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[Assistant]
Here we go again
A small club in London. The audience doesn’t expect much, but they are in for a treat, as Alison Blaire, dressed in her old, skintight silver Dazzler suit, is giving them a performance. It’s a low-rent gig, not her venue of choice, but as a mutant these days she’s glad about any job she gets.
Later, she dresses in biker boots and a leather jacket and takes off her long strawberry-blond wig to reveal her now short pink-dyed hair. From then on, things only get worse, starting from the two punk girls who make fun of her to the club owner, who tries to come on to her, talks down to her about being a mutant and finally pinches her butt. The last thing proves to be the straw that broke the monkey’s back. Ali’s eyes begin to glow, as she informs him that wasn’t very nice. Moments later, the entire building is aglow with her light.
Outside, a startled man wonders what this flash was, but doesn’t really care. He is too busy running for his life. His hunter, a flying winged man in a leather suit is also momentarily distracted by the light show. By the time his eyes recover, his prey is gone.
Ali leaves the club with a grim feeling of satisfaction. She wonders if Wolverine ever has to deal with this kind of stuff. Suddenly, the fleeing man runs into her. He apologizes profusely and runs on. Ali believes him to be a nutcase. When she notices he dropped the papers he was carrying, she calls out after him. Moments later, the masked winged man flies past her, almost causing her to fall again. He grabs the other man, informing him that their master doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Automatically, Ali gets involved, as she fires a photon blast at the flyer’s wings.
Angrily, he turns towards her and she recognizes him as Archangel. She’s totally mortified at the thought of having botched up an X-Men operation. She tells him it’s her and apologizes, wondering at the same time when “Mr. Armani” went all “rough-trade.” Instead of replying he swoops at her. She evades his hand but he hits her with his wing, the force of which throws her into a wall. An artificial claw springs from his arm and he attacks again. Ali grabs the arm with one hand and belts him with the other.
She revs up her motorcycle and tells the victim to jump aboard. They’ve barely driven a few feet when an optic blast totals the bike. Cyclops! Has the entire team gone bad? Alison wonders, as she orders the man to stay low and in the shadows. She’ll cover him. No, she won’t! a new voice informs her, as a big hand grabs her and tosses her into the air. Beast, Ali realizes, wondering at the same time why he is human again. A sustained blast of ultra-dense photons against a wall turns Ali into a living rocket and tosses her back into Beast’s body. She makes sure to fall on him, with Beast taking the brunt of the impact. Impatiently, she shouts at the man to run.
Suddenly, she is in agony, as though suffering a heart attack. Nevertheless, she urges the man to go, only to see him being frozen to ice before her eyes. A smirking, leather-clad redhead remarks she shouldn’t have interfered. Ali recognizes her as Jean Grey. ‘Jean’ mocks that Alison is already dead, but she still wants to play? Bored now. She’s done. And with that Alison’s world shatters.
The British coastline, near a shattered lighthouse stands a man out of place, who once called this his home. Brian Braddock aka Captain Britain once was a champion, not only of his homeland here on Earth, but also of the pan-dimensional realm of Otherworld. He loved and married a woman named Meggan. They hoped to live happily ever after. Now he’s lost them both, Meggan and Otherworld. He doesn’t know how. He doesn’t know why. And so he has come to what was once the stronghold of his team, Excalibur, seeking answers or perhaps a miracle.
An answer comes when he hears the voice of his sister Betsy, aka Psylocke. The twins hug. Overcome with emotion, Brian recalls that Betsy was dead. She got better, Betsy deadpans. How totally X-Men, he retorts. She reminds him that he has done it, too. It must run in the family, he figures. Betsy points towards the Blackbird. She has brought some friends of them both. The X-Men Nightcrawler, Shadowcat (along with her pet dragon Lockheed) and Marvel Girl, all three of them used to be founding members of Excalibur along, with Brian and Meggan, and are thus some of Brian’s dearest friends.
