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All Fall Down
Dublin, Ireland, Breda and Conor MacAleer are inside the back of a taxi, as the driver honks his horn and waves his fist about ‘Tourists, the lot of ye! Could ye be moving any slower now?’ he shouts. Conor holds onto his wife, ‘Breda Virginia MacAleer, this is crazy, it is - sheer lunacy, wife - ye were wounded in a crossfire, less than an hour ago…’ he reminds her. Breda tells Conor that she was grazed by shrapnel, and patched up in the hospital before she could bleed more than a drop, thanks to the magical teleporting of herself. Glancing out the taxi window, Breda sees Liam and the Harrigans, their boarders, and is relieved that they are safe at least, before remarking that iti s the boarding house that concerns her now. ‘Aren’t I worried sick about what condition we’ll be finding our family home - our livelihood - not to mention that poor boy, Nate…?’ she asks herself, sticking her head out the taxi window.
However the driver comes to a screeching halt as police officers wave him down. ‘Far enough there’ one officer tells him, ordering everyone to leave the vehicle immediately and evacuate the area on foot. ‘We’ve got a situation here’ the officer points out, as up above, armored soldiers known as Strikesquad: Gauntlet hover in the air, firing their weapons down below. The MacAleers leave the cab and rush towards the ruins of the boarding house, ‘More of ‘em - even more of that Gauntlet gang now?!’ Breda exclaims. Conor runs after her, telling her to wait. ‘What in Heaven’s name are they doing to our house…?’ Breda gasps as she sees the ruins of the boarding house on fire, Scanlon and his Strikesquad troops surrounding their quarry - Nate Grey a.k.a. X-Man, Madelyne Pryor and Ness.
One of the Strikesquad members shouts ‘New orders Grey, straight from the top now. No surrender. No prisoners…’ ‘No problem!’ Nate declares, while one of the other operatives asks ‘Whose orders, Commander Scanlon… what’s Vise talking about? Who are all these other psi-ops?’ she asks. Scanlon tells Fontaine to just do her job, and he will do his. ‘After the way you and your freak-friends took down Barone, mutant, this is gonna be a real - blast?’ one of the operatives boasts, only to find two cars hurled telekinetically towards her. ‘You got her Nate - caught Vise totally off-guard’ Madelyne calls out, as she casts her own energies around the cars and Vise, trapping her as she manipulates the cars into a ball around Vise, and hurling it into the group of other operatives. ‘And I made sure she stayed got. Slam. Dunk’ Madelyne jokes.
Ness hove leaps away from an explosion and tells Madelyne that he doesn’t understand, as mere moments ago, the boy’s telekinesis seemed taxed to its very limit, and just to defeat one of these psi-shielded soldiers took everything he had. ‘And then some. Doesn’t always stop him though’ Madelyne replies, before Nate collapses in her arms, and Madelyne tells Ness that he doesn’t know Nate as well as he thinks. Madelyne then reminds Ness that they are outnumbered two hundred-to-one and counting, before deciding that she is getting Nate out of here, now. ‘To where? Until when?’ Ness replies, leaping onto another of the operatives, pointing out that they will find Nate again and hurt more innocents to do it, as he has seen them do before. ‘The Gauntlet’s mad vendetta to protect the world from the supposed danger of young Grey… has threatened too many people for too long’ he adds, announcing that tomorrow cannot be depended upon, that today is the best chance they have - always.
Ness forces the Gauntlet operative into another, while Nate utters’ He’s right…’ and Madelyne points out that Ness is a stranger, a total wild card who butted into their lives out of nowhere a few weeks ago, claiming to be something called a Hellbent, no less. ‘And Ness has done nothing since then but -’ Madelyne begins to say before Nate interrupts, ‘Talk straight to me, Maddie… like it or not… I can’t let anyone else… be hurt like this – not ever again’.
He turns and sees the MacAleers reaching out to him, before being led away by police officers. ‘Even if it kills you. In that case, I have no choice either’ Madelyne tells Nate, adding that she is almost tapped out herself, but that she always holds a little something back, just for him/ Madelyne drowns Nate in green glowing energy, and Nate cries out as the energy refuels his body. ‘All right!’ he shouts, before leaping back into action, ‘Let’s do it, Red!’ he tells Madelyne as he kicks one of the Gauntlet operatives in the face.
‘Maybe you weren’t listening, pal… but that pretty much did it for me’ Madelyne tells Nate, before quickly teleporting herself to safety. She sighs, and decides that it might be best to use the last of her energies to teleport out of the battle-zone completely, before she is flung into the air by the force of an explosion behind her. One of the Strikesquad: Gauntlet operatives stands over Madelyne’s now unmoving body, ‘The only one that might have penetrated our armor, already has fallen by my hands. And soon will be dead…’ the operative boasts. ‘NO!’ Nate screams as he flies above, and sees that Madelyne is unconscious and unable to defend herself, he alerts Ness to Maddie’s plight, pointing out that the operative, Vise, has psi-sheened armor, so he can’t touch her. Ness leaps over one of the operatives and tells Nate that if he can’t contain the threat, to contain the victim.
‘If you don’t want to bury Pryor’s corpse…’ Ness’s voice trails off, as Nate exclaims that he can bury her alive, instead, and uses his power to move dirt and the rubble of the boarding house to completely cover Madelyne, burying her under a small hill. ‘NOOO!’ Vice shouts in protest. ‘Done!’ Nate declares as he throws a psychic shield around himself and Ness, deflecting the energies fired by the Strikesquad: Gauntlet members. Ness points out that they can’t stay on the defensive like this, as they are chipping away at his psi-screens, slowly but surely. Nate tells Ness that he is open to more suggestions, before using his power to knock down several of the Strikesquad: Gauntlet operatives. They hit the ground hard in their amors, and more civilians start to flee. Nate tells Ness that as much as he enjoys watching these bozos bounce each other around with the ricochets, the last of the bystanders have not cleared the danger zone, and the earth-mound will not shield Maddie for long.
Scanlon is shouting into a portable communicator: ‘Scanlon to Overreach - come in - come in!’ he shouts. ‘Abort mission! Abort!’ he adds, explaining that the reinforcements are not under his command. ‘Where’d they come from?’ he asks. ‘Who’s ordered them in? What’s going on up there?’ he shouts, before suddenly, he looks up, to find the operative called Vise standing over him. ‘Afraid that’s need-to-know only, Commander’ Vise announces, before raising a weapon to Scanlon and declaring that he doesn’t need to know anything more. Scanlon instructs Vise to drop the attitude, and fast, and to link him through to Overreach. ‘Look again, “Sir”. No Fontaine or Barone here to back you up this time’ Vise points out. Wide-eyed, Scanlon orders Vise to put down the weapon.
Vise continues, telling Scanlon that the fact is, the Overreach committee has had many leaders, culled from the most powerful nations on the plane, as he knows. ‘But you were never really one of them’ she exclaims before firing her energy weapon, which strikes Scanlon in the head, and he falls back, screaming. At the same time though, Fontaine receives a psychic backlash. More gun shots are fired from the other Gauntlet operatives, while Fontaine notices that Scanlon is down, she rushes over to him, ‘Your murdered Commander Scanlon, Vise?’ she asks. Vise warns Fontaine that the frequency of this particular pulse-cannon will punch through Gauntlet armor just as easily. ‘Trust me’ she tells her. Vise continues, telling Fontaine that it is to bad the same can’t be said for her telepathy, her obviously reawakened telepathy.
‘Maybe it was the shock, psi-born…the feel of Scanlon’s death-scream battering against your skull, the echo rattling around in your head. Whatever it was that reawakened your formant abilities doesn’t really matter…’ Vise trails off, as Fontaine declares ‘Right. I don’t have to “punch through” your armor’s psi-shields, traitor…I’m already in!’, Fontaine explains that she made it through via their comm-link, and calls Vise a jerk. ‘Your mind is mine, Vise - and I want to hear your story now. A deep-access mole in our midst’ she remarks, while thinking to herself ‘Obviously’, as she realizes that Vise has been answering to a doctor of some sort, but there is no name or face, but she knows that it is a doctor who manipulated the Overreach committee through this entire project, actually used the self-appointed watchers of the watchmen to neutralize one lone kid.
Fontaine looks down at Nate, and realizes that what is worse is that Vise is nuke-heavy, same as the rest of them, and totally prepared to use them. Fontaine goes wide-eyed, as she discovers that there are other rogues amongst them, just like Vise - lots of others. ‘Now you’re catching on, G-3. Good for you…bad for your health!’ another Gauntlet calls out as he and several others turn their attention to Fontaine and start firing at her. Vise is freed by this surprise attack, as Fontaine is shunted out of Vise’s head. Vise then shuts down her comm-system to keep Fontaine from getting back in. However, the other rogues are still linked, and thus exposed to Fontaine’s mind-jumping. ‘Get away from me - get away!’ Fontaine calls out, tricking the rogues as she uses her power to manipulate them. Total chaos follows, but Fontaine manages to scavenge a couple of the rigged pulse-cannons out of the melee, however she had to jam the whole comm-system and cut off all communications completely, like Scanlon himself taught them.
Fontaine runs from the other Gauntlet operatives, and knows she has to figure some way to sort the white hats from the black, but she can’t imagine where to begin though, as all of a sudden, up is down, left is right, and the good guys are bad. The only thing she still recognizes for sure, still understands, is their target. She turns to see Nate and Ness fighting alongside each other at the bottom of the small hill where they have buried Madelyne. Fontaine tells herself that Grey is up against the wall, finally, all of them are all but spent now, herded with military precision, cornered, by renegades and loyal psi-ops both. ‘But I can’t tell the difference’ Fontaine thinks to herself, realizing that she doesn’t have the time, either. She uses one of the pulse cannons, knocking all of the other Gauntlet operatives into the air, she rushes forward, ‘I need help’ she calls out to Nate and Ness, who are confused to see her.
