that. Bobby exclaims that he will unwrap Gosamyr, free her, with urgency in his voice, which turns excitable when he finds her. ‘Wake up, please!’ he shouts. Warlock tosses about the opponent, exclaiming that Sunspot must be allowed to continue his efforts no matter how misguided, without interference.
Bobby holds Gosamyr closely as she exclaims that she was lost, but he brought her back! ‘Only you shouldn’t have, this is all my fault - because I am as I am!’ Gosamyr declares that she isn’t important, and asks the New Mutants to save her family before it is too late - for everyone! Mirage points out the obvious, that she doesn’t like or trust Gosamyr, but announces that since Gosamyr was willing to sacrifice herself to save them, the New Mutants will keep their promise.
Dani reminds her friends that Spyder has taken Lila to gloat over Gosamyr’s family, so if they find Lila, they will find Gosamyr’s family also. Sam alerts his friends to incoming guards, but Dani steps to the play this time, reminding everyone that her power allows her to grant them their greatest wish - or fear. This time, Dani decides to opt for wish, as she doesn’t have to worry about what it will be either, because everybody here wants the same thing - ‘Gold!’ shouts one of the guards as a massive pile of gold and a woman sitting on a chest appear before them. ‘But where did it come from?’ another guard asks.
One of the guards exclaims that it must be a trick, but another believes it is real. As the two guards squabble, the New Mutants and Gosamyr make their getaway. ‘But the gold…!’ one of the guards exclaims. Sunspot punches the suspicious guard, asking him what makes him so conscientious, while Sam tells Mirage that the guards are going to be ’mad as hornets’ when she has to conjure something else and the gold disappears. ’Too bad for them’ Dani mutters as she points out that at least it will keep them distracted long enough so they can all get out of sight. Mirage then asks Rahne to switch to her wolf form to see if she can track Lila and Spyder.
Minutes later, Spyder, with Lila still chained to him, stands on a platform in a large, deep chamber, where some strange things are kept, and Spyder boasts that he has forced Gosamyr’s family out of their larval state and onto their next stage of development. ‘This is the result!’ he shouts, ‘Strands…the silken strands…woven into giant cocoons - unspeakably valuable and magical!’ He declares that they are a product of the rarest, most deadly creatures in the universe and boasts that each thread is worth a million times its weight in precious gold, and he has tons of them!
Lila tells Spyder that he is mad, informing him that she has heard of these creatures and that it is rumored they can destroy worlds. She tells him that it is madness to release them here, to which Spyder explains that his guards will kill them during the first few seconds as they emerge, sluggish from their cocoon, adding that there is an 89.7 percent chance of total success. He takes a whiff of another potion, ‘Effluvium of confidence!’ he exclaims as he informs Lila that he has researched it carefully, from the ancient records.
Spyder declares that his escape route is planned, and most of his wealth is stored elsewhere, so it is an acceptable risk. The New Mutants have entered the chamber by now and Sam exclaims ‘What is he saying? That to gain the wealth represented by those cocoons he will willingly threaten a world?’ Rahne asks Gosamyr where Spyder has her family, to which Gosamyr replies that the cocoons, or at least what is inside them, is her family, then faints, falling into something and making a crashing noise as she does.
This alerts Spyder to their presence, and a guard exclaims that the New Mutants have escaped. The guards are about to rush into action, but Spyder tells them to remain at their posts, as monitors are indicating that the creatures are beginning to stir. Spyder continues to hold Lila, and his platform rises, while Cannonball leads the New Mutants, blasting right into the group of guards. ‘Stop them now!’ cries one of the guards. After blasting into the guards, Sam turns his attention to Spyder and calling out to Lila, tells her to hold on, that he will save her, before alerting his teammates to the cocoons below, that they are starting to rip open and slime is running out of them.
Several of the guards are knocked down into the pit where the cocoons are. ‘So much for keeping the guards out of our hair!’ Dani exclaims, before wishing for her spear, which then materializes in her hand. Gosamyr has regained consciousness and tells Illyana to be careful, that she shouldn’t use her sword on the guards as she cannot know what monster it might transform them into. Magik replies that, in her Darkchilde form, she is super strong, so against these losers, strength and skill should be all she needs.
