Betsy Braddock made her way down the ski slope with style. She then strolled past the carousel and headed to the warm fire indoors, thinking about how she had briefly taken over her brother's title of Captain Britain. She removed her helmet & goggles to reveal her empty eyes, which had been brutally ripped out while she pretended to be a hero. She had been using her telepathy to read minds and give her a second sight. However, when her telepathy alerted her to a dangerous presence it was too late and she collapsed against the wall. Spiral gloated over her lifeless body as they planned how to change her body & soul. Mojo then gave her the name Psylocke.
At Xavier's School for the Gifted, Cypher was doodling, and scrunched the paper up out of frustration. Mirage walked in and asked him what was wrong. Cypher confessed how confused he felt about being a mutant. That he had saved the world & been to Asgard, but couldn't tell anyone about it including his parents. On top of that, he couldn't associate with other kids his own age. They would gossip about pointless things and he couldn't associate with that, so they would treat him like a snob. Mirage said she understood, since she was a Cheyenne, Valkyrie, mutant, and a regular girl too.
A new cartoon had started on television the previous week. The Wildways featured Spiral, Mojo & Psylocke and it had already enchanted Wolfsbane, the Bratpack, Sunspot and Karma's brother & sister, Leong & Nga. It was also watched by Meggan, and her boyfriend Brian Braddock recognized his twin sister in animated form.
A week later, Captain Britain forcibly broke his way into an abandoned school in Manhattan. He began to tear the place apart looking for Psylocke when two voices speaking in unison began to speak to him. They spoke to him as if he had been their naughty son who needed to be disciplined. Captain Britain began to shrink into the shadows, desperately apologizing as he told his 'mummy' and 'daddy' that he would be a good boy.
Last night, Sunspot snuck down into the kitchen to use the telephone. When someone answered on the other end of the phone, they asked if he wanted to 'walk the Wildways'. Passionately he answered 'Yes', and suddenly Spiral & Mojo appeared in a flash of light. Sunspot ran towards them, and they all disappeared in another flash.
In the present day, Cannonball was practicing maneuvers in the Danger Room. He was unable to turn in time, crashed into the wall, and fell onto a giant air-bag. Mirage observed him from the control room. She reminded him that they were all struggling to gain their former level of control over their mutant powers since they had been killed & resurrected by the Beyonder (in New Mutants #37 & Secret Wars II #9). Meanwhile Magik grumbled as she cleaned away the breakfast dishes. She decided to teleport the whole breakfast table & chairs to Limbo, but when she returned the kitchen furniture it had been decorated with skulls, candles dripping with wax, demonic pentagrams and other macabre items. She disappeared to Limbo to berate her demons. Upstairs, Magma sat on the windowsill as she wrote a letter to her father. She waved to Cypher, Warlock & Sunspot as they strolled across the lawn. They were on their way to clean away dead trees. Warlock transformed into Cypher's power suit o give him added strength. As they started to move the first tree Sunspot began to scream in pain. All the New Mutants came running, but it was too late. Cypher broke down into tears and blamed himself for Sunspot's untimely death.
Late, they discussed whether they should inform Sunspot's father. Cypher still blamed himself, and ran out of he room in tears. Warlock followed him down to the morgue. Cypher opened the drawn and pulled back the sheet to apologize to Sunspot face-to-face. When Warlock appeared he told Cypher that it wasn't Sunspot. Cypher didn't believe him, so they shred a gestalt merge. Cypher was able to see everything as Warlock did, and therefore could detect the minor defects in Sunspot's molecules that proved he was a fake replica. The other New Mutants appeared at the door and were shocked to find the two boys still merged. They explained that the dead Sunspot was a fake, and that whoever had created it was unable to reproduce his mutant genetics.
In another time and place, Mojo played with Psylocke's new eyes. When Spiral spoke sarcastically out of term, he grabbed both girls and made them age until their bodies decayed. Restoring them to normal, he then tuned his attention to a line of happy & attentive children; Wolfsbane, Sunspot, Leong & Nga were connected to the X-Men while Bratpack members Butch, Alfie and Darla had previously aided Longshot during his first trip to Earth. Psylocke's new eyes fired a beam at Leong & Nga. They grew in size, and caused the other kidnapped children to grow in age too. Leong & Nga became Template, who had a link with Psylocke's mind. Through them Mojo planned to steal the children and force them onto a carousel inside Psylocke's mind.
The New Mutants teleported outside the abandoned Manhattan school. There they were greeted by Butch, who had grown into a mutant called Snitch. His power made the New Mutants turn on each other. As they squabbled Sunspot pounded the ground causing a crevice to appear under the New Mutants. They were still effected by Snitch's power when adult Wolfsbane dropped on them. They began to pile on top of her when the were blasted by an intense firework display. Darla had grown into a woman called Jubilee who dazzled the team with her lightshow. The New Mutants continued to fight when Template began to address them as naughty children. Immediately they all stood in silence listening to Template as if they were their real parents. However, Warlock's innate fear of his father caused him to flee in terror, taking Cypher with him. The other New Mutants entered the old school house behind Template. When Magma began to complain, they reduced her in size & age until she was no longer able to use her mutant powers, and led her into the building.
Above the school, Warlock & Cypher spied on the new Bratpack inside. They watched as the captured New Mutants magically grew in age to become additional members of Mojo's new Bratpack. Cypher began to worry how they could fight fully grown mutants who had complete control over their powers. Warlock suddenly detected another life form on the roof. They found a naked young blonde boy hiding in the shadows. He was crying as he desperately held on to Captain Britain's helmet. When Cypher approached him, the boy punched him so hard that Warlock had to catch him. Cypher gave the boy the tunic from his uniform to wear. The boy explained that he was really Brian Braddock who had come in search of his twin sister. Although he had retained his memories, his mind had been altered to that of a young boy. He kept crying and wanted to prove that he was a good boy.
