Down Deep in Darkness!

It's rush hour in Times Square, and Spider-Man is attempting to stop a train hijacking. As the train speeds out of control, the wall-crawler forces himself inside and easily trounces the thugs holding the passenger's hostage. Their leader takes control of the train and pushes it to top speed, threatening to kill everyone on board in a collision with an upcoming train. Spider-Man knocks out the thug, but it is too late to stop the train before the collision. Spider-Man then crawls out of the train, leaps to the next and evacuates all the passengers on board so nobody is hurt when the trains collide. Firefighters arrive on the scene show up on the scene and begin evacuating passengers, however they find no trace of Spider-Man and assume he was killed. They are wrong, but the hero was knocked out in the collision. He is picked up by a group of Morlocks who take the wall-crawler down into the sewers with them.

Later in Westchester County, Kitty Pryde is stuck babysitting a pair of boys. As the pair fight over a board game called "Sewers & Serpents", Kitty complains on the phone with her teammate Storm. Kitty is upset with this job, given to her by Professor X so that the youth has a balance of normal teenage activities on top of her training as an X-Man. Overhearing this, the other X-Men have a good laugh, angering Kitty who hates being treated like an ordinary teenager when she is nothing of the sort. She angrily hangs up the phone and orders the boys, Edward and Jeff, to go to bed. When the pair protest, Kitty literally drags them to their bedroom. Left to her own devices, Kitty eventually falls asleep on the couch. Not long after, Edward and Jeff sneak out of the house to play "Sewers & Serpents" for real. To this end, they go to a nearby housing development where they play in a pit. Edward goes down into the pit, but Jeff is too scared to go down. Suddenly, Edward screams for help, prompting Jeff to flee in fear. Five minutes later he returns with Kitty. The teenaged mutant thinks that Edward is playing around, so she takes Jeff down with her to investigate. Suddenly, they are attacked by a group of Morlocks who take Jeff and flee.

Using her phasing powers, Kitty passes through to an underground tunnel where she witnesses the Morlocks taking Jeff away on a mini-train car. She follows after them in another car. Some distance away, Jeff is taken to Strigor, the leader of a rogue sect of Morlocks consisting of human outcasts. He has disobeyed Callisto's orders to get revenge against the people of the surface world. The boy is then tossed into a cell where he is reunited with Edward, as well as a shackled Spider-Man. The energy shackles keep Spider-Man bound and unconscious, and there is nothing Jeff or Edward can do to free him. However, Edward refuses to give up and attempts to free Spider-Man by tossing a bowl of water at the energy beams. This causes them to short circuit, allowing Spider-Man to break free. He thanks the boys for freeing him and asks what is going on. Meanwhile, Kitty has arrived at the end of the line and finds the cell where the boys are being held. While Kitty downs the guards, Spider-Man kicks the door open, freeing himself and the two boys. Kitty fills in the blanks as to why she and the boys are in the tunnels. When they are attacked by the Morlocks, they all fight back. It's during this clash that Kitty has to use her phasing powers, and Spider-Man recognizes her a member of the X-Men.

Working together, the pair knocks out Strigor and his minions, but their battle damages the structural integrity of the tunnel. Spider-Man, Kitty, and the boys manage to flee to the surface as the tunnel caves in. They find themselves in the middle of Manhattan and Spider-Man offers to help them get back to Westchester. Kitty declines his offer, deciding to call the Professor to teach him to assign her to typical teenage activities again.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, X-Men (Ariel, Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus), Illyana Rasputin, Morlocks

Continuity Notes

• This story has multiple mentions to the fact that the Morlocks are forbidden from interfering with the surface world. Storm defeated the Morlock's leader Calisto in Uncanny X-Men #170. Under her command, Storm ordered the Morlocks to leave the surface people alone.