One group hug later, Nightcrawler and Kitty explain that Cyclops sent them to check up on Cap. With all that’s happened with M-day and all, they wanted to make sure he was okay. Betsy asks about Meggan’s whereabouts and Brian turns pensive. She’s gone, he announces simply. Everything was fine and then he woke up and he lived here instead of Otherworld, and he was alone. He had the strangest dream…
Another voice asks if the dream was a bout a chaoswave, a cross-time-tsunami that would have destroyed all creation if it hadn’t been for him and Meggan. Surprised, Brian agrees and turns towards the newcomer. Or newcomers more precisely, who are now exiting the Blackbird. One of them is Cain Marko aka the Juggernaut, former X-Man and former X-Men foe. The other one, the one who spoke, is a girl in her late teens, with an uncanny resemblance to Nightcrawler, Nocturne aka Talia Josephine “T.J.” Wagner. Kurt introduces her as his sort of daughter from another dimension. She is currently stranded in this one. She’s been having nightmares, Kurt adds. Brian replies in surprise that he recalls Nocturne from his dream.
Kitty interjects, suggesting they adjourn to Braddock Manor, as they have a lot to talk about. Not so easy, Brian replies somewhat amused, as his ancestral home is little more than a great big hole in the ground. Nightcrawler begins to argue that it had been rebuilt last time the X-Men were in Britain. He doesn’t get to finish his sentence, as somebody points a flashlight at them. They all look towards the newcomer. Just her lousy luck, Kitty sighs to Rachel, as she recognizes the man – her former lover. She should have stayed at home.
Pete Wisdom, MI-13, the newcomer and onetime member of Excalibur introduces himself to the few who don’t know him, before he needles Kitty, telling her that she is looking uncommonly respectable. Does he sleep in that suit? she shoots back, taking a dig at the fact that, ever since she’s known him, he has kept on wearing more or less identical black suits. MI-13 doesn’t allow sleep, he deadpans. More businesslike he informs them that they are all needed in London. Dazzler’s been murdered.
A little later, they arrive in London, where the police have already discovered Dazzler’s body. She wasn’t killed by the fight she was in, a doctor states. It rather looks like a heart attack.
Wisdom explains that he called the X-Men, partly as a courtesy, as Dazzler had been one of them once, but mainly because of the ice. Nightcrawler points out that Iceman cannot be the guilty party. He is in America and has lost his powers. A copycat then, Wisdom shrugs, as they are about to put Alison’s body into a bodybag. Suddenly, Rachel’s eye flashes, as she shouts that she is sensing brain activity – Alison’s alive!
Captain Britain takes charge: he orders Kitty to phase her hands into Alison’s chest for direct heart massage, whereas Rachel is to sue her telekinesis and jump-start Ali’s central nervous system. In the meantime, he applies mouth-to-mouth. The others watch and pray until, finally, Alison opens her eyes and gasps.
A little later, Betsy telekinetically flies herself and Alison to the Royal Victoria Hospital, announcing she has a casualty. Rachel follows and telepathically debriefs the hospital staff on the situation.
Moments later, Nightcrawler teleports in with Nocturne and a frantic Juggernaut. He insists on accompanying Alison to the cardiac trauma ward, until Nightcrawler talks some sense into him. Cain argues that she might need protection. Kurt agrees, but tells him to walk very softly.
He turns to his daughter, Nocturne, who is expressing some misgivings. She feels something in her head, something familiar, but wrong…
The penthouse apartment of Fraser’s bank in the London Docklands, destination of the rest of the group. Wisdom explains that the man that was covered in ice had an appointment with the boss banker, here, Courtney Ross. She probably had him murdered, one of the others mutters as they land on the terrace. Wisdom shoots that theory to hell, pointing out that Courtney has an alibi. Isn’t that what henchmen are for? Cap scoffs. Rules and laws don’t matter to her, Kitty agrees. She makes her own. Courtney, impeccably dressed in a short white business suit, joins them and gently points out that what she had told Kitty was, “People like us, we make our own.” Kitty is far more like her, than she would ever admit.
While Kitty glares at her, Courtney greets them all, and asks them to come in. Captain Britain snarls that this is an act and this Courtney is an impostor. A tyrant from another dimension who killed the real Courtney and took her place. Oh, really? Wisdom asks, somewhat doubtful. Ignoring Brian’s statement, Courtney explains that Roger MacEwan, the dead guy, was a good man. She’ll be happy to give whatever help they require to bring his murderers to justice.
With a tearful look she turns to Captain Britain and assures him of her love. She knows he loves Meggan. Some days she wishes she didn’t care for him. Those feelings led her to decisions she almost always came to regret. She urges them to not allow this to become one of them. She steps inside. Rachel addresses Brian: Is he sure she is a monster?
That went well, Wisdom tells Kitty with a smirk, calling her “petal.” Worth an academy award, Kitty agrees, not impressed. He reaches for her hand. She phases through it and orders him not touch her. Riffing on Courtney’s speech, he asks her if she is afraid of feelings that will lead her to decisions she’ll regret.
