Appearing in "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night...!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Aelfyre Whitemane (Referenced)
- Mr. Ortiz, the Powers' landlord
- NYPD
- Unnamed NY policemen
- Tooth fairy (Mentioned)
- Roy Craig (Mentioned)
- Spider-Man (Peter Parker) (Mentioned)
- Cloak (Tyrone Johnson) (Mentioned)
- Dagger (Tandy Bowen) (Mentioned)
- Unnamed Bellevue doctors
- Fantastic Four (Mentioned)
- Reed Richards (Mentioned)
- Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner) (Mentioned)
- Professor X (Charles Xavier) (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
- Kymellians (Referenced)
- Humans
- Mutants
- Apes (Invoked)
- Rats (Mentioned)
- Alligators (Mentioned)
- Bugs (Mentioned)
Locations:
- Sol
- Earth
- North America
- United States of America
- New York State
- Disney World (Referenced)
- United States of America
- North America
- Earth
Items:
Vehicles:
- Smartship Friday (Mentioned)
Synopsis for "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night...!"
It is a dark and stormy night and the Power children are spending the evening sharing their parents bed. The children are suddenly awoken by a sudden crash of thunder, frightening the young Power children. To the children's shock and dismay, their parents do not remember who they are. When the children realize their parents are serious, they try to convince them that they are their children by taking their parents to their bedrooms. However, they find that all traces of their childhood presence in the Power home -- even down to their favorite dishes have been removed from the house.
Realizing something is amiss, the Power Pack makes a quick exit, which worries their father even though he can't remember who they are. Going down to the basement they attempt to see if their landlord Mr. Ortiz remembers them, to their dismay he does not. When he suggests they go inside while he calls the police the four children flee the scene. Running into the rain and ducking into an alley to avoid being taken in by the police, the Power children switch to their Power Pack costumes and decide to investigate things further.
When inspecting their uniforms, Julie realizes that their internal radios must have shorted out after she washed their costume during their last encounter with the Morlocks[1][2]. This makes Alex realize that since the Morlock named Beautiful Dreamer has the power to alter peoples minds that the Morlocks might be responsible for their current predicament. Going into the sewers, the Power Pack are overwhelmed by the Morlock who attempt to subdue them. Katherine manages to break free and escape, but not before Masque manages to alter her face. Running through a subway tunnel, she runs into a security guard who attempts to help her but she blasts him away. However, she does manage to be captured.
Eventually when the story hits the television news, Kitty Pryde picks up the story on her television and recognizes Energizer as a member of the Power Pack even though her facial features have been altered. Kitty gathers Wolverine, Rachel and Rogue to go to Bellevue Hospital where Shadowcat smuggles Katie out of her room and has her explain to the X-Men what happened. When Katie is scared of Wolverine, Rachel manages to cheer her up and convince her to probe her mind telepathically and they learn their answer. The X-Men agree to help Katie try and save her siblings and restore her parents back to normal.
Searching the Morlock tunnels, Katie is shocked to find that all their furniture and toys have been moved into the Morlock's quarters. They are spotted by Annalee who has brainwashed the other Power children to act like her loyal children. When she demands that Katie join her, she refuses prompting the Morlocks to attack. Even the enthralled Power children enter the fight. As the battle progresses, Leech attempts to nullify Rogue's powers and both cancel each other out, knocking out Leech and leaving Rogue powerless against an army of Morlocks. However, despite this, Rogue is able to beat them with her superior fighting skill.
In the course of the fight, Katie is dragged away from the X-Men and Wolverine and Shadowcat follow after her. Coming across an army of Morlocks, Wolverine sends Shadowcat ahead to find the children while he deals with them. Shadowcat finds Katie and the other power children just as Katie is once more refusing Annalee's attempt to be their surrogate mother. Over hearing this, Kitty asks Annalee if this is how she wishes to honor the memory of her murdered children. When Masque attempts to make things worse, Callisto enters the room and puts a stop to it.
Once everything is sorted out and the Power children are returned to normal, Annalee attempts to challenge Callisto to a rite of combat, because death would be better than living without her children. However, Katie manages to convince Annalee that there is plenty to live for and promises that she and her siblings will come back and visit her regularly.
With everything sorted out, Rachel tells Kitty that they are being summoned back to the X-Mansion: By Magneto.
This story is continued in Secret Wars II #1...
Notes
- This story leads directly into the Secret Wars event.
Trivia
- There are some continuity errors with Power Pack. Their landlord is Mr. Garcia not Mr. Ortiz. Jack could easily escape from Tar Baby and Alex could probably escape from Ape. Piper was one of the kidnappers in the previous Power Pack issues but didn't show up at all in this issue.
See Also
Links and References
- Official Marvel Index to the X-Men (Vol. 2) #4 - See for further referencing