‘Trouble! Trouble!’ shouts Spyder as Wolfsbane also attacks the guards. Spyder exclaims that the New mutants are 63 percent more trouble than he factored into his calculations. Lila announces that the cocoons are cracking and tearing. Cannonball blasts by the platform, reaching for Lila, but Spyder is quicker and pulls her away, telling Cannonball that it was a gam try, but doomed to failure, before informing him that a deflection sphere surrounds and protects him, even here.
Spyder calls out to his remaining guards, ordering them to ignore the New mutants, that they no longer matter. ‘Return to your posts - they begin to emerge!’ Indeed, hideously grotesque creatures emerge from the cocoons, and Spyder orders the guards to slay them now. ‘With what?’ Sam asks. Spyder orders the guards to fire their weapons in concert, while Lila points out that the creatures are getting bigger - and coming right for Spyder!
The platform that the New Mutants and the guards are standing on begins to tip under the weight of the creatures. Bobby calls out to Gosamyr, telling her to hold on, while Gosamyr exclaims that her family is escaping, that it is her fault they are too late. Spyder screams that he has lost millions, billions of dollars. He sniffs something to make him calm, while reminding himself that he is in command of himself and the situation. ‘Logic…logic is what is needed here!’
Spyder decides that this debacle represents the possibility of an acceptable loss, after all, he is sheltered against financial ruin, this is not his home world, so what does he care if this planet is destroyed? Lila calls out to Warlock who is holding on for dear life nearby and asks him if he can hear what Spyder is saying, that these creatures can destroy planets. Lila suggests he transforms into a rocket to save himself and take the others with him - before it is too late!
Suddenly the circular platform holding the New Mutants cracks, and a chunk of it breaks off, falling into the pit below - along with Sunspot! Magik looks up the aliens and exclaims that they are hideous, monstrous, like the worst that her own realm Limbo could produce. Illyana remarks that Gosamyr is beautiful, fragile and delicate - so how can these creatures be her family? Mirage replies that she doesn’t know, but suggests that perhaps Gosamyr is in some kind of larval stage.
Cannonball blasts past the aliens as he tells Dani that it doesn’t matter right now, what matters though is what they are going to do about the creatures before they wreck this planet. Spyder decides that he needs more control, flight control now, and diverts deflection power to flight, so he can Lila can make an escape.
Down below, Sunspot is joined by Dani who drops down while he reminds his friends that, no matter what, these things are Gosamyr’s family, and they promised to save them. Dani reminds Bobby that they tried to save them, but now they aliens are trying to kill them and destroy this world. ‘I doubt we can even save ourselves!’ she adds. Magik exclaims that though her control fades with every passing minute, she might still be able to save them, teleport them from here to Limbo, then to Earth, but asks if they can leave this planet, avaricious and wicked as its denizens are, in the hands of these monsters? Magik adds that she wants to teleport them home, and yet she is afraid that a fate worse than this awaits them!
Cannonball finally succeeds in grabbing hold of Spyder, pulling the foul villain from his platform as he exclaims that additional flight power would have come in handy, if he had the chance to use it. However with the deflector shield down and Cannonball’s surprise attack, the platform begins to topple, and Lila slips, holding on for dear life just above the mouths of Gosamyr’s family. Rahne leaps from the main platform, across the heads of the monsters and onto Spyder’s platform, telling Illyana not to worry, as Lila is a long-distance teleporter who doesn’t have to teleport via anything, like Illyana does.
Rahne grabs Lila, exclaiming that they have saved her, and that it will take no more than a minute to rip off the power-damper that renders her unable to use her teleportation powers. However, before Rahne can leap from the platform with Lila, one of the hideous creatures rises up beside them, its enormous mouth open wide, baring dozens of long, razor-sharp teeth. ‘Rahne! Lila! No!’ shouts Sam, dropping Spyder into the pit as he blasts over to two young women who are very important to him.
Sam is just in time too, as he grabs Lila and Wolfsbane, while the alien chomps down on the platform. Rahne lifts the power-damper from Lila as she exclaims ‘Sam! We’ve done it! We saved her!’ Lila thanks Sam, before telling Rahne that she knows what this cost her. As Sam and the girls drop down to land, Sam wonders where Spyder has gone, as he knows he dropped him. Mirage informs Sam that Spyder escaped, and warns him to get back, as the monsters are breaking through the roof, so once they are out, they will threaten the city!