Getting more serious, he states that, back at the office, they’ve been hearing things. He works for Intelligence. Isn’t that his job, Kitty asks. Wisdom talks about the current situation, about the masses of depowered mutants. What is going on? Kitty plays dumb. Wisdom warns her. There’s been a lot of bad blood building between mutants and the rest of humanity. If the numbers have changed, there’ll likely be a reaction. Is she game for that? Absolutely, she shoots back. “That’s my girl,” he tells her, coming closer. She’s not his girl, she replies coldly and turns away. Her loss, he remarks, and his regret for letting her go.
His sappy five minutes over, Wisdom orders the others inside. On behalf of MI-13 – the division of her Majesty’s Intelligence Services devoted to superbeings and weird happenings – it’s their responsibility to take the killers down. Turning to Cap, he tells them to suck it up and act like bloody heroes.
From up above the fake Angel is targeting them, awaiting the word that he can attack. Beast demands dibs on Dazzler. Marvel Girl, who has already infiltrated the hospital, tells him Dazzler is hers. She doesn’t die until she finds out how she survived the first time. Cyclops and Iceman are also on the rooftops waiting with Cyclops reminding the others it is not their call. Quite true, their master, a Charles Xavier remarks. First, they must bait the trap. With that, he telepathically attacks Nocturne, who flips in the hospital. With that, he takes over the minds of the hospital staff around the X-Men, waiting for his plan to unfold. The battle has yet to begin, but they are already beaten, he vows.


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[Assistant]
Cast a Giant Shadow
London:
Captain Britain, Pete Wisdom, Kitty Pryde, Rachel Grey and Lockheed rush into the Royal Victoria Hospital to join their friends, a very agitated Kurt Wagner and Betsy Braddock. Kurt relays that they don’t exactly know what’s going on. Without any warning, his other-dimensional teenage “daughter,” Nocturne, simply collapsed. She cried out that someone was stealing her mind. Since then she hasn’t stopped kicking or screaming. Inside, a ICU unit specialists are trying to calm her but to no avail. Drugs won’t work.
Rachel tries to contact TJ with telepathy and decides to go inside her head. Kitty asks her to let her tag along, so she can watch her friend’s back.
(Nocturne’s mindscape: )
The two women bypass TJ’s formidable PSI-shields and get to the core of her being. They stand outside the doorway of her soul. Inside, they are overwhelmed by unspeakable noise; it’s TJ and her band giving a concert. Trippin’ thought the timestream, savin’ worlds as we go/ we gotta fix what’s broken, ‘fore we’re allowed to go home!/ We’re Exiles – always onna outside!/Exiles – always alone sings T.J.
She’s a total headbanger, moans Kitty, while Rachel is desperately trying to screen out the noise. Kitty drags her outside, realizing the experience is even worse for a telepath.
Elsewhere, evil Xavier observes and surmises the noise a kind of defense. Nocturne’s thoughts are relatively transparent, but so inherently chaotic they cannot be easily read. Her body by extension becomes almost impossible to control. In all the ways that matter, she is quite safe. The two girls on the other hand…
(reality)
In the hospital, Rachel and Kitty scream and fall down unconscious. With Kitty still touching Rachel, both girls are phased as a nurse finds out when she tries to take Rachel’s pulse.
Nightcrawler quickly explains that it’s Kitty’s defense mechanism. By making the two of them intangible, Kitty protects them from both physical and psychic attack. Problem is, Wisdom points out, she also prevents them from helping. Betsy manifests a psychic katana as she tells Wisdom to leave that to her. Her telekinesis can make them solid again and her psychic sword should drive away whoever is threatening them.
Outside the building, evil Xavier informs his Iceman of the heroes’ actions and orders him to remove them from the equation.
Suddenly, the heroes are attacked by a volley of ice. Captain Britain refuses to stand back and abandon his friends. As a result, he gets frozen. Lockheed spits fire at the ice, but a frantic nurse informs him that there are tanks of oxygen all over the floor. His flames would set off an explosion. Lockheed hesitates and he too is swallowed by the ice. It’s up to her then, Psylocke grimly announces.