Fontaine tells them that she only bought them a minute, tops, while the others regroup and re-strategize. ‘So let’s just cut straight to the chase already…and open wide’ she declares, as she links her mind to theirs. They see images, scattered and fleeting, and thoughts and memories from Vise’s mind. They see her talking to someone on a screen, and realize that she is a turncoat of some sort. They see a nuclear explosion, and dozens of Strikesquad members. ‘By the ones who came before…!’ Ness gasps when the images end, asking how they can believe such a thing. ‘Why would we believe anything from one of the very same faceless, nameless -’ he begins, before Nate interrupts, pointing out that her name is Cinder Fontaine, and that he would know that mindset anywhere, as the first time he shook down with the Gauntlet, back in New York, Vise almost killed him.
Fontaine tells Nate and Ness that it doesn’t matter anymore, when suddenly, she is pulled backwards, but manages to toss the weapons to Nate, telling him that he needs her as much as she needs him now. ‘It’s us against them!’ she adds. ‘But…’ Nate starts, until Ness points out that Fontaine’s actions speak for themselves, as these weapons are certainly enough to carve out a little more breathing space. ‘But we can’t hope to rout the entire Gauntlet like this, one by one’. ‘No kidding’ Nate mutters, realizing that they need a way to cut them off at the source. Fontaine tells him to forget it, and reminds him that she is a telepath, an active one again, so she knows exactly what he is thinking. ‘And it’s not possible. I can’t…’ she starts to say, while Nate declares that he won’t, that he won’t leave Maddie behind here, alone with all these psycho psi-ops, he won’t abandon her. Ness assures Nate that Madelyne is best off in the earth-shield for now, and that she will teleport out when she has recovered, or he can blast her out when it is safer. ‘Until then, I’ll protect her with all I have - with my very life, Nate - I swear’ Ness assures Nate. The young hero tells Ness that he doesn’t doubt it for a second. ‘But protect yourself, as well’ he adds.
Ness tells Nate to go. ‘If there is any way at all to stop this madness…’ his voice trails off, as Nate shouts ‘I’m on it!’ and takes flight, with Fontaine following him. ‘We, Grey…we’re on it’ Fontaine calls out, and as they move higher into the air, she explains that using a command-override code she picked up in Scanlon’s last thoughts, she is ordering all units to break away from the target-combat, and secure a new defense permiter instead, expanded to three square miles. Nate points out that only the legitimate operatives are responding, effectively clearing the field for the others, eliminating the interference between them. But they start to close in fast. ‘We’re here, Grey. We’ve reached the command ship’ Fontaine reveals, as they dodge the energy blasts from the rogue operatives.
Down below, Ness notes that most of the troops took off after Nate and the girl, right on their tails - most of them, but not all, as he defends himself from another’s attack. Elsewhere, civilians continue to run for their lives, and Fontaine tells Nate that they are doing it, that the outer perimiter is being evacuated already. But, they just hit a dead end, as they are locked out of the command ship. Nate blasts the approaching Strikesquad members, and Fontaine tells him that the hull of the ship is even more heavily shielded than Gauntlet armor, impervious to psionic and artillery, impregnable for all intents and purposes. Nate’s weapon is out of ammunition, and tells Cinder Fontaine that they are out of choices. ‘One way or another - we’re going in!’ he declares, as he pulls a protesting Fontaine through the exhaust-grill. ‘Whoa…’ one of the Strikesquad: Gauntlet operatives calls out.
Back down below, Ness is on the run, down to one gun and already running out of ammunition, as the Gauntlet operatives follow him, firing as he evades them. Ness decides that the best he can do now is try and lure the psi-op shooters as far from Madelyne as possible, before they finally catch up to him - unaware that a woman is standing in the shadows nearby, watching him.
At the same moment, ‘YAAHOOO!’ Nate shouts as he and Fontaine pass through the exhaust filter in his psychic shied.
On the ground again, civilians are being rounded up by the Strikesquad members, marching them forward, one of them tells them to have no fear, as the designated zone is being swept for stragglers behind them.
On the mother ship above, Fontaine tells Nate that she can’t believe he just did that. ‘Why not, girl? Figured it as the fastest route to - the engine room!’ Nate explains, as they stand in the large room, but find it empty. Fontaine tells him that with the psi-ops out in the field, the engine room would be empty, as the entire ship is automated and completely dedicated to Gauntlet operations. ‘Completely dedicated?’ Nate asks, before smiling, and exclaiming ‘All this- all they’ve done - just to get to me…ME?’ as he releases powerful surges of energy that strike the engine room. ‘Fontaine telepathically contacts Ness, telling him to get out of there with the Pryor woman right now. Dodging some weapons fire, he replies that he is a little busy at the moment, surrounded and all, before declaring that he saved one last shot just for this, and fires a blast from the weapon, sending the Strikesquad members bouncing upwards.
Nate exclaims that the engine is cracking, bleeding raw energies now from the power-core. ‘Just one last shot, and…’, with that, explosions rattle the entire mother ship.
But, on the ground, ‘Pryor’s gone already’ Ness declares as he stands over the earth where she was buried under the small hill. ‘Burrowed away, no doubt, like the worm she is. I’ve been defending an empty mound of dirt all along, risking my life for nothing’ he mutters. ‘Correction, Ness…losing your life for nothing’ Vise calls out as she appears behind Ness and grabs him. Vise tells Ness to pay no attention to her beeping armor, while Ness asks her not to do this. ‘It’s just the sound of imminent nuclear detonation’ Vise announces. ‘WHAT?’ another of the Strikesquad members asks. ‘We’re in final countdown!’ one of them calls out. Vise tells Ness that as soon as she has used this thing to personally tear him in half, she will use the Doctor’s backdoor failsafe to teleport out of the armor and to safety - but before she can do so, the mother ship crashes to the ground on top of her, and several others.
When the dust clears, Ness is trapped under some rubble. A cloaked figure stands nearby - it’s Madelyne, but her body is withered, she looks old. Madelyne tells Ness that she teleported out of there a while ago, and knows she could have said something, maybe even pulled him out of danger and saved his life, the way he thought he was saving hers. But she had other things on her mind. ‘My plans for Nate have taken a sharp left turn, obviously. So I’m gone. Fast and far’. Madelyne then teleports away.
As the city burns from the weapons fire, people start to gather, and one person announces that someone is in serious trouble, while a reporter states that they are not expecting any civilian casualties thanks to proper procedure and orderly evacuation, but that Dublin will never be the same again, and there is no way to assess such devastation yet, to price the destruction yet, to price the destruction of so much priceless history, the damage to so much personal property. The MacAleers have gathered with the crowd, and Conor tells Breda that it is over. They embrace, while Strikesquad: Gauntlet operatives stand nearby with the crowd.
Suddenly, Nate returns, followed by Fontaine, he tells the Macs that he is sorry, and offers to help them rebuild, bigger and better than ever. He adds that he didn’t mean for this, for any of it. He never does. ‘I just couldn’t…there wasn’t any other way…’ he trails off, as the Macs look up at him angrily, and Conor starts waving his fists, ‘Except to bring yer curse down on our heads, Grey - our friends and families?’ he asks. While Breda adds ‘No more of it, mutant - ye hear us? No more! No more! No more!’ Energy starts to surge around Nate, who utters ‘No…no more please… NO MORE!’ before he seemingly explodes in a brilliant white light.
Shortly, one of the Strikesquad operatives announces that they are still awaiting a body, but there are multiple eyewitness confirmations, that Target-X is history, along with Fontaine, the Gauntlet who betrayed them, and that all other psi-ops besides Vise have been accounted for. As medics and police officers surround the scene, and a construction crew starts searching through the rubble, the Strikesquad member points out that considering the condition of the last survivor they pulled out of this mess, well over four hours ago, having personally seen the effect of the damaged armor’s cyber-interface on his nervous system, there is no doubt at all that G-2, Vise, is better off dead. But, amongst the rubble, a hand suddenly reaches up.
Finally, in New York, New York, ‘Dead?’ a quiet voice asks inside Nate’s loft, reading a cop of the “Daily Bugle” which is reporting on a mystery mutant, dead in Dublin. ‘Not quite, Natey’ Threnody declares as she tosses the paper to the ground. ‘Not yet…’ she adds with certainty, as she steps into the light, very pregnant!


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

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In Cold Blood
Nate Grey a.k.a. X-Man lies on a barren landscape. He is cold. Confused and cut off. In other words - home. The young hero slowly rises from the dirt, when suddenly amongst the spiralling towers around him that rise up from the small mountains, there is gunfire. He is in the Age of Apocalypse, a long dead world where millions died in agony and millions more lived on in misery. It terrifies him. Even though he knows this is a dream, the fear is very real. He knows it from the way his heart races and his pulse pounds. And he wonders why he must suffer though this nightmare again and again. Every night the images become more real, more intense - and he prays for release. ‘No…’ Nate utters, as the green robotic soldiers called Infinites dart about around him. ‘Surrender is not an option, traitorous mutant!’ one of them states.
The Infinite adds that Nate should expect no rescue from his fellow saboteurs, as all are long gone by now - cowardly and clever enough to realize that if his fall didn’t kill him, the Infinite legions most certainly would. ‘Due to your involvement in yesterday’s destruction of Gene-Farm 66A, you are hereby sentenced to death… by direct decree of the High-Lord Apocalypse himself!’ one of them declares. Nate knows this is wrong. He starts to scramble up the side of one of the rocky cliffsides.‘Not Apocalypse! Not again!’ he calls out. He left this nightmare world behind when he crossed over into another reality. He jumps upwards to avoid some more weapons fire. He is a singularly powerful mind, possessed of spectacular psionic abilities. Abilities that allow him to reach out and touch the world around him with just a thought. He misses the next ledge he wanted to reach, and falls to the ground. He is a boy, still. And though he has powers that could one day remake reality, he is often unsure how best to use them. More often than not, finding himself…cold. Confused. Cut off.