Warlock interrupted the explanation to show the others that Magma was having another tantrum. When she turned herself into living molten magma, Template reduced her in age again. She implored the other New Mutants to snap out of it, and ran away when they refused to listen. Template sent them after Magma. On the roof, Cypher convinced Brain to try and help Magma. She fell when Straight Arrow threw his darts at her. Just as the Bratpack were about to catch Magma, Brian knocked them aside with his strength, and flew away with magma in his arms.
Inside the school, Warlock had wrapped himself around Cypher like a layer of skin and they discovered Psylocke. Her skin was yellow and she was strapped into a chair that resembled Mojo's artificial legs. Psylocke monitored everything that happened through the CCTV screens, but when she looked towards Cypher & Warlock she was unable to detect their presence. Warlock reached into the cybernetic implants behind Psylocke's head, but it created a psychic feedback inside Cypher's head. He was flooded with memories of Psylocke's adventures in Britain, before he was blasted backwards by an explosion. Warlock had been forcible peeled off of Cypher. They observed Psylocke and were determined to save her from Mojo. Cypher convinced Warlock to perform another gestalt meld, even though it might mean he would b e infected with Warlock's transmode virus. Just as Cypher marveled at the beauty of Warlock's vision, the tail from Psylocke's chair grabbed them and dragged them into her mind.
They landed in a muddy puddle. Cypher began to talk like Warlock, while Warlock's speech patterns began to resemble Cypher's. When they picked themselves up they saw Psylocke dancing on top of a carousel embossed with cameos of Mojo. Instead of traditional ponies, the carousel featured the Bratpack members as centaur-like zebra, elephants and horses. Outside the school in Manhattan the Bratpack caught Brian & Magma. As soon as they were pounced upon, their spirits became new animals on the carousel.
Psylocke addressed Cypher & Warlock as Douglock. She offered him a place on the carousel, but when he rejected it she sent down a spell to change him into another carousel centaur. However, Douglock ripped the forced Mojo façade off his face. He then grabbed Psylocke by the wrist with a long techno-organic tendril. She sliced the tendril with her hand, causing Douglock to scream in pain. Psylocke's features then melted away to reveal Spiral on top of the carousel. She began dancing even faster, causing the merry-go-round to spin with such ferocity that it created a tornado and caused the ground to crumble & break.
The disintegrating floor was really Psylocke's fractured psyche, and so Douglock began to act as two entities combined. The Warlock aspect of Douglock spread out as a net to catch every fragment of Psylocke's mind. He spoke with Warlock's voice, but in Cypher's human speech patterns. Cypher spoke completely in the manner that Warlock used to speak in, and he reached out to the spinning carousel. He grabbed a white-gloved hand, and pulled Captain Britain out of the spinning tornado. Captain Britain was fully grown and began to help Cypher pull the others free. Spiral was caught in a dilemma; if she stopped spinning then Psylocke would be able to recover, but if she didn't stop then the Bratpack would escape.
Eventually the New Mutants and their friends were all pulled free. Spiral stopped spinning the carousel, but Warlock had placed all of Psylocke's psyche back together like a jigsaw. When the last piece was plugged into place, Psylocke's astral form appeared. She was gigantic and became the landscape. Spiral threatened her, claiming that the only way Psylocke could be happy was as a slave; without any need to make a decision or to be scared of what might attack her. However, Douglock argued with Spiral that Psylocke shouldn't be enslaved. Spiral gave Psylocke the chance to decide for herself. Psylocke had been touched by Douglock's words and sent a fiery eyebeam to knock Spiral away. Her astral form smiled on the New Mutants and she apologised for hurting them all.
Cypher awoke in a dark shadowy room. He couldn't move because Psylocke's body was lay across his legs. When she woke up she thanked him for all his help. She realized that she still had the cybernetic eyes implanted by Mojo. When forced with the decision to rip-out her own eyes, she began to cry. Cypher wept too and put his hands on her shoulders to comfort her when the light came on.
Mirage walked in and found them both lay on the floor. Cypher turned red and had to look away when he realized that Psylock was completely naked. Just before the others arrived, the floor reached up around Psylocke. Warlock surrounded her to become a high-heeled catsuit, giving her some modesty. Captain Britain rushed in and hugged his sister. He then grabbed Cypher and pulled him of his feet with a giant hug as the other New Mutants rushed into the room/
Later that day when the New Mutants had returned to the school, Psylock bade her brother farewell. She had decided to stay at the school and learn how to use her telepathic powers. As she waved goodbye she could sense Cypher watching her from the window above. She knew how much he cared for her, and acknowledged to herself how much he meant to her. She blew him a kiss from downstairs.
Upstairs, Mirage walked into the room and caught Cypher blushing. Mirage asked him how he felt, referring to their earlier conversation. Cypher recalled their adventure against Legion (see New Mutants #44), and thought about how children were important for the future. He decided to stay with the New Mutants to help protect other kids who couldn't protect themselves. Outside the New Mutants dragged Psylock into a game of baseball, while Mirage & Cypher went to join them.
Note: Although not essential reading, this story is immediately followed up by Giant-Sized Uncanny X-Men Annual #10. It also contained elements of de-aging & re-aging mutants, as well as a fight between the New Mutants & X-Men. Also, it features Spiral & Mojo with a cameo from the original Bratpack.
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