(The Astral Plane)
The evil Xavier in the shadows informs the two girls that their telekinetic friend is magnificent. How fascinating that her mind is totally closed to him. He’ll deal with her in due course. First, it’s their turn, though. Shadows come forth to surround them. He identifies them as this universe’s Katherine Pryde (whose version from his universe he had killed) and (wrongfully) Jean Grey. Holding Kitty, Rachel surrounds them with Phoenix fire hoping that his shadows can’t withstand her light. Moments later, he is gone, but they are still in his office. Rachel is sure he will be back.
She muses that here was something familiar about his voice. He isn’t completely Charles. Suddenly, they get a good look at their uniforms. While the upper halves are still normal, below the torso the clothes have been shifted into S/M fetish clothes. Evil Xavier must be remaking their astral selves in his image, Kitty realizes. And once that transformation is complete…
 (reality)
Meanwhile, Dazzler’s bed is hanging precariously over an abyss and Iceman comes in for another attack. Killing her once tonight isn’t enough? Dazzler asks sarcastically, as she shoots her lasers at iceman’s iceslide causing him to fall. That moment Juggernaut bursts in, asking if she is ok. Inadvertently, he thumps against her precariously hanging bed, which falls down. Oh, crap! both of them shout.
Alison fires photons at the ground until the impact allows her to soar upwards. Eat you heart out, Peter Pan, she shouts only to draw down her skimpy hospital nightshirt in embarrassment one moment later.
At the same moment down below, evil Beast is attacking Betsy. He throws her against Wisdom and then tries to break her neck. Nightcrawler teleports on top of them and ‘ports both himself and Beast into the cafeteria, where he slams Beast’s head against the table. They’ve had just about enough, he announces angrily. Unfazed, Beast hits him. Did he think his teleport would knock him out? Actually yes, Kurt admits, as he rolls Beast away. But he is perfectly prepared to deal with him the old-fashioned way.
The two of them keep on battling in hand-to-hand combat, while outside a car is breaking all speed limits to get to the hospital as soon as possible. A dark-haired woman gets out and tells the other passenger, Courtney Ross, to wait here. Courtney pleads to be allowed to help.
Higher up, Angel makes fun of Iceman’s lack of success with Dazzler, then tells him to get in line. Jean has first dibs, then Angel. Xavier telepathically orders him to be silent. Their personal desires are of no consequence. Their mission is to acquire Nocturne.
Incognito, dressed as a doctor, Jean asks if she isn’t allowed to kill anyone. Calling her “pet,” Xavier tells her all in good time. Cyclops simply announces that he is in position. Xavier synchs Cyclops with Iceman, who is higher up, to get a view of Beast and Nightcrawler in the cafeteria. Kurt is gaining the upper hand. Xavier orders Cyclops to deal with him. Cyclops lets his optic blast ricochet off the walls until it hits Nightcrawler. Mission accomplished.
Wisdom, in the meantime, is helping up the still coughing Betsy as a new foe enters – the evil Jean Grey. Psylocke telekinetically attacks, but the redhead easily deflects that. Very nice try, she mocks.
On the astral plane, evil Xavier is getting ready for his next round against an increasingly doubtful Rachel and Kitty.
Back in the hospital, Jean displays telekinetic fine-control that Betsy cannot match, as she slows down Betsy’s heart.
On the astral plane, Xavier’s shadows surround the girls. He announces that he could crush them. In your dreams! Rachel shouts defiantly. Soon, he shall be eternally in theirs, he replies in triumph. He killed all the hero types in his universe. He intends to savor every delicious moment in this one.
In reality, the woman from Courtney’s car, Sage, points a gun at Jean Grey’s back. Calmly, she orders her to let Psylocke go and not to move. Xavier telepathically links Jean with a watching panicked doctor, allowing her to see Sage. With her telekinesis, Jean dismantles the gun and slams Sage into a wall. Wisdom tosses several hot knives at Jean. Calling him a glutton for punishment, Jean deflects them back at him.
(The astral plane)
Xavier is withdrawing, distracted by something, but the girls find that he is still gaining ground, as Kitty’s uniform has changed almost completely to the fetish look.
(Reality)
Wisdom is being smashed into the ice. Did that hurt? Jean asks mockingly. Did she throw him too hard? Is she holding him too tight? She comes close to him as she explains that she has plugged the bloodflow to his brain. He begins to lose consciousness. She was hoping for more of a struggle, she announces as she turns towards the still unconscious Nocturne.
Try me, Juggernaut suggests. Jean chides him for giving her a warning. Who said he was the one she had to worry about? he smirks, as he steps aside to reveal Dazzler, who quickly blinds Jean with a flash of light. Juggernaut then tosses the redhead outside.