‘Nate…’ a voice calls out. ‘Rise and shine, Nate’ Jean “Phoenix” Grey-Summers calls out as she leans over the sleeping Nate. Scott “Cyclops” Summers stands nearby. Jean and Scott are wrapped up warm in protective gear, and packs wait nearby. ‘Alaskan sun’s coming up and the snow’s coming down’ Jean tells Nate as the snow starts to fall over his sleeping bag. Jean adds that climbing is only going to get slower from here for all of them - and no one wants to spend a single night more on this mountain than they have to. Scott reports that there gear is packed and ready to go, and asks Jean if there is something wrong. ‘Jean…?’ Nate utters as he starts to wake. ‘Good Lord!’ Jean gasps, before telling Scott that she isn’t sure, as Nate looks up at her, confused.
Scott notices Nate’s clothing, and points out that they have transformed - that Nate has psionically rearranged the molecules of his mountain gear. ‘Yeah, into my old leathers…from home’ Nate utters. Scott walks closer to Nate and declares that Jean isn’t the only one concerned now. ‘We need to figure out why you’ve become so focused on your past suddenly’ Scott points out. ‘Why it’s even taken to haunting your sleep’ he adds. As Nate gets to his feet, he adds ‘You mean besides the fact that my birth world has always been the source of most of my nightmares? Or the fact that my dreams have a nasty habit of coming true lately?’ Neither Cyclops nor Phoenix respond. Nate reminds Jean that she is a telepath, like him, and asks her if she couldn’t cleanse his mind of those memories?. ‘It might be worth it for the nightmares to be over’ he suggests as he puts on his protective jacket to keep him warm from the snow. ‘We’re mutants, Nate. Not gods’ Jean replies.
Nate starts to hammer some spikes into the cliff before them to enable an easier climb. ‘Jean’s right, Nate. But listen…up against conditions like these, we can’t afford to waste any energy’ Cyclops tells him, adding ‘That includes the power you used to telekinetically transmute your clothes like that’. Jean goes over to Nate and offers to try and help him with his nightmares, but explains that it is a delicate thing, entering people’s minds, even if it is to soothe pain and ease fear. Cyclops starts to climb the cliffside and Jean starts to follow him, adding that they may open up demons no one knew existed. ‘But I think you knew that, didn’t you?’. Jean looks back down at Nate and tells him that he is afraid - she can see that even without her telepathy. ‘What is it?’ she asks him. ‘I wish I knew’ Nate replies as he starts to climb the edifice.
Nate explains that it is just a feeling - a really intense gut feeling that there is something on top of this mountain - something evil. ‘That’s why I came to you. I’ve got no one else to turn to’ he adds. Jean assures Nate that they understand how serious this is to him, which is why she wishes he had let them take the time to contact some sort of backup. ‘You might feel like you could wait, Jean’ Nate replies, while, up above, Cyclops informs Jean and Nate that he is going over the edge to secure the lead-line, and suggests Nate anchor in tight, and that he doesn’t move a muscle until Jean is on the ledge behind him. Nate tells Jean that he can’t wait, as he needs to know what has been causing these dreams of his.
Suddenly Jean exclaims ‘Scott! Look out!’, and Scott shouts ‘NOOO!’ as he fires an optic blast and falls backwards off the cliffside. Nate is cold, confused - but no longer alone, as a sight he never thought he would see again falls towards him - three Infinite robots from the Age of Apocalypse, partially embedded in some ice.
‘Infinites! Here? This can’t be!’ Nate gasps, while Jean declares ‘Whatever they are we’ve got to help Scott’. As in his recent nightmares, Nate reacts instinctively against the threat at hand. ‘Hang on, Cyclops!’ he shouts as he drops down the side off the cliff, swings out on his rope and grabs hold of Cyclops before he can fall any further. ‘I got you!’ Nate assures him. Scott thanks Nate, before reminding him that he told him to stay anchored. ‘Looks like your suspicions about this mountain were right’ Scott adds, before asking Nate what that was that attacked them. Nate looks down to the ground below them and sees the Infinites and explains that they are soldier clones of Apocalypse. The men continue to climb the cliff, as Nate explains that they are from his world, which is not supposed to exist anymore.
Nate adds that the Infinites shouldn’t be here and that he has never seen ones that looked quite like that. Jean stands on the ledge and tells the men that she would say something was radically wrong with them, something wholly unnatural. ‘Looked that way to me’ Nae agrees as he and Scott reach the ledge, before he asks Jean how she knew that. ‘You’ve never seen -’ he begins, before seeing more Infinites scattered amongst the snow, along with frozen civilian bodies. ‘Oh no… what is this?’ Nate gasps. Jean tells him that she doesn’t know, but that for what it is worth, she hasn’t found a single sign of life yet. ‘Thank God’ Jean adds, before reporting that she has been running up against increasing psi-static as they get higher and higher up the mountain, and that it is interfering with her telepathy, so now she can’t be certain of anything.
 ‘Over here - both of you!’ Jean shouts, eyes-wide, she finds a man who is alive. Scott and Nate rush over to the man half-buried in the snow, and upon closer inspection, Nate tells the others that the man’s face is half-merged into the rock, so he is barely able to breathe. ‘We’ve got to do something!’ he exclaims. ‘He’s dying right before our eyes!’ Nate adds. Nate tells the man that he is not alone anymore, and assures him that they are friends. Cyclops asks Nate what they are looking at here, pointing out that he sees fused pieces of those “Infinites” and normal humans both - as well as evidence of mechanically enhanced humans heavily armed and armored. ‘And branded, apparently’ Nate adds. ‘By Apocalypse’ he points out. As Jean tends to the survivor, Nate reports that those enhanced humans are traitors to their own kind.
Nate continues, telling Cyclops and Jean that regular humans who traded their humanity for the privilege of serving the Dark Despot - Mecha-Mutates, groomed specifically for assaults on the human rebels’ mutant-nullification grids. Nate explains that the grids were an experimental revel defense system, and from what he heard tell, they only deployed the prototypes in Europe during the last days - for the Atlantic Sea walls. The three heroes look up at another mountain and see strange, futuristic structures protruding from the cliff sides. ‘But how can an entire sea wall be here merged into the earth itself?’ Nate wonders. Jean reports that there is something else, informing them that the man they found earlier has died, but his thoughts reached out to her, and she learned something.
Jean reports that both sides in this conflict are in the dark as to what has happened to them - they don’t even realize that they have shifted realities. ‘But they do know they’re lost, and they’ve taken steps to regroup and find their leaders’ Jean announces. ‘Wait’ she suddenly tells the men. ‘Do you hear something?’ Nate asks. ‘From right there, underneath the -’ Scott begins, as suddenly, Mecha-Mutates that are merged with the Infinites burst forth from the snow. ‘YERREEERRR!’ one of them screeches. ‘Down boys!’ Nate shouts as he fires blasts of telekinesis at them - his best shot, but his telekinesis suddenly fizzles out on him. Nate supposes that he must be suffering from the same psi-interference that Jean mentioned. ‘Down yourself, Nate!’ Cyclops calls out as he leaps towards Nate and pushes him to the ground. ‘These things were enraged enough already, lashing out in pain - now they’re out of control’ Cyclops explains.
Cyclops suggests that they could have entered this situation more productively by using teamwork instead of acting so impulsively. ‘Don’t say it. Let’s just do it’ Nate replies, before alerting Scott to the fact that Jean is in trouble. ‘We’ve got to get to her before she’s overwhelmed’ he adds, as some of the combined begins leap towards her. Jean stands at the edge of the ledge, she throws a telekinetic shield between herself and the enemies. Scott tells Nate to listen to him, and points out that even diminished, the combination of his optic blast and Nate’s telekinetic force should be enough to knock those Infinites over the edge - if they hit them at exactly the same time. The men rush towards the ledge, ‘On my mark’ Scott orders. ‘What about Jean? If she doesn’t get out of the way…’ Nate begins, but Scott tells him to trust him, as they are using good team strategy. ‘Jean knows that, and I’d never risk harming my wife’ Scott adds, as optic energy pours from his visor, and Nate releases telekinetic energy, ‘Guess not! But I hope you’re not relying on some sort of a miracle’ he remarks.
Jean leaps into the air, and telekinetically levitates herself over the Infinites as the optic blast and Nate’s telekinetic bursts strike the villains in the back, and pushes them over the edge of the cliff. Scott reveals to Nate that no matter how weakened Jean’s telepathy is, the two of them are always connected, so she knew exactly when to make her move, just like they practiced as X-Men. ‘Two down… twice as many to go’ Scott adds as another four of the beings rush towards the trio. Scott and Nate fire more of their respective energies above the Infinites, ‘So let’s cut straight to the chase already - and bring down the house!’ Nate exclaims as their energies strike the cliff above, bringing down an avalanche of snow on their enemies - and themselves.
 ‘ALL RIGHT!’ Nate shouts an instant later as he, Scott and Jean emerge from the snow inside Jean’s telekinetic bubble. ‘Pulled the last-second telekinetic bubble trick a few times myself’ Nate admits, while Scott tells Jean ‘Nicely done’. Jean begins to continue what she was saying before they were attacked - that the rebel’s thoughts revealed that the enemy has already taken steps to ensure their survival. She adds that the Infinite soldiers have the ability to self-replicate and they have begun this process somewhere within the remains of the sea wall. Jean reports that by dawn tomorrow, a full contingent of Infinites, over one hundred strong, will be born with one goal in mind - descend this mountain and return to their leader, Apocalypse - destroying anyone in their path.
