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Generation Next #4
Synopsis by Jeff Harris:Illyana awakens INSIDE Mondo, but alarmed by the sudden sound of the hydraulic hammers she's used to hearing in the Core, she accidentally sticks her hand out of Mondo's body, attracting the attention of two nearby guards who confront him. Several levels above, Skin and "Quietus" are left standing before Sugar Man, trying to make him believe that they've already shot their suspect. Unfortunately, Sugar Man doesn't buy it, and jams his razor-sharp tongue through "Quietus", causing "him" to begin leaking gas. Vincente materializes, somehow wounded even in his gas form, but Husk is relatively fine after tearing off her disguise. Just as the army is ready to kill the remaining students, Colossus and Shadowcat drop through the ceiling and hit the ground like an explosion. Chamber, who proves to have faked his own death with his powers, shoots one of the guards, and Skin takes out another, and then Jono uses his energy blasts to blow Sugar Man to shreds. Colossus orders the group to find both Mondo and Illyana, but Sugar Man, who appears to also have the ability to hide a smaller regenerating body beneath the orinigal, listens in and goes to find the girl himself. Mondo takes care of the guards without much of a problem, and is getting ready to try to put Ace inside himself as well, when Sugar Man rips him asunder with his tongue, pulling out Illyana. Luckily, Colossus comes in just in the nick of time, and he, Chamber, Skin, Shadowcat, Husk, Vincente, Illyana, and Ace work together to get out of the Core alive. But everything is chaos now that Sugar Man has disappeared, and Chamber, with Ace in tow, is pulled into the mob, with Skin close behind. Katya volunteers to go after them, but Piotr selfishly refuses, claiming Illyana is the only person important to the mission. He gets her to phase the three of them out of the Core, leaving Husk and Vincente, who has stopped breathing, to fend for themselves. Shadowcat again wants to go after the others, but Colossus goes instead, telling his wife and sister to escape first and that he'll catch up with them later. But when he arrives back at the entrance, it's already starting to close, and when he sees Husk alone battling them all on her own, he gives up hope. Leaving her to die, he proves himself a true coward. Late that evening, he returns to the small campsite Katya has erected, and she is numbed by the news that the students are gone. Illyana ends her narrative with these lines: "Suddenly the fire isn't hot anymore. Like whatever happened in the Core... didn't stay down there. Something came up. And things'll be different. Always." This proves to be true, as Sugar Man sneaks undetected into Colossus' boot...
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