Unfortunately, Angel catches his teammate. This is almost as bad as fighting the real X-Men, Juggernaut shouts in exasperation and adds, he would know. They are the real X-Men, Angel stresses. Safe in his grip Jean telekinetically yanks Nocturne out.
Jean tells the heroes to make peace with their gods, as Iceman attacks again. Xavier orders his X-Men to return to his sanctum. The next time those heroes face them in battle will be the last.
Cain smashes the ice. A moment later, Wisdom berates him. Why didn’t he finish off Jean Grey when he had the chance? He doesn’t kill, Cain explains helplessly. Hooray for his scruples, Wisdom announces and suggests he take a long, good look at the consequences. And this is just the beginning. Cain jumps outside and promises to make things right.
What is it with skintights and impulse control? Wisdom moans. Sullenly, he uses his hot knives to thaw out Captain Britain, still mumbling whether those heroes couldn’t come up with a plan before they act.
Couldn’t he have done this sooner? Captain Britain asks, in a foul mood. Wisdom reminds the assembled heroes that they got their collective butts kicked. Three X-Men are down, Nocturne captured and Juggernaut is running to the rescue with no clue where to go. Not to mention he is on foot, following people who can fly. How’s he going to follow their trail then? She’ll show him the way, Sage calmly announces. And provide them with a plan.
And who is she? Wisdom asks angrily. Sage introduces herself but, before she can clarify her role with the X-Men, he interrupts her impatiently. If those are X-Men gone bad and if they have Xavier how do the likes of them take down the most powerful telepath on the planet? They are heroes, Captain Britain announces simply. They’ll find a way to win.


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[Assistant]
Shadows on the Soul!
London:
Juggernaut is hot on the fake X-Men’s heels, trying to save Nocturne. Unfortunately, it is rush hour and, as he isn’t used to traffic coming from the left side, he almost runs over a woman with her baby in a stroller. The result: a big time traffic accident and lots of drivers and passers-by ready to kill him. One man assures Cain he is lucky Captain Britain isn’t here. He’d thump him good.
Actually, Captain Britain has other problems. After the fake X-Men’s attack on the Royal Victoria Hospital, several of the heroes are hurt, including Brian’s twin sister Psylocke. Gently, he lowers her on a hospital bed, while the former X-Man Sage examines her two  unconscious ex-colleagues Kitty Pryde and Rachel Grey.
(On the Astral Plane)
Kitty and Rachel are still trapped in Nocturne’s mind, thanks to the evil Xavier who is slowly brainwashing them, as shown by their clothes slowly turning to the fetish wear also worn by his X-Men. They realize that, when they look like the bogus X-Men, they will be like them.
(reality)
Sage reveals to the others that there is a twist in Rachel and Kitty’s EKG readings consistent with a malicious and ongoing telepathic attack. She can’t block the assault and even restoring the girls’ psyches to their bodies won’t help. The threat must be neutralized at its source.
Cap demands they get cracking. Dazzler is willing to help, but needs some clothes first. Courtney Ross helpfully hands her some, courtesy of  Sage.
Captain Britain is less than pleased about her appearance. She assures him she is there to help. What’s in it for her? he asks suspicious. Jokingly she replies “tradition.” First, the White Queens of the Hellfire Club torment the X-Men. Then they join them. Ultimately they take over. Then who is he to defy tradition, Brain replies wryly.
Been studying Machiavelli? Wisdom asks him as Courtney walks ahead. “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer,” he quotes. Isn’t that why they stand side by side? Brian retorts, before stressing that there is a great deal Wisdom doesn’t know about him… and neither does Courtney. While he says that his eyes don’t leave Courtney who is striding away. She is very much aware of his gaze. After all, he is just a man, she thinks. He might be married to Meggan, but she isn’t here… she’s as good as dead. And who better to ease his broken heart than his first true love – even if he believes her to be a monster?
Sage, in the meantime, is busy working on a holographic computer, thanks to her cybershades. On her computer screen, she sees the evil X-Men. Sage explains to Wisdom and the others as well as Juggernaut, whom she has also contacted, simply that they are going to find and follow them and get Nocturne back. But this is no simple feat, for their foes have proven themselves as formidable as the original X-Men.