‘Over my dead body!’ Nate shouts as he takes flight, towards the mountain with the sea wall embedded in it. But Scott and Jean don’t follow him. ‘What?’ Nate asks, dropping to the ground. Nate admits that his psi-energies are spotty now, this close to the mutant null-zone generator inside the sea-wall. ‘Then you’ll have no powers at all inside it, Nate. None of us will. So you can’t do this alone’ Scott tells him, putting a hand on his shoulder. ‘We do it as a team’ Scott declares, motioning to Jean who is hammering another spike into the next edifice. Nate and Scott start to follow Jean up the cliff, and Nate replies ‘No complaints from me’, while thinking to himself that when it comes to Apocalypse, he will take all the help he can get. There is a haunting sound, and Nate hopes that it is just the wind. ‘I’d hate to imagine another survivor down there alone in this storm’.
But, unbeknownst to Nate, that is exactly what the noise is - one of the humans merged with the Infinites is slumped over in the snow - when suddenly, a large mechanical being emerges from the whiteness behind him, and steps on his head, before lumbering onwards.
As they continue to climb, Nate asks Scott ‘Let me get this straight. You really don’t mind Jean’s constant intrusion in your head? You’re actually okay with that - all the time?’ As they reach the next ridge, Scott replies that it is not an intrusion, not even close, but more like a presence - powerfully familiar and reassuringly comfortable. ‘And she’s always in my thoughts anyway, tell you the truth’ Scott adds. ‘I hear you, but still…’ Nate replies as he reaches the ridge. ‘Enough already, Nate…’ Scott asks as they and Jean stare up at the massive structures embedded into the mountain. ‘Where’s the front door?’ Scott asks.
As the strange mechanical being climbs towards the three unsuspecting heroes, ‘Out of the frying pan…and into the fire’ Nate exclaims as he leads Scott and Jean into the sea wall structure. ‘Ground zero, X-Men. This is my worst nightmare… my home’ Nate declares, looking around at the various broken machines and contraptions strewn about. They hear the strange haunting noise, and Scott remarks that it sounds like some sort of echo, but he can’t tell where it is coming from. He adds that he can barely tell up from down in this mess so far, as everything is twisted inside out, mangled into the mountain-side. Jean tells the men that it seems colder in here than it was outside somehow. ‘And the silence- such dead silence’.
Scott tells Nate that the first thing is first. ‘From what you’ve told us already, the mutant nullification grid’s generator will be positioned at the interior perimeter of the complex for maximum range and efficient’. He adds that if they can destroy it, the whole field should collapse. Scott adds that they will get their powers back, firing on all fours again. ‘Good plan, Scott’ Nate agrees. Nate wishes Scott good luck, announcing that he is going after the infinites before they finish replication. ‘Where?’ Scott asks. Nate explains that it is in the water-basin level, most likely, best bet for a replicating pool, the way he figures. Nate adds that he knows it makes more sense to head for the target they are sure of first, but he also knows what is at stake here. ‘I’m the only one of us who could navigate to the lower levels in time’.
Scott agrees to the plan, supposing that the interior perimeter can’t be much more than a hundred yards, tops, and what he can see of the path, at least, looks clear. ‘On it, Scott. Watch his back, Nate. We’ll meet back here in an hour’ Jean declares as she takes off away from the men. ‘Mission accomplished. ‘Or not’ Nate mutters as he and Scott trudge off in the direction of the water-basin level. And, the mechanical being arrives at the sea wall. Only, as he steps into the structure, out of the snow, his appearance becomes that much clearer - part machine, part man. Hatchet-9 is in the house!


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A Little Piece of Home
On the world of his birth, the man at his side was more than just a friend. The genetic potential of Scott Summers and a woman named Jean Grey had been brought together by a mad genius, intent on breeding an unstoppable weapon - and Nate Grey was born. A time bomb of power, literally, surging with more psionic energies than his own body can stand. ‘Hard left ahead, Scott!’ Nate Grey a.k.a. X-Man calls out to Scott “Cyclops” Summers, who is piloting some sort of hover-sled. ‘But I thought you wanted to follow the main water pipe all the way down to -’ Scott begins, but Nate explains that warning symbols back there were all about the radiation-heavy corridor to the right. ‘So hang a left, Scott - now - we’ll switch to one of the secondary back-flows form here. Trust me on this, okay…’ Nate remarks, adding that his “man” Forge helped develop the system schematics for these Atlantic Seawalls.
‘Then how, Nate? How could this happen… how could a piece of another reality… another Earth… end up merged into an isolated Alaskan mountain peak?’ Scott asks, referring to their current location as he swerves the hover-sled down another tunnel. ‘A piece of my Earth, you mean’ Nate replies, adding that it is an Earth where mutants like them enslaved the rest of humanity, all but exterminated them, continent by continent - where humans without powers of their own were forced to build battle-fortresses like this one in self defense. ‘An Earth that’s better of dead’ Nate declares, admitting to Scott that he doesn’t care how it happened - he just wants to make sure it ends, right here and now, before his old world crashes any farther into his new one, and before a legion of Apocalypse’s Infinite solders are born to this still-pure paradise!
An explosion rages behind Nate and Cyclops, who points out that the seawall was under siege at the time, that much they do know for sure. He adds that according to the single human survivor they found, the enemy has long since taken the usual steps to insure their own survival. ‘Cloning. A thirty-six hour process, soup to nuts’ Nate declares, adding that means they have to reach the water-table level, the only feasible location for a full replicating pool, before dawn. A shadowy figure does not get the attention of the mutant heroes, as up ahead, several laser beams are released to form a grid. ‘What the -?’ Cyclops exclaims as he tries to slow the speed of the hover-sled down. ‘Staticite-zone!’ Nate exclaims, as the hover-sled swerves upwards, ‘Duck!’ Nate shouts as they fly into another tunnel.
Nate explains to Cyclops that technology is an extremely rare and precious commodity in the so-called Age of Apocalypse, especially for straight humans, so the stat-zones are in place to disable mechanisms around water, protecting electronics from unnecessary risk. ‘That one was obviously messed up, though, same as everything around here. Could killed us both - under the circumstances and all, y’know - but I was expecting a stat-z as we got closer to the water-table to I was prepared’ Nate explains to Scott, before taking control of the hover-sled which he calls a skimmer, adding that he is the one that found it anyway. ‘Fine by me, Nate’ Scott replies, admitting that he is more than a little distracted, worrying about Jean out there alone and in an unpredictable place like this. He adds that he knows he did the right thing, team-wise, as Jean is as capable as any X-Man, no doubt about that - and unless and until Jean finds mutant-nullification generators that Nate described, and disables the actualized null-grid’ they are all powerless in this place.
As the platform behind her breaks, Jean Grey-Summers rushes forward, ‘Bizarre’ she thinks to herself. ‘Still trying to reach one of the outlying corners of the hull - where Nate figures the N-generators are positioned for maximum field-range - and this is getting freakier  by the foot!’ Jean looks around at the bizarre constructions around her, when suddenly, hears a loud clanging noise. ‘That one I didn’t imagine’ she realizes, glancing behind herself, the powerful mutant codenamed Phoenix decides that something is back there, behind her. ‘And I’m not used to being in the dark like this… totally mind-blind. No telepathy or telekinesis at all’. Jean carries on, moving forward. On this world, she and Scott are very different people. They are X-Men, born and bred to it sometimes it seems. Champions of all humanity, protectors of all who need protecting… defenders against man and mutant both. Heroes to some, a deadly, dangerous threat to others. Mutants, yes - but all too human, still.
A mechanical being moves swiftly through the strange surroundings, and another loud clanging noise can be heard. Jean goes wide-eyed, ‘Uh-oh’ she gasps. Then, at the end of the platform Jean stands on, she sees the massive mutant-nullification generator, just like Nate pictured it. The spherical contraption has many cables and wires attached to it, and some energy flares are emitted. Jean thinks that apart from those cracks and sparks, it looks surprisingly untouched by the forced merger of realities, making it the most likely cause of the whole mess in the first place, as far as Jean is concerned. She remembers that Nate said the defense system is still experimental. ‘And highly volatile, obviously’ she adds, as she dodges a flare of energy that is thrown from the generator. ‘Worst yet, if possible… I think the bad news just started’ Jean thinks to herself.
Back in the water-level: ‘God, no - just the stink alone -’ Nate utters wide-eyed, as he and Scott stand on the land just by the water, which pours from a large tube above. ‘You were right, Nate’ Scott remarks. ‘We followed ‘em straight upstream to their spawning ground, like you called it’ Scott adds, as they see the bodies of the Infinites floating in the water. Nate tells Scott that he never really imagined, hundreds, maybe more, maybe thousands of shadows of the living, breathing Apocalypse - right before his eyes, already poisoning another clean, crisp atmosphere they would never even bother to breathe. Scott and Nate examine one of the Infinites, and Nate points out that some of them are farther along than others, depending on which were the first to begin, as this one has nearly completed gestation. Pulling the Infinite out of the water, Nate estimates that it had less than an hour to go. ‘But that won’t be near enough time to destroy every one of these -’ Nate begins, before Scott shouts ‘WAIT!’
Scott declares that it is Jean, that she is in trouble. ‘What are you talking about?’ Nate asks, wide-eyed. ‘How could you possibly know -’ he begins to enquire, as Scott tells him that he heard her, inside. ‘she and I are connected, remember, with or without telepathy? Trust me on this, okay…Jean needs us now!’ Scott exclaims as he rushes onto the skimmer. Concerned, Nate tells Scott that he wants to go, but he can’t leave these soulless soldiers of Apocalypse behind to be unleashed on this world. ‘I can’t’ he declares, while pointing out that Jean wouldn’t want him to. ‘She’s as good as it gets, we both know that…’ Nate’s voice trails off. ‘No argument there, Nate’ Scott replies, adding that he agrees something has to be done about this nightmare. ‘But… even we can’t handle something this big alone, without our powers - and you know that’ Scott points out, suggesting that is exactly why they have to help Jean destroy the mutant nullification generator. ‘Now, pal…before it’s too late!’ Nate doesn’t move, uncertain of his response.