‘More than the city, Dani! Space legends say they’ve destroyed solar systems!’ Lila exclaims, to which Sam declares that they have got to stop them - but how? Lila suggests that she could teleport the aliens into the sun, but Sam exclaims ‘No! You’d have to go with them! It’s the way your power works! There has to be another way!’
Gosamyr reveals that in their youth form, her people behave as children, proud, greedy and vain, but that it is necessary for as they age in body, so do they also age in spirit. She explains that millennia pass, and when the change occurs naturally, they emerge from their cocoons, gentle, contemplative and solitary. She tells the New Mutants that her family should have had thousands more years to mature, thousands more to rest in their cocoons, except Spyder forced them!
Magik tells Lila that it is not their fault that they are monsters, and exclaims ‘I’m a monster too, don’t you see? Does that mean I should die?’ Lila tells Magik that if she has to ask herself that then she is as crazy as they are, before declaring that no matter whose fault it is, they do exist as they are, but they cannot be allowed to live. One of the creatures bares down on the New Mutants and Lila exclaims that they are mad and dangerous, able to bore into the core of this world!
Lila adds that the aliens will split this planet apart, while Sunspot alerts them to the creature that looms above them. The New Mutants fall to the ground as the massive mouth goes to swallow them - until, suddenly, - ‘No! Goodbye, my sweet, gentle Sam!’ Lila whispers, before asking Rahne to take care of him - then Lila Cheney, intergalactic rock star, vanishes, along with the hideous aliens. ‘They’re gone! They’re all gone!’ Mirage exclaims. ‘Lila, what did you…’ Sam’s voice trails off as Magik motions to the sun in the sky above them, where there is suddenly a pink flash of light, then a massive cracking noise.
‘Lila!?’ Sam shouts. ‘LILA!!!!’ he screams as he bursts into tears. Rahne grabs him as he falls to his knees, asking what Lila did, what happened to her. ‘You saw! All of you saw!’ Sam exclaims, ‘She took them…she must have…teleported with them into the sun! Sacrificed herself to save this world…to save all of us!’ ‘The grand, generous, gesture! The final bravado…it was so like her!’ Bobby exclaims, before turning to Gosamyr and telling her that he is sorry, but they did try.
Gosamyr replies that not even her family could survive that conflagration, before telling Bobby that it is she who apologizes for his pain and loss. Gosamyr claims that when she asked for the New Mutants’ help, she didn’t know that Spyder had gone so far, that she hoped they could arrive in time. Gosamyr declares that Lila did what was right, before revealing that her race, left to themselves, wake to their penultimate form slowly in privacy and peace. She remarks that no one ever hears of those awakenings, since peace is never news - but if a transformation is forced, then they become the creatures that everyone saw today. ‘Even the Brood fear us then!’ Gosamyr boasts, before remarking that at least her family can now rest in peace, while she is all alone.
Bobby tells Gosamyr that she is not alone, that she has the New Mutants, ‘You have me!’, when, suddenly, Spyder re-appears, and his troops surround the New Mutants. ‘They destroyed my palace! They threatened your world!’ he shouts, ordering his soldiers to capture the New Mutants. A furious Sam sees Spyder, and shouts ‘You did this! You stole Gosamyr’s family! You kidnapped Lila! It’s your fault Lila’s gone! Nothing will save you, monster! Nothing!’ Sam then blasts his way through Spyder’s troops.
Magik tells Sam to wait, reminding him that with Lila gone, she is their only way home, and informs everyone that her power to call her teleportation discs and direct them fades with every second they remain here. In fact, she fears that it is already too late. Warlock extends and arm to grab Cannonball, telling him that they must leave, adding that if they are stuck in Limbo, how much worse can Limbo be than this?
In an instant, Magik teleports herself, Cannonball, Mirage, Sunspot, Wolfsbane, Warlock and Gosamyr away from the dreadful planet - to the dreadful dimension known as Limbo! There, waiting for Illyana, is S’ym, who shouts ‘Welcome, Darkchilde, to my infernal realm!’ Magik sees S’ym, who tells her to address him as “Lord S’ym”. ‘Destiny is everything…and S’ym will rule all Limbo…and beyond!’ he boasts, before ordering his demons to get the New Mutants!