Cap wonders why Xavier is acting that way. Those questions can wait, Sage replies. Their immediate goal must be the X-Men’s defeat. They must assume that every untrained mind around them is in some way compromised. If she reveals their plans in advance, Xavier can pick them from their minds. Therefore, they must trust her and obey without hesitation. Dazzler expresses distaste at them being Sage’s “puppets.” She has heard stories… Brian reminds her that lives are at stake. Sage orders him and Dazzler to get airborne and hands Wisdom her car keys. God help him if there is even a scratch… Xavier has to know they are coming, the agent points out. With a smile she informs him that Xavier will be … distracted.
A little later Captain Britain flies off with Dazzler, Wisdom drives away in Sage’s car, still ticked off about Sage’s threat should he damage the vehicle.
Back at the hospital, the manacled and guarded evil beast calls Sage a fool and informs her that they stand no chance against his master.
Elsewhere Juggernaut is still being harassed by several policemen when, suddenly, Sage calls him on a police radio. The police officer protests that it is an offense to trespass on police radio frequencies. Sage orders Cain to take the radio. Not a good idea, he informs her. The policeman protests that he is under arrest and so is the woman (when they find her, that is). Sage insists it is an emergency and the cop can do little when a profusely apologetic Juggernaut simply takes the radio.
Sage tells him where to run, taking him street by street.
Multitasking, she informs Cap and Dazzler that they are about to catch up with Angel, Jean and their prisoner, Nocturne. Dazzler wonders if there isn’t someone missing. A moment later – just as Sage shouts a warning – Iceman’s ice-barrage hits Captain Britain from behind and he falls into the Thames.
Evil Xavier commends Iceman and orders him to take care of Dazzler as well. Muttering that she hates the cold, Dazzler frees herself from the ice and uses an impact beam to levitate herself. A moment later she fires a laser blast at Iceman and takes him out. With her momentum, she collides with Angel, who in turn drops Nocturne. Dazzler grabs her and they land on a rooftop a few meters below.
(the astral plane)
Kitty and Rachel are now almost completely dressed in evil Xavier’s colors. The telepath leers that, once they don the helmets, their corruption will be complete. Rachel cries defiantly that they will beat him. Unimpressed, he informs them they aren’t the first to try that. But everybody failed. Distracted, he suddenly curses his X-Men, wondering if he has to do everything himself. With that he disappears, giving the girls a reprieve.
(reality)
Juggernaut is still following Sage’s directions. As he runs through a filthy alley, he almost runs into three teenagers coming out from a hole in the wall. Harry, Ron and Hermione wonder who that was and are glad he isn’t after them.
Juggernaut arrives at his destination – the Tower of London, where he is already expected by Cyclops and Jean Grey. Just like old times, he figures as he strides forward, hardly deterred by Cyclops’ optic blast. Iceman joins them and tries to freeze Cain – to no avail. At that point Captain Britain, who has freed himself from the ice, intervenes. Together, he and Cain make short works of Iceman.
Elsewhere, Angel hits Dazzler and makes another grab for Nocturne. Trying to force Ali to give up, he threatens Nocturne with a knife. Angry, the young woman elbows him, annoyed at the fact that he didn’t consider her a threat. Ali follows this up with a kick to Angel’s face. Delighted over their victory, the two women high five each other.
Back at the hospital, Sage figures they are doing well until she notices Beast has freed himself. Who’s the smart one now? he mocks as he attacks. Let me think about that for one second, Sage replies mockingly as she counters his attack with a smooth kick. They succeed in taking each other out.
Back at the Tower, Juggernaut relishes the feeling of beating up Jean and Cyclops and being the good guy for once. Moments later, he is attacked by evil Xavier himself. Juggernaut jumps at him, figuring that taking out some brotherly aggressions will be icing on the cake. The fact that Xavier is walking is even better. Almost makes it a fair fight. Using his psi-powers, Xavier stands his ground, as he boasts that nothing is fair between them. He has always been the superior being. Without his armor and helmet for protection Cain is nothing but brute muscle. And indeed, slowly Juggernaut sinks to his knees under Xavier’s psychic onslaught. Xavier threatens to fry his brain as he did to his reality’s Juggernaut.
Simultaneously on the astral plane, Xavier has almost finished the conversion of the two struggling girls. He is about to triumph, as suddenly he makes a strange noise – light seems to be emitting from his head.
(astral plane)
Rachel uses that chance to take him out. She and Kitty revert to normal and the psychic barriers keeping them trapped are gone. They can return to their bodies. Relieved, they hug each other.