‘Yup. Things are definitely worse’ Jean thinks to herself as she rungs along the platform, as razor-sharp discs are thrown towards her, and start to pierce the platform she runs along. ‘Far enough, mutant!’ a cold voice calls out. The mechanical being following Jean comes into view, firing more razor-sharp discs towards Jean, he declares that this site has been claimed in the name of the Dark Lord, Apocalypse, by Hatchet-9, sole surviving officer of assault-regiment Delta. Hatchet-9 boasts that he has been following Jean for hours now. He calls her “highborn” and that he will cull more of their current situation from her and her fellow gene-traitors before final execution. ‘I promise you that - but sabotage cannot be permitted’ he declares. Jean reaches the end of the platform and finds that it is blocked. ‘Nowhere left to go now, in any direction’ she realizes. ‘Nowhere but down…’ Jean thinks to herself as she leaps off the platform.
‘NOOO!’ Hatchet-9 shouts. While Jean doesn’t plummet to her doom, but grabs onto one of the platform sides. She takes hold of a live cable, and recalls that Nate called these things Mecha-Mutates, normal humans who traded limbs and more for the power and privilege of serving Apocalypse himself. Jean realizes that Hatchet here got seriously mangled by the reality-fusion, the way it looks to her, and all that exposed cyber-ware makes him an easy mark. ’For a good old-fashioned short-circuiting!’ She reaches up and pushes the live cable into Hatchet. Smoke billows from the creature, who then looms over Jean, still clanging to the platform. ‘Or not’ Jean thinks to herself. ‘Oh yeah, Red…I’m really going to enjoy this -’ Hatchet-9 begins as he reaches down to grab Jean, before Cyclops arrives on the skimmer, which he leaps from as it crashes into Hatchet-9.
There is an explosion, while Scott helps Jean up. ‘Let’s move it before -’ he begins, before Jean screams ‘Look out!’ as Hatchet-9 appears behind them, despite the explosion. ‘Under control, Jean’ Scott replies, while the damaged Hatchet-9 tries to say “exterminate”, as Scott reveals that he did not come alone - and, at that instant, Nate drops down onto Hatchet-9. Jean and Scott are now trapped between some sort of pillar that has fallen onto the platform, while Nate is trapped between Hatchet-9 and the generator. ‘Not for long’ Scott points out, as Nate takes control of Hatchet-9’s hand, and uses the weapon attached to it, cutting the floor right out from under them, Nate and Hatchet suddenly plummet to the unknown below.
Thankfully, Nate is able to grab onto the edge of the platform, while Hatchet doesn’t quite fall to the unknown, as he becomes magnetically anchored to the dangling piece of platform, meaning Nate is a sitting duck. ‘Extermin-’ Hatchet begins, while Jean and Scott stand on the edge of the platform that still remains. ‘Nothing we can do about it from here, Jean! But the kid’s fast on his feet, I swear…I’m betting he can take care of himself’ Scott assures Jean, as Nate starts to scramble up the platform, while Hatchet fires some razor-blades at him. Scott and Jean start to climb over the debris blocking their escape on the platform, as Scott tells her that they have to hurry, before Hatchet remembers who actually hurt him, as they are too vulnerable out here. ‘Exterminate!’ Hatchet-9 snarls. ‘Looks like you could, too, rusty’ Nate calls out. ‘Or you could try coming after the infamous gene-farm saboteur himself, instead - the thorn in Apocalypse’s side who brought down most of Dark Kentucky!’ Nate suggests.
Hatch-9 starts to chase Nate, and declares that he is the most wanted fugitive in all the land. ‘I will be rewarded beyond my wildest dreams for delivery of your head’ Hatchet-9 announces, firing some razor blades towards Nate, who then leaps off the end of the broken platform, ‘Can’t have that now, can we?’ he replies. ‘Not when we can use a heavy-metalhead like you, instead…to do our job for us!’ Nate points out as the razor blades then strike the smoking, sparking generator - and the impact is exactly what Nate had hoped for - as the nullifier-generator is instantly destroyed, and the mutant null-field is gone, enabling Nate to use his restored telekinesis to fly before he slams into the ground below. The ensuing chain reaction is completely unexpected - as the implosion effect is apparently unstoppable, and all that was born of the Age of Apocalypse is slowly, surely, drawn back there to die.
Hatchet-9 is sucked towards the portal, along with all the machinery and equipment around him. Nate Grey starts to fall towards the portal, too. He fights the flow, of course, with all the telekinetic force that is rightfully his to command. Wielding his optic power once again, Cyclops fires the beams of energy from his eyes to destroy the debris that is hurled towards him, while Jean telekinetically anchors them and Nate to this plane - until all three are able to escape the vortex together. They rush down a corridor, as Jean tells the men that that the vortex is spreading exponentially, ‘We’ve got to get clear before the whole seawall - caves in…’ Jean’s voice trails off as the trio round a corner, only to find an army of Infinites waiting for them. ‘Not just yet, Jean. Afraid Scotty and I left some unfinished business behind’ Nate points out. ‘Your business is mine, guys -’ Jean replies, as she and Nate unleash their telekinetic fury against the Infinites, while Cyclops fires a powerful optic blast into the mix.
Jean tells the men that there is an awful lot of loose ends here - more and more by the minute. Nate suggests they can use that against them. ‘All moving in precise unison - like a well-oiled machine…a perfect team’ Scott remarks, as Nate explains that the Infinites share a virtual neural-network, or some such garbage, which works real well for their joint efforts. The optic blasts and telekinetic fury continues to keep the Infinites at bay, as Nate adds that the neural-network allows for little or no independent action outside of the group initiative. ‘In other words, Nate - if we read the responses of any one Infinite…’ Jean begins. ‘And interpret them correctly in the context of their larger dynamic…’ Scott adds. ‘We can figure out their entire strategy - and head ‘em all off at the pass!’
By this time, explosions start to ripple through the entire seawall, and Jean and Nate telekinetically escape through an opening, with Jean lifting Scott alongside herself. ‘Last stand, team!’ Cyclops shouts as he fires another optic blast at the Infinites, who start to emerge from the opening in the sea wall. ‘Just hold them here at the threshold of the gull, where they’re bottle-necking…turn their number into a disadvantage’ Cyclops explains. ‘Right!’ Nate agrees. The Infinites begin to surround the heroes, who start to play the Infinites against themselves, dodging their weapons fire, which subsequently strikes other Infinites. ‘Cover each other’ Scott calls out, while Jean tells Nate to stay with them, to not get too far ahead. She and Nate hover in their air, using their telekinetic powers against the Infinites, as Jean adds ‘But don’t hold back either! We’ve got to keep all the Infinites inside the seawall until -’ Jean starts to say, ‘- their past finally catches up to them’ Scott concludes.
Scott looks over and sees more explosions, ‘Now, team! Everybody pull back now - and hang on tight!’ Scott shouts as the vortex expands to suck back the seawall inside it - and the Infinites soon follow. ‘The ride’s not over yet!’ Scott tells the others. ‘But it’s gone - all gone - every trace of my ugly little world; Nate declares, while Jean pints out that there is a gaping hole in the cliff-face where the seawall used to be. ‘And nature abhors a vacuum!’ Scott declares as he fires an optic blast up at the collapsing mountainside. ‘The entire mountain’s coming down, people! Scott can only buy us a couple seconds at most…’ Jean declares, as she and Nate combine their telekinetic to form a powerful bubble around the trio. ‘you and I can do this, Nate… together’ Jean tells him, before the mountain collapses on top of them.
Nate opens his eyes, ‘Where…?’ he utters, slumped against a wall. He is then plunged into darkness, he is not packing enough energy to light up like he just did. ‘But this place looked like - feels like - the cave from my nightmares, from my birth-world…’ his thoughts trail off, as a torch suddenly lights the cave, ‘Up and at ‘em, boy!’ a voice calls out. ‘You’ve spent enough time in the dark, hiding from the world around you…time you can ill afford to waste’. Nate is shocked to see Forge and Sonique ‘Is is true - is it even possible - am I really home?’ he asks. ‘Yes. Now and forever ,my son - you’re finally home’ Forge tells him.
But,: ‘Up and at ‘em, Nate!’ Cyclops calls out, ‘Scott…?’ And Jean…?’ Nate utters, looking up at his surroundings - the snow covered mountainside. ‘Everyone’s fine here, friend. Thanks to you and Jean both’ Scott tells Nate. Nate gets to his feet and looks out over the ridge, as Scott ells him that they still have a long way to go to the bottom. ‘But it should prove a lot easier - together’ Scott tells Nate, who does not respond. ‘The ride’s not over yet…!’ Jean tells Nate, but Nate just looks out at the snow-covered landscape ahead.


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Trouble on the Homefront
Starcore Space Station hovers around the planet Earth. Personnel go about their business when an alarm suddenly sounds. ‘Status alert?’ Dr Corbeau asks. ‘Priority alpha!’ someone reports, and the crew go wide-eyed when they see the Shi’ar stargate flares wide open in spectacular display. ‘So… so beautiful… but already gone!’ someone utters. The crew spring into action, tapping away at controls, while an officer announces that they are trying to draw a destination fix from the readings, but are having trouble. ‘Just do it, people! This is what it’s all about, the whole reason we’re up here!’ Dr Corbeau declares, while he contacts the United Nations, reporting that they have a breach. He tells them that something has come through from the far side of the galaxy, and that it is heading for Earth.
