The Comic Book
"Prologue"
Writers Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron
Pencilers Frank Cho
Inkers Frank Cho
Colourists Jason Keith
Letterers Chris Eliopoulos
Editors Tom Brevoort, Nick Lowe, Lauren Sankovitch, John Denning
Who is Hope Summers, you ask? Well, let's start with another comic book history lesson. After Scarlet Witch declared, "No more mutants." Not only did she de-power about 90% of the existing ones, she also caused new mutants to not manifest. There were no new mutants in the world for a few years. The surviving mutants used the remains of Magneto's Asteroid base, Asteroid M, to create an island city off the coast of San Francisco called Utopia. It appeared that the mutant race would live out it's final days there. Then, Hope was born.
From the moment she was born, she was caught in a war between those who wanted to save her, thinking she was a messiah, and those who would kill her. Purifiers, a group of human supremacists, attacked the hospital she was born in, but fortunately Cable was able to save her. The mutant Bishop was also trying to kill Hope, declaring that she was responsible for killing millions in his future. She was then kidnapped from Cable by the Marauders, resulting in a huge battle between the X-Men and Marauders.
Cyclops decided that she would not be safe as long as she was here, so he sent baby Hope with Cable into the future. There, she had several adventures over the years with Cable and others until she decided she was ready to return to her time and join the X-Men. During this time, her powers manifested and she began learning to control them. She has the power to mimic the powers of any mutant near her.
And so, our story begins with Hope strapping on a jetpack and getting ready to sneak off of Utopia to fight crime. You know, like you do. Cyclops, however, is less than pleased when he finds her.
He tries to explain to her that she is too important to mutantkind to risk her life like this. He believes that she will bring the mutant race back from near-extinction. She asks what makes her so special, and Cyclops evades the question. Finally she demands that he tell her what the Phoenix is. She believes it's coming for her. Cyclops won't talk about it, of course, and tries to stop her from leaving. Big mistake, slim.
She blasts Cyclops with his own power (shouldn't he be immune to his own power, or is he just immune to Havok and vice versa?) Hope then flies around San Francisco with an incredibly angsty inner-monologue. She has a radio receiver that picks up the police band, so she's drawn to a bank robbery in progress. No problem, right? Well, it turns out that this robbery is being performed by none other than the Serpent Society!
Puff Adder, Asp, Bushmaster, Anaconda, and Cottonmouth are all on the scene. Hope sneaks through a ventilation shaft and comes face to face with Bushmaster. Asp hears their fight and goes back to check on Bushmaster. A few panels later and she's flying through a wall. She defeats them all, which I have to say is a little surprising. I mean, the Serpent Society aren't the most deadly villains ever, but this is just one teenage mutant.
While Hope is literally pummeling poor Cottonmouth's face into bloody pulp, Cyclops and Emma Frost bust in to save...the Serpent Society, I guess. She tells Cyclops that she knows he's scared because he thinks the Phoenix is going to drive her crazy or kill her, just like it did Jean, but he's wrong. She says she wants the Phoenix to come, she's ready. The issue ends with Hope sitting on the shores of Utopia looking up at the stars. We pan up, and BOOM...The Phoenix is out there.
Winner: The Serpent Society's Health Care Provider
The Battle
For the map, I chose to use The Mall from the Deadpool Fast Forces pack. It's a fairly standard indoor map with a few rooms on either side and some hindering terrain near the center.
For the X-Men side of the fight, I'm going to have to embellish a little bit. For some reason, Heroclix doesn't classify Hope as a 400 point figure. Strange. So I decided to include Cyclops and Emma as well, since they showed up to the fight at the end.
avx009 V Cyclops
Team: X-Men
Range: 8 :bolt:
Points: 150
Keywords: Ruler, X-Men
(Improved) I Can Still See the Dream: Improved Targeting: Ignores Blocking Terrain. When a ranged combat attack resolves, any blocking terrain along its line of fire to the target is destroyed; May make a ranged combat attack when adjacent to an opposing character.
(Speed) Ongoing Optic Blasts: Cyclops can use Force Blast and Running Shot. When he uses Running Shot, after actions resolve, he can use Force Blast as a free action.
(Damage) Let's Put The World Back On Track: Cyclops can use Leadership and Outwit. When he uses Leadership, adjacent characters with a shared keyword are considered to have a lower point value.
avx010 V Emma Frost
Team: X-Men
Range: 0 :bolt:
Points: 125
Keywords: Hellfire Club, Hellions, X-Men
(Special) Scott Can Handle It: Emma Frost's powers can't be countered. When a friendly character with the X-Men keyword is more than four squares away, Emma Frost can use Sidestep.
(Attack) It's Her Decision: Emma Frost can use Outwit and has a range value of 7.
(Defense) Diamond Form: Emma Frost can use Exploit Weakness, Impervious, and Shape Change.
avx016 E Hope Summers
Team: X-Men
Range: 0 :bolt:
Points: 122
Keywords: Avengers, Future, K'un Lun, X-Men
(Special) Power Mimic: Give Hope Summers a free action. Choose a standard power possessed by any character within 4 squares. Hope Summers can use that power until your next turn as if she had a range value of 6.
(Speed) Jet Pack: Hope Summers can use Charge and the Flight ability.
That comes out to a 397-point X-Men Theme Team. Now, for the Serpent Society, I had to get a little creative. We don't have Clix'd versions of any of the SS that were featured in this issue except for Asp and Anaconda. Those were easy enough to choose. As for the others, I replaced them with members of the Society that we DO have.
ff027 V Asp
Team: Serpent Society
Range: 6 :bolt:
Points: 39
Keywords: Femizons, Serpent Society
dp013 E Anaconda
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 3 :bolt:
Points: 90
Keywords: Animal, Femizons, Serpent Society, Six Pack
(Special) Choke the Life Out of Ya: When a character fails to break away from Anaconda, deal them 1 penetrating damage.