(reality)
Xavier falls slowly, victim of an instant lobotomy courtesy of Pete Wisdom’s hot knives.
A little later, MI-13 agents have joined the heroes and are taking care of the prisoners. Captain Britain disapprovingly tells Wisdom that that was a pretty underhanded move. Super heroes are expected to abide to a certain code of conduct. He’s an agent of the crown, Wisdom retorts. He follows a different code.
That’s the Wisdom I remember, announces a restored Kitty Pryde, as she and the other X-Men from the hospital join their friends. And there’s the Pryde I won’t forget, her former lover replies fondly. Kitty and Rachel wonder if it was really the Professor they were fighting. Kurt suggests they could taker the evil X-Men back to the Xavier Institute. Wisdom vetoes this suggestion. They committed crimes on British soil. They’ll keep them. He offers the X-Men asylum as well. Kurt thanks him on the others’ behalf, but their place is among the X-Men.
Pete turns to Captain Britain, asking him. Brian informs him that he is also monarch of Otherworld. He is bound by greater responsibilities. He tells his sister good-bye and takes off. Wisdom cries out after him – but his appeal that Brian is needed is ignored.
In a foul mood already, he turns to the others: what about them? Cain would love to join but, he adds apologetically, he thinks he is supposed to be under arrest again. Dazzler refuses. She knows her limitations. She is a singer. She doesn’t need to save the world anymore. Only Nocturne takes up Wisdom’s offer with unbridled enthusiasm. When do they start?
Still angry, Wisdom turns to Sage. He knows how the “tosser” – referring to Captain Britain – feels, but he just doesn’t care. With 90 % of mutants powerless and those evil X-Men something is wrong and they need to right it. Sod Otherworld, this realm needs Excalibur and Excalibur needs Captain Britain. And Wisdom aims o see it gets them both!


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[Assistant]
Old Times Now are not Forgotten!
Four seemingly unrelated events:
In Regent’s Park Zoo, the Warwolves exhibit has been closed.
In Shanghai, China, Lum Kwai-Tse, the Far East managing director of Fraser’s Bank is found dead.
In Bangladore, India, people find another corpse – that of Muaharam Ram multimillionaire and one of the foremost network programmers in the subcontinent.
In London, the capital of the United Kingdom, the Juggernaut is on trial at the central criminal court, the “Old Bailey.”
The prosecution begins, accusing Cain Marko of having once again proven himself a menace to society. He has violated his parole and should therefore spend the rest of his unnatural life behind bars. Cain protests, trying to explain that he was trying to save lives. Doesn’t that count for anything? The judge orders him to be quiet.
Juggernaut’s lawyer, Jennifer Walters aka the She-Hulk, speaks on his behalf. She points out the same thing as Cain, albeit better-phrased, that the need to prevent the ongoing commission of major crimes, including terrorism, were the cause of those admittedly regrettable incidents. Her client should not be held accountable.
Perhaps that’s how they do things in New York, the prosecutor snipes, but England is governed by the rule of the law. Why should Marko, a convicted felon, be granted a freedom of action and an absolution of all responsibility, even British officers of the police are denied?
Cain whispers to Jennifer that the jury is eating up the prosecution’s words. He is doomed.
However, a new player enters the court, Peter Wisdom, on Her Majesty’s service. Away from the public’s eyes, with only judge, prosecution, Cain and Jennifer present, Pete quickly makes his point by giving the judge a written order, dictating that in the interest of national security all charges against Cain are vacated, meaning he is free to go.
The prosecutor vehemently protests. The judge sardonically wishes her luck. With the order signed by the secretary and the prime minister, she will need a miracle. The prosecutor grabs the order, demanding to see it. Wisdom sarcastically advises her to pay close attention to the letterhead. It displays the royal coat-of-arms. The big galoot has friends in the very highest of places, Wisdom adds unnecessarily.
A little later outside the Old Bailey, Jennifer is hurt in her pride, as she tells Wisdom that she would have won the case without any help. They couldn’t afford to take that chance, Wisdom replies. And they need to establish Cain’s “Get out of jail free” card for future reference.
Juggernaut demands to know what the deal is. Who is “we”? He points at Wisdom who mildly tells him to stop it. He reminds Cain that he works for MI-13, the department of her Britannic Majesty’s Intelligence Service responsible for all matter metaphysical. Which includes him? Juggernaut asks. Something like that. Does he have to work for them in return, Juggernaut asks. He isn’t here to force him, Wisdom replies, but he is suggesting Cain should connect the dots.
