Kitty Pryde is on a slab in the morgue.
Reconciling these two observations is easier than it might otherwise be, given the spelling "Masque" on page 3 of Uncanny X-Men #178 (another dead Kitty mystery set up immediately but deflated soon afterwards...) That's quite unscrupulous of them, taking a dead body and reshaping its features. Who even was that? No such answers here, although Storm will express her disgust at Callisto.
Masque can't reshape smells, and Wolverine notices the problem. Storm knows exactly what's happened, and their arrival in the underground tunnels of New York is delayed only by some faffing around involving Xavier. During this time, Kitty runs away from the Morlocks, starts to feel guilty about having left Caliban in the first place, and then returns back voluntarily, deciding to keep her promise.
Masque offers to reshape her face into a variety of exciting patterns. He declares, in broken yet strangely intellectual-sounding English: "We outcasts - outlaws! This symbolizes rejection by you of life you led, world you knew... people you loved".
Just as the wedding is about to begin, Storm turns up, with Wolverine and Rogue (Nightcrawler having been left behind to try to deal with Colossus, who has yet to recover from his solidification). Can you believe that they and Callisto get in a fight?
Leech, who suppresses the powers of nearby mutants, evens the score a bit. He knocks out Storm's weather powers, but she's got a bit of attitude since Callisto last met her, and Callisto is in for a surprise. Wolverine, of course, still has his claws, because "these claws are mechanical - they've got nothin' to do with [his] powers".
Kitty saves the day by protesting: she's there voluntarily. For the second issue in a row, a truce is proposed. The Morlocks' healer is able to help Colossus, and Kitty agrees to live underground. It's odd that they're willing to sell her into slavery like that, but the matter is soon rendered moot by Caliban releasing Kitty from her obligation.
And so we have the moral lesson: stealing people is bad, and don't trust people who live in sewers and are disfigured. I feel enlightened already.
I always thought there was an interesting legal question raised here, or at least there is if you pretend accepting a marriage proposal is legally binding (I wonder if there was a point where it was). If you enter into a contract with someone so they'll stop a murder, can you then tear that contract up?
ReplyDeleteI put some effort into working this out today (by which I mean, I phoned my lawyer AKA Dad), and turns out; maybe not entirely. In short, the courts might not force Kitty to marry Caliban, but they could insist they go on at least a few dates, and maybe that she meets his parents.
Sounds like one for the Law and the Multiverse blog.
DeleteI did think that, actually, but why should they have all the fun?
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