12/15

12/15 The Hand finds her after the Siege Perilous, vulnerable and without a clear hold on her memories. Matsu'o and the Mandarin see what they could do with a telepath under their control. The transformation story goes through her memories, her family, her fears, and the people she's known. They work on breaking her connections to that life and turning her into Lady Mandarin. The imagery pulls in Mojo and Spiral too, bringing back that earlier history of other people changing her. By the end, she has the altered Asian appearance and the close-combat identity that makes this such a dividing point for me. Her powers are being used alongside that new fighting style, including the psychic knife. I'm stopping with how the story stands where I've read it. I don't want explanations from later stories dragged backward into this one. At this point, I'm watching what the Hand has done to Betsy and how she gets herself back out of it. (Uncanny X-Men #255–257.)