And on Earth, something is in the air tonight. Dusk falls hard on Anchorage, Alaska, this midsummer eve. Darkness settles in early, promising the storm to come, and weighing most heavily on Jean Grey. As the rain beats down outside, the woman sometimes called Phoenix stands in the living area of a very nice cabin, holding herself. ‘Where are they?’ she wonders, expecting them both back before dusk, before the lightning got close enough to interfere with her telepathy. Jean is a psionic of the highest order, and it has been said she is capable of probing minds and moving mountains with the same ease of thought - but others know her better. She thinks that she and Scott have lived here long enough now to be able to read the local sky to see the signs for miles. ‘And after what we all went through last week… I have a hard time believing he’s out in this kind of weather again by choice. Especially with poor Nate, a kid who’s the farthest thing from local to this area - to this world, for that matter’.
Scott “Cyclops” Summers is Jean’s husband, her partner and her teammate in the X-Men, fellow mutants, bonded by more than just their common cause. Their shared determination tyo help shape a safer, stronger world or mutant and human both - if not in this lifetime, then perhaps the next - for the sake of the children, at least. The next generation of all-too-human mutants. Suddenly, ‘Check it out, Red!’ a voice calls out as the front door slams open. ‘Look what followed us home!’ Nate “X-Man” Grey exclaims as he stands in the doorway, his jacket wrapped around a young boy, while Scott helps an old man towards the front door, everyone sopping wet.
Nate is another dangerously powerful psionic, but also a refugee from another world - a world where Jean, Scott and the others failed to rise to such a challenge - and very, very few survived to tell the tale. Nate rushes over to the couch and puts the boy on it, while telling Jean that they both need medical treatment, fast. Scott helps the old man to a chair and tells Jean to call Doc Kincaid, to try his home number first at this hour. ‘Already on it, Scott’ Jean replies as she picks up the phone receiver, while lightning flashes in the sky. Jean then realizes that the power is down. ‘What’s going on here, guys?’ she asks. Nate asks for a first-aid kit, and Jean reports that she has it. Scott starts boiling some hot water, ad assures Jean that they were not looking for any trouble out there - just the opposite, really. He adds that Jean’s fishing suggestion wasn’t panning out half-bad.
Earlier:
Scott and Nate sit on the shore of a lake, Scott’s fishing rod is already in the water, while Nate is putting the bait on his. ‘But you don’t believe her, do you, Scott? I mean, Jean didn’t stay home just to prep the rest of the meal…’ his voice trails off. Scott replies that Jean is deliberately giving them time alone. Nate stands up and casts his rod into the lake, asking if Jean is always so obvious. ‘Now that you mention it…yup’ Scott replies. He stands up and offers to give Nate a piece of advice. ‘Depends…’ Nate replies as he hands Scott his rod. Scott tells him that his new lure weighs out perfectly, but that it feels to him that the tie is got solid buy and action, with good spring, only this far north, his line needs to hit with a longer skip, to draw up the deepwater fish. ‘Works for me, m’man!’ Nate smiles as he catches a fish and reels it in. Scott realizes that he and Nate are so different, and they have a lot to learn from each other.
Suddenly, they hear a noise coming from the woods behind them. ‘Something just came down, Scott! About a mile - maybe a mile-and-half -’ Nate begins as he takes flight into the bushes, while Scott follows on foot. And soon, Nate comes to part of the forest that has been decimated - with one large tree fallen onto a boy. ‘Over here!’ Nate cries out, while an older man tries to lift the large tree off the boy.
Now:
Scott tells Jean that they never got far enough to see what that something was, once they found the campers, but it was apparently that the dad was badly wounded and deep in shock. ‘And the boy’s worse’ Nate adds. ‘Way worse’ he remarks, holding the boy’s head, he adds that it is all he has been able to do to hold the boy together telekinetically for this long. Scott remarks that they can’t waste any more time here. Jean informs the men that she has been psi-scanning for the Doc all over town, more than willing to out them as mutants if she has to, but she can’t even pick up a trace right now, not under these conditions. Thunder booms while Jean hands Nate some bandages that have been boiled. She tells the men that someone has got to go into town after the Doc. ‘You could do it fastest, Nate - as the crow flies - but you telekinesis is needed here…you’ve got to stay’ Jean tells him.
Scott points out that Jean has to keep her mind on the Doc, on the search, not on the road. ‘I’ll drive’ Scott reports as they leave. The old man gets to his feet, ‘Please…no…’ he utters. Nate turns to him and tells him that Scott and Jean have gone. He points out that the man shouldn’t move too much. ‘No time…’ the man begins, when suddenly, his eyes flash red and his voice changes, ‘But your powers, boy…so miraculous…you can cure my son…my Jeff’ the man declares. ‘Stop his suffering…heal him completely…before it’s too late…’. Almost reluctantly, Nate replies ‘Yeah, probably’, while he remembers a girl in New York, a friend called Jam, who lost an arm in a tragic accident. Nate recalls exactly what he did for her - and the price she paid for it.
Nate tells the older man that miracles aren’t all they’re cracked up to be, and that he won’t make that mistake again. ‘I won’t do that to your son’ he adds. ‘You… won’t?’ the man asks, when suddenly, the door slams open - Scott and Jean have returned as the rain continues to pour down. Scott announces that the car won’t start now. Jean reports that the road is washed out for hundreds of yards down the kill - so no one is getting in or out of here for the duration of the storm. ‘Look’s like we’re effectively cut off from the rest of the world. So we’re all we’ve got’ Jean adds as she kneels before the man and tears his trouser leg so that she can tend to his wounds. Nate kneels beside the boy and tells him that until a few months ago, he could have treated his symptoms and dulled his pain. ‘But I’m not a telepath anymore he explains. ‘Hur… hur…’ the boy utters. ‘Maybe Jean, though -’ Nate begins, when suddenly, the boy reaches up to Nate and grabs him by his shirt, ‘No…you help me… not her… I’m afraid of her…’ he utters in a strange voice.
The boy is crying and blood trickles from his nose as he tells Nate that he is afraid of what is happening to him, and that inside, it feels so bad, and hurts so much. ‘Please…make it go away, please, make it stop… forever…’. Nate turns away from the kid, he can’t imagine what the boy is going through - half of his organs crushed and most of his bones broken, only even this much alive because of his telekinetic grip. Nate decides that it is just a matter of releasing the boy, of allowing nature to run its course here. ‘But I won’t. I can’t he tells himself. ‘Can’t…?’ the boy utters. Jean has wrapped the older man’s leg in a bandage, while Nate decides that he doesn’t have to play God, either, as there is a middle ground here, a very human middle-ground. But, when he looks at Jean and the boy’s father, he goes wide-eyed - ‘What is that? What am I looking at here?’ he wonders, as he sees Jean kneeling in front of some sort of robot.
Suddenly, the boy is gone, replaced by a strange purple-skinned, white-haired creature with orange eyes. ‘He knows, Modt! The child sees through the reality we wear, to the reality we are! He is every bit as powerful as we feared! Every bit dangerous as ourselves!’ the creature exclaims, before shouting ‘Kill him! Kill the abominable one…!’ Nate is taken aback, but before he, or the strange creature can act, twin beams of solid optic energy hammer into the creature, blasting him through the cabin wall, fired from Cyclops. ‘You fool - no!’ the old man begins. ‘Perfect time, Scott, as always’ Jean remarks, before declaring that it is her turn now, as she picks up the old man in a telekinetic field and throws him out the door. Jean looks at the purple creature and tells Scott and Nate that she is sure she recognizes him, even from here. ‘You may not have gone looking for it, guys, but unless I’m wrong - please, please let me be wrong - you brought home trouble alright… big trouble’ Jean declares.
The man lands in the dirt and starts to transform, ‘Yes, terrans…’ he calls out, while Jean adds ‘Big as it gets, I’m afraid. Very, very afraid - Modt and Jahf, first guardians of the M’Kraan, Crystal Heart of Reality!’ Jean declares, as Modt a gold and blue robot-like-being stands as tall as the mountains, while Jahf, the purple creature, stands on his companion’s shoulders. ‘Judgment walks your world!’ Modt booms, while on the cabin porch, Scott asks Jean how and why the guardians are here, in their backyard. He points out that if not for the weather, they would be visible from town at the size, so their covers would be literally blown sky-high, and their life here as they know it, would be over by now. ‘Forever’ Jean agrees, now wearing her green and gold Phoenix costume. ‘Your grandparents dragged down along with us, generations of hard-earned reputation ruined’ Jean points out.
‘No need for all that, mutants. Just give us the boy’ Modt declares. ‘The boy…?’ Scott asks. ‘Should’ve known ‘Nate mutters as he takes flight towards the guardians. ‘NATE!’ Jean screams, while Nate tells them both to stay out of this. He adds that he has no idea what these freaks want from him, what they think he did or didn’t - or might do - and he doesn’t much care at this point. ‘They want me - they GOT me!’ Nate shouts as he surrounds himself in a telekinetic bubble and uses it to uppercut Modt’s large head, ‘Careful what you wish for, suckers!’ Nate shouts, while Modt is briefly knocked off balance, and Jahf starts to slip from his large companion. Cyclops fires a powerful optic blast while Jean unleashes some telekinetic fury, remarking ‘He has no idea, Scott, no clue what he’s up against…’. ‘And he said so himself. Never seems to stop him, far as I can tell…never even slows him down’ Scott adds.
Nate realizes that his “parents” are trying to help him, and tells Modt to ignore them. ‘It’s easy, really - I do it all the time! Just follow my lead!’ Nate jokes, dodging a punch from the large robot, while Jahf falls off this time and calls out ‘Break him, Modt -!’ as Jean and Scott continue their attack against the much larger guardian. ‘I’ll handle the locals’ Jahf grins as he lands without injury. Jean urgently calls out to Nate, telling him that he doesn’t understand, she explains that the guardians are actually living facets of the crystal itself, empowered by the entire neutron galaxy at its heart, completely invulnerable, indestructible and invincible. Nate is shocked to discover that his telekinetic shields are starting to buckle already, cracking under the pressure that Modt used in his second punch.