(Damage) Constricting Limbs: Anaconda can use Plasticity. Opposing characters within 3 squares and line of fire treat Anaconda as adjacent for movement purposes.
ca038 E Cobra
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0 :bolt:
Points: 69
Keywords: Serpent Society
(Special) Slithery Duo: Cobra can use Plasticity. When a friendly character named Mister Hyde is adjacent to Cobra, they both modify their attack values by +1 if not already modified by this effect.
(Speed) No Essssscape: Characters using Hypersonic Speed or Leap/Climb can't automatically break away from Cobra, but they add 2 to their breakaway rolls.
ca012 V Diamondback
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 5 :bolt:
Points: 74
Keywords: Initiative, Serpent Society
(Speed) Well-Balanced Attack: Diamondback can use Running Shot. If she uses it and hits, after actions resolve she may move up to two squares as a free action.
ca039 E Eel
Team: Masters of Evil
Range: 4 :bolt:
Points: 64
Keywords: Emissaries of Evil, Enforcers, Maggia, Masters of Evil, Serpent Society
(Defense) Electrical Discharge: Eel can use Energy Explosion.
Now, that wasn't nearly enough points to match our X-Team, so I buffed them up a bit. I gave them all the Serpent Society Additional Team Ability, which allows them all to use Phasing/Teleport. I also had to give a few feats out to fill points:
Entangle - Eel & Anaconda
Automatic Regeneration - Anaconda
Lunge - Cobra
That brings us up to a 393-point Serpent Society Theme Team.
Starting Locations:
SS
Cobra – K23
Eel – L23
Asp – J23
Anaconda – I23
Diamondback – H23
X-Men
Hope – H2
Cyclops – J2
Emma – I2
The Serpent Society starts us off, with Cobra succeeding at his Leadership roll, allowing for another action. All the SS will be able to roll out this turn as a result. Anaconda moves to H14, grabbing a heavy object along the way with her Super Strength. Cobra moves into hindering terrain at M15. Eel moves to H16, behind a wall. Asp moves to J17, sitting on some hindering terrain. Diamondback also moves to hindering terrain at J16.
Emma moves to I9, in hindering terrain behind a wall. Cyclops moves to G7, and uses Outwit to remove Anaconda's Super Strength. Hope moves to F12, and mimics Emma's Super Senses using her trait.
The Serpent Society take a turn to clear their action tokens. Cyclops outwits Anaconda's Invulnerability and uses running shot to move next to Emma who Enhances his damage +1. He shoots at Anaconda and hits on a 20, dealing 5 damage to her. Hope mimics Cyclops' Running Shot and moves to I10, also benefiting from Emma's enhancement and shoots at Anaconda, but misses on a 15 thanks to the hindering terrain Anaconda is in due to dropping the heavy object when she lost Super Strength. Hope takes a push damage. Emma clears.
Anaconda uses Automatic Regeneration to heal 3 clix. Cobra succeeds on his Leadership roll again then moves to H8. Diamondback uses Running Shot to move to F12 and shoots Hope, hitting on a 20 for 2 damage. Eel moves to H10, and Asp moves to M10. Anaconda Side Steps to H12, picking up the heavy object as she does since she got Super Strength back. She ranged attacks Hope, hitting on a 17 for 3 damage.
Cyclops fails his leadership roll. Emma tries to Mind Control Eel, but misses on a 16. Hope mimics Super Senses and then Cyclops and Hope clear.
Anaconda sidesteps to I11, then everyone clears. Cyclops fails his leadership roll, again. Hope uses Regeneration to heal 1 click. Cyclops ranged attacks Eel, hitting on a 22 for 4 damage. Emma then outwits Eel's poison, and then clears.
Cobra takes a cue from Cyclops and fails his leadership roll. Anaconda, finally in melee range, hits Hope with that heavy object she's been lugging around, hitting for 5 damage and KOing her. Anaconda then Sidesteps to I10. Diamondback shoots Cyclops, hitting on an 18 for 2 damage. Cobra then punches Cyclops, hitting on a 21 for 1 damage. Eel follows up using his Close Combat Expert on Cyclops to pump his attack and damage up by one. He hits on an 18 and deals 2 damage. Cyclops is hurting pretty bad at this point, but he's not out. He shoots at Anaconda with Ranged Combat Expert pumping his damage up by 2, hitting on a 17 for 4 damage, KOing her. Emma then punches Eel, hitting on a 21 for 3 damage, KOing him as well.
Unfortunately for the X-Men, there are still 3 Society members on the map. Asp moves to J11, and Cobra and Diamondback clear. Cyclops and Emma clear as well.
Cobra then punches Cyclops, hitting on a 17 for 1 damage, KOing him. Diamondback uses Running Shot to get to G9, critting on Emma. Emma fails her Super Senses roll and takes 3 damage, then gets knocked back into a wall for another 1 damage. Asp clears. Emma, despite her newfound Probability Control, cannot hit Cobra. The Serpent Society then surrounds her and ends the fight.
Winner: The Serpent Society
Well, I'm happy for the Serpent Society. It's probably the first time that they've ever won anything. That Serpent Society ATA allowed me to get all of them into just the right position to choke the X-Men in the narrow hallway, and maneuver the serpents into the best possible positions. I think I was trying to be too fancy with Emma by attempting to Mind Control when I should have just punched the bajeezus out of anyone in melee range. Cyclops is a monster, and his Sharpshooter ability allows him to fire when adjacent, which is great. I wasn't too impressed with Hope, but that was kind of expected. She just couldn't make good use of any of the powers around her.
Next time: Avengers Vs. X-Men begins in earnest, with a 1,000 point battle royale!
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