‘Dolts!’ Jahf snaps as the creature strides towards Scott, who tries to force him back with an optic blast. ‘Unstoppable force has met immovable object!’ Cyclops declares. ‘If that is what you…believe…’ Jahf replies, before moving forward enough that he punches Scott, knocking him back. ‘No - I won’t let you harm him, guardian - I won’t let you touch either one of them!’ Jean warns Jahf as she catches Scott telekinetically and sets him down safely. ‘Excellent. Jean psionically deflected the brunt of Jahf’s blow - and positioned me perfectly’ Scott thinks to himself as he fires an optic blast at Modt’s large feet, while Jahf asks Jean if she honestly thinks she can hurt him. ‘Probably not, runt…but we’re betting your partner can’ Cyclops calls out, and Jahf looks up as a large shadow looms over him as  Modt turns to grab Nate who flies past him, but the movement and the optic blast topples Modt down on top of his partner. ‘You did it, Scott - you actually dropped a guardian of the M’kraan in its tracks!’ Jean exclaims as she helps Scott to his feet. ‘We did it, Jean! You set me up to set Modt up…’ Scott begins ‘And I took him down!’ Nate exclaims as he flies over to Scott and Jean, his costume badly torn.
‘NOT YET…’ a voice booms, as Modt’s large hand slams down on the heroes - narrowly missing them as Nate throws a telekinetic bubble around the trio. Modt then explains that such power as the “whelp” possesses is what drew them here in the first place. ‘Told ya’ Nate mumbles as he moves the bubble away from Modt, who reveals that a recent break from another reality traced directly to this region, and caused an unsettling vibration within the living crystal, so they were dispatched to find its roots. ‘He’s talking about the seawall, right, the one that come through from my world for a while? But I didn’t have anything to do with that’ Nate remarks. ‘Did I?’ he wonders, as Modt starts to follow them, trampling his way through the forest. ‘You are the only remaining source of that singularly-destructive energy-signature here, Nate Grey. And the crystal gave us leave to deal with the source as we see fit. To spare it, even if proved to be alive…and under control. Deemed safe enough by us’.
‘So you tested him, at first, creating a situation that you thought would measure him somehow. A crisis that would force Nate into action, one way or another…’ Scott remarks. ‘And he passed your tests, didn’t he? Without abusing - or avoiding - the responsibilities of his power…’ Jean points out, as Scott adds ‘Establishing that he does have control’. Jean tells the guardians that Nate is “safe enough”. Standing on the giant Modt once more, Jahf calls out ‘True. But he recognized that it was a test - and that alone is too ominous for my liking!’ the indestructible creature then jumps towards Nate’s telekinetic bubble, and shatters it. ‘Hang on…’ Jean calls out as she and the men start to free-fall. Jean tells them that as soon as she catches her breath she should be able to telekinetically slow their fall. ‘Then what, Jean?’ Scott asks, pointing out that the storm is clearing, and they are less than a half-mile from town already. ‘Unless we wrap this up right here - right now - a lot more than just our lives are going to be endangered’ Scott adds.
Jahf grins and tells the X-Men that perhaps they have not heard - there is nothing they can do against him, against Modt, nothing at all. Suddenly, the giant guardian puts his hand out and catches the heroes. He tells them that Jahf is correct, and that all of them know it. ‘You are helpless’ he declares. ‘But I am not’ he states, and with his other hand reaches out to grab Jahf, announcing that he wholeheartedly disagrees with his fellow guardian’s assessment. ‘The youth’s strength is certainly formidable indeed, far more than either of us suspected. I watched, and learned, as he brought it all to bear…against the temptation to use such forces unwisely. I saw, as he tried so determinedly to be heard…and struggled so desperately to listen’. Jahf is surprised by this, and calls out to his companion, but Modt just states that Nate Grey has passed his test, but Jahf did not. ‘If it is any consolation though, my little friend, you did prove your point - absolute power corrupts absolutely’. And with that, Modt and Jahf vanish, and Jean telekinetically lowers herself, Scott and Nate to the ground.
The next morning, the sun starts to rise. Scott knocks on the door to Nate’s room and enters, telling him that Jean claims his shirt didn’t even survive the washing machine. ‘Are you sure about this, really…do you definitely have to leave today?’ he asks. ‘Nope’ Nate replies, doing his boots up, he explains that he doesn’t want to risk wearing out his welcome on the first visit, either, now that they are not complete strangers. ‘Any time, kid’ Scott replies. ‘Wherever we are’ he adds, before handing Nate a costume, telling him that since his old boots seem to fit him so well, he should try the rest on for size. ‘Fits like a glove, actually…familiar colors, too…but I’m not X-Men’ Nate replies as he enters the living area where Jean and Scott are waiting for him. Nate runs a hand through his hair as he stands before them, showing off the blue and white costume. ‘Neither is the uniform, trust me’ Scott replies, referring to his old X-Factor costume, he explains that it comes from a time when he and Jean had broken away from Xavier to go their own way.
Suddenly, the phone rings. Scott picks it up: ‘Summers. Hold on, Ororo. She’s right here’ Scott answers, while Jean stands at the door and watches Nate take to the sky. ‘Wear it well, Nate’ she smiles. ‘Thanks, folks…thanks for everything!’ Nate shouts out, flying through the skies, he smiles. ‘New look, new connections - and maybe - just maybe - a whole new lease on life!’ he declares, unaware that down below in the forest, he is being watched, as a woman looks up, ‘Wishful thinking’ she tells herself, deciding that Nate races towards his death, faster and faster each day, and that he reeks of it already. ‘And now that I’ve finally picked up your sumptuous scent again, it’s just a matter of time ‘til you belong - body and soul - to your beloved Threnody…’ the woman snarls…


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

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Greyville
Greyville Illusion:
Greyville Drive-In cinema, an almost empty lot, late at night. The stars shine down over the large drive-in cinema. ‘Gimme a break, G… this creaker’s not even colorized’ one of the patrons remarks as they look up at the large screen ahead of them. ‘I mean, “Mr Smith Goes to Washington” - on the last Saturday night of the summer - whose lame-o idea was this, Grey?’ Spider-Man asks as he reclines on the hood of a convertible car, arms resting behind his head. ‘Mine, I guess. Must’ve heard something good about it… somewhere…’ Nate Grey, wearing his new blue and white costume, replies as he looks up at the screen, a little confused.
Threnody leans into Nate, telling him that it worse for her. ‘Any excuse to hang with the gang before school starts again is fine. Not to mention the long ride home later, just you and m-’ she begins, before Madelyne Pyror, sitting between Nate and Spider-Man, asks handing a bag to Threnody. ‘Sure, Maddie… for the sake of Spider-Man’s rep, if nothing else. Wouldn’t want his girlfriend wearing any more butter on her lips than you are already -’ Threnody declares.
Spider-Man tells Threnody to leave him out of this - permanently, when suddenly, the ground beneath the drive-in cinema opens, and a large red goo surges forward, knocking cars aside. ‘Holy… run - run for your lives!’ someone calls out. ‘It’s… it’s Ecco -’ another person exclaims as people leap from their cars. ‘ECCO - the sludge that swallowed Secaucus!’ someone declares as they run from the muck.
‘For real…?’ Nate asks as he flies towards Ecco, deciding that he can’t let the slime spread another inch, he uses his power to topple the large screen down towards the goo. ‘No… Grey’s toppling the whole screen…’ someone calls out. ‘With just a thought, believe it or not… while the rest of us are working up a serious sweat! As usual!’ Spider-Man declares as he swings by, picking up two civilians, and moving them from danger, while alerting Madelyne to the fact that others are in trouble. ‘Keep swimming, Spider - don’t stop now - we’re right behind you!’ Madelyne assures him as she casts a teleport spell that surrounds herself and two others, just in time as the screen lands with a loud KROOM, covering the goo, Ecco. ‘Ain’t teleportation grand?’ Spider-Man jokes, while Nate calls out ‘Smooth, folks. Maximum team-work, minimum damage’.
‘So far, perhaps… but you have not yet faced Violet, Agent of SHIELD!’ a dark-haired woman in a white costume declares as she appears. Violet announces that her firm offered to buy the real estate of Greyville, but that its people refused them repeatedly. ‘A fatal error, I’m afraid’ she adds. Violet declares that her people do not take no for an answer - ‘We have need of these properties now, striplings - commitments to large-scale developers, pending air-rights, litigation, etc’. Ecco re-emerges from under the downed cinema screen, and it reaches out for Spider-Man. “We”? he asks, before Ecco latches on around his ankle. ‘No less than long-term tax-reductions are at stake here. And if you will not sell the land of Greyville… we’ve come prepared for a hostile take-over!’ Violet announces.
‘Look out-’ Spider-Man shouts, while Ecco reaches high into the air, surrounding Spider-Man. ‘Hang in there, Spidey - hang on -’ Nate calls out to his friend as he flies straight to the strange muck, ‘I got your back, buddy! I’m on - it…’ Nate adds, but finding himself inside Ecco, he is surrounded by darkness. ‘In it, actually. In it deep’ Nate thinks to himself. He decides that whatever this thing is, telekinetic shields are keeping it off him, and the dark is no problem, that’s for sure, as a flare of energy from his eye lights up his surroundings. But he notices a strange CHTCHT sound coming from everywhere, all at once - all around them.
Nate looks concerned when he sees Spider-Man’s hand nearby, and he realizes that Ecco is not the single, solid slick he thought it was - just one giant monster with a huge appetite. ‘It’s a swarm of thousands! Hundreds and hundreds of thousands - eating Spider-Man alive!’ Nate shouts.
While, outside Ecco, Threnody tells Madelyne that Spider-Man is on the brink, about to go over the edge. ‘But they’re still alive, both of ‘em! I’d know if it they weren’t! If their death energies had been fully released… my mutant power would’ve gone for the kill already’ Threnody explains. Madelyne announces that she will teleport in there blind if she has to. ‘We can’t just -’ Madelyne begins, when suddenly, Ecco is ripped open as Nate flies out of it, carrying Spider-Man. ‘Back off, you two! Now!’ Nate tells the girls. Nate informs them that Ecco is not what it looks like, not by a long shot, that it is a horde of some sort - a collective consciousness, really, and that it is under Violet’s control. ‘And the Spider…? His costume’s in tatters’ Threnody calls out. ‘What about his mask, through? How’s - his mask?’ Madelyne asks, smiling as Nate hands Spider-Man over to her, and although his brown hair is fully out of the mask, the rest of it is still covering his face. ‘Did what I could for it telekinetically’ Nate explains.
Ecco starts to surround the four, while Nate remarks that Spider-Man has a real thing about his “secret identity”. ‘I heard that…’ Spidey utters, wearily. ‘Great. Ecco’s regrouping, gang - closing in for another wave’ Madelyne alerts everyone. ‘Don’t panic, Red. If it lives, after all if they live - they can die! And that makes ‘em mine!’ Threnody declares. Her mutant power activates, and Ecco screams - as does Violent, who starts to collapse. Madelyne teleports over to Violet and grabs her.
Shortly, police officers have arrived and Violet is in handcuffs. ‘Looked like roaches, according to the kids - big, shiny cockroaches - but they scattered when the Queen Mother here passed out, Sarge. And no sign of a single one since then’ one of the officers reports. ‘Grey and his pals did real good tonight…  as always’ the other officer announces.
Later, the sun shines down over a barn on a farm, where inside, a shirtless Nate is casually holding a tractor up with one hand, while someone hidden in the shadows tinkers underneath it. ‘So, is that freaky, or what?’ Nate asks. ‘I don’t know, little bro. Everybody in Greyville lived happily ever after… right?’ a white-haired young man sitting on a chair in the barn replies. ‘Sounds like the same old story to me’ he adds, before the man in the shadows calls out ‘Cable’. ‘What? What’d I do now?’ Cable asks. ‘Not you, boy, the fuel line cable. I need Nate to snag a replacement from my workbench’ the man under the tractor explains. A red-haired woman smiles and touches Cable on the arm. While holding a plate with a sandwich, she tells the man under the tractor not to be silly. ‘He knows that well, of course… everyone everywhere knows that Nate’s the apple of our eye, Forge’. Forge steps out from under the tractor, ‘I hope so, Jean - I truly do’ Forge smiles, adding that they couldn’t ask for a better, braver son.
A radio is on in the barn, and the announcer reports some late breaking news about the satellite that crashed into a Seattle Savings Bank at 9:12 last night. ‘Nine PM?’ Nate remarks. ‘Weird. That’s right around the same time I was bringing the movie screen down on Ecco…’ he adds, while the radio announcer reports that it is confirmed no lives were lost, due to the late hour, and the massive vault is said to have taken the brunt of the impact, and initial reports suggest that the infamous Ruby-Rosarios are among the missing valuables. Jean uses her telekinesis to turn the radio off, and tells Nate that it is not their problem. ‘We’ve finally found a place for ourselves, built a strong family together, here in Greyville, where mutants are free to be exactly who and what they are - where that Spider-friend of yours can even bounce around with a mask on all day if he chooses’. Jean adds that that is a bad idea in this kind of heat, and suggests to Nate that he might like to talk to Spider-Man about that.
‘It’s a good life, she’s right about that’ Nate thinks to himself. He is still holding the tractor up, ‘And that’s exactly what’s wrong, somehow - all wrong for m-’ Nate starts to tell himself, when suddenly, energy beams are fired down at the four, and some of the earth around them is blown into large chunks. ‘Behind me teke-shield, guys! Fast! It’s an ambush…!’ Jean calls out as she throws a telekinetic shield up around herself and the men. ‘…from above’ Jean gasps as a blast of energy penetrates her shield, and strikes her. ‘Jean!’ Cable calls out, rushing over to her. ‘Mother dearest is the first to fall, boy…’ a voice mocks.
Nate and Cable look up to see a man on a mechanoid steed. ‘Sinister?!’ Nate shouts. Smoke and flames rise up around everyone from the scorched ground, as Sinister boasts that he will destroy the Greys completely - slaughter each and every one of their brood before their eyes. ‘To reclaim what is rightfully mine. What I created!’ Sinister declares. He reaches out for Nate, ‘Come to me, Nate. Come home’ Sinister orders. But Nate and Cable turn to Jean, who Forge is holding in his arms. ‘Jean’s dead? Dead! You killed her, monster! Just cut her down in cold blood -’ Forge begins, before one of Sinister’s fingers extends like a spear, and pierces Forge’s chest. ‘More to the poin, now, Forge… I killed you both’ Sinister declares.
‘Butcher!’ Cable roars as he leaps skyward and uses his cyborg arm to grab Sinister. ‘I’ll take you apart, Sinister - tear your head off with my bare -’ Cable begins, managing to push Sinister off of his steed, but the villain responds by grabbing Cable’s throat, ‘Actually, Cable… you’ll suffer an agonizing but mercifully brief electrical feedback from my personal force field… and die upon contact’ Sinister declares. ‘Consider yourself fortunate’ Sinister remarks as he drops to the ground, while Cable’s body plummets to the ground below.
Forge is still alive, and calls out to Nate, telling him to get help. ‘Your friend, Spider-Man… at home… wherever that is… I’ll make sure…Sinister can’t follow’ Forge assures Nate, as he extends his arm and forces his hand through the mechanoid horse. ‘My steed!’ Sinister shouts. ‘Die already, tin man!’ Sinister shouts at Forge, firing a blast of energy towards him. ‘FORGE!’ Nate shouts as Forge is taken out. ‘Nothing ties you here any longer, traitor child. You are free to run now… to honor your “father’s” last words… his dying wish for you…’ Sinister points out, as Nate soars swiftly towards him, enraged.
‘I heard the man, Sinister, believe me! I know exactly what he wanted me to do - what I’m supposed to do - but it’s not happening, sucker! It just ain’t me!’ Nate declares as he uses his mental power to shatter Sinister’s armor. As the spectacular armor breaks and crumbles to the ground, even Sinister’s head falls off - revealing a scrawny bald man with purple skin beneath. ‘No! No! No! No! No! No! Not fair! Not fair! Not fair!’ he complains. ‘Cheater! Cheater! Cheater!’ he shouts at Nate.
‘Unreal. All of it - everything I have here - everything I had… impossible. This isn’t happening - it can’t be - I refuse to believe it’ Nate thinks to himself as the flames burn around him, and the small man, Sinister vanishes. That is all it takes. A single desperate thought, still half-formed in the singularly powerful mind of this confused young mutant from another world - and all illusion shatters. Beyond repair. ‘Thren and Maddie. Peter. My whole… family here - my whole life - too good to last… too good to be true. All lies’.
Nate then flies high over the flames, and reality does the rest, as he stares down, he sees a few blocks of houses, and nothing but empty space beyond that. ‘I mean, “Greyville?” Where’d that come from, anyway? What was I - thinking…?’ he wonders, before pondering whether this is actually possible - did he finally do what everyone has been afraid he would do - what he has been afraid he could do? ‘Have I somehow recreated the world around me in my own image?’ Nate shouts.
Reality:
‘Won’t lose me so easily, lover. Followed y’r scent all the way from Anchorage to here, and I’m finally close again… closer than you can image. Like they always say, though, “close” only counts in horse-shoes and - well - y’know the rest…’ Threnody’s thoughts trail off as she stands on a pier in Seattle, ‘I need you now, Natey…’
Threnody, her body looking a little larger than usual, utters as she looks out over the darkening skies. Suddenly, the waters around her start to splosh, and zombies emerge from it, calling her name. ‘…we need you’ Threnody adds as more zombies approach her on the pier.
Meantime, Nate hovers in the sky, and sees that Greyville has gone now - completely - that it just blinked out of existence. Same as its people - leaving nothing behind by but a strange bunker - dead center of the island. ‘Which is where, exactly? And how did I wind up here? When -?’ Nate wonders as he tells himself that with all he has seen of Earth since he found it - he has tried to see and learn, he has never even heard of volcanoes that spew purple smoke, like the ones around the bunker do.
‘Purple…?’ he utters. ‘Violet?’ he recalls the woman from Greyville. And then “Sinister’s” pallor, his puppeterring from the inside out, like that - the man was purple. ‘It’s so obvious now - Killgrave!’ Nate shouts. Nate remembers that Killgrave’s freaky pheromones give him total control over others, and he even used his mutant power on him once before, not to mention using Nate’s friends to set him up for something Killgrave never finished. ‘Until I showed him what it meant to challenge Nate Grey, what it costs’. Nate showed all of New York, and it cost him the life he had finally found there - the first real life he had begun to build for himself on this world - forever. ‘But not this time! I had nothing to do with all this here, now…it’s all on him this time - all on Killgrave, the Purple Man - and it’s all coming down on him!’ Nate shouts as he flies closer to the bunker, angry - and unaware he is being watched on a monitor.
The person watching Nate taps a key on the control panel before him. ‘I’d hoped for so much more, Grey. You failed to yield even the slightest hints to the so-called secret identity of Spider-Man. A major disappointment, I must admit…but  my misuse of your power has certainly proven profitable enough in other ways’ the mysterious being tells themself, holding a ruby red necklace in one gloved hand. ‘Time to cut my losses now, unfortunately. Game over’ the unknown being declares, and the screen suddenly goes blank.