In her flat, Sage is watching a webcast, namely show by the mystery revolutionary known only as Bean, who sees it as his job to let the public know about information the establishment is trying to keep secret.
He begins talking about the massacre of the Grey family in Annandale-on-Hudson by a team of interstellar bounty hunters, the Shi’ar Death Commandos, for the crime of being related to the X-Man known as Phoenix.
Meanwhile, the X-Men themselves are still residing under the watchful aegis of the federal office of national emergency and their Sentinels. Bean asks some uncomfortable questions: namely who tamed those robots whose original programming was to exterminate mutants? Where did they come from and what are their current directives? Cant hey truly be trusted. The X-Men’s role has always been to act as the defenders of both mutantkind and humanity itself. These days you have to wonder – who will defend them?
Bean ends his broadcast with reminding his audience of Thomas Jefferson’s classic dictum: “ A little revolution now and then can be a very good thing.”
Elsewhere, in the shopping area Covent Garden is T.J. Wagner aka Nocturne, who is phoning her “father” Nightcrawler at the Xavier Institute after having seen Bean’s Webcast.
Kurt Wagner answers from the X-Men’s infirmary where he and Psylocke are recovering after having received injuries battling the Shi’ar. He admits that the report was true but quickly calms his “daughter,” telling her that he and Psylocke are recovering quite nicely. Nocturne is relieved and inadvertently calls him “daddy,” before apologizing profusely for that slip of tongue. He sounds and acts so perfectly like her dad, that talking to Kurt is like talking to her real father. Kurt tells her she has nothing to apologize for. She honours him more than he dares say. Relieved she thanks him.
“Instant fatherhood. That’s a very neat trick,” Scott Summers who has entered the infirmary teases Kurt. Should they offer congratulations? None of them is aware that Sage is spying on them as she is on the Sentinels and on Nocturne (and God knows on who else).
Kurt jokes that considering he had nothing to do with it, he thinks T.J. turned out rather well. But, he continues, the strangest aspect of all this is that, in Nocturne’s reality, his wife, Nocturne’s mother, is the Scarlet Witch. Cyclops gives him a very odd look, one that Sage instantly picks on. What about Wanda Maximoff makes him react at the mere mention of her name with such worry and concern? Why is he so afraid? she wonders idly, while drawing a gun from her sleeve, having noticed an uninvited guest.
It’s Pete Wisdom offering cheap wine and Chinese takeout. She needs better locks, Sage states. Won’t help, he predicts. He’s that good? she asks. Depends, is that a conclusion or a challenge? he retorts. They click glasses and he proposes a bored toast.
He admires her different screens. She sees all she’s able, Sage states. Not as much as she’d like. Even the shadow mob, even in prison, Pete states, referring to the evil X-Men. Especially in prison, she states. She wanted them dead, didn’t she? he asks. Absolutely, she smirks. He admits that the same goes for him.
Later as they are more comfortable in front of a fire, he explains that he wants her, Braddock, Nocturne Dazzler and Juggernaut. The mutant world just took a major fall, leaving a lot of bad blood on all sides, with some very nasty folks looking to take the advantage, simply because there aren’t enough heroes to stop them anymore. She walks out onto the balcony and asks if he is offering a job. The hardest and most miserable he knows, Pete replies, but someone’s gotta do it.
Back at Covent Garden, T.J. is in for the shock of her life. Is Alison saying the Beatles broke up? she demands to know of Dazzler. Ali explains that actually John Lennon and George Harrison are dead. Is it different where she comes from? T.J shows her her I-pod with the picture of the Beatle’s 40th anniversary album. She’s got their entire catalogue. Ali begs if she can listen. T.J states she’s heard Ali is looking for a replacement bike. She’ll share the ride if T.J. shares the music, Ali offers.
Wych Cross, a suburb of greater London where Rana Mousabi, a seemingly demure Pakistani woman, is attacked by two men. The woman easily defends herself, asking if they have any idea who they are dealing with. Rana draws a gun and identifies herself as an agent of MI-13. She shoots the one man, but the shot only manages to tear his face off, revealing silver skin underneath. Angrily, the Warwolf sheds its skin, shouting that Rana ruined his brand-new face!
Near the ruins of Excalibur’s lighthouse stands Brian Bradock, who desperately shouts out the name of his missing wife, Meggan. It’s like he expects an answer, a voice announces. He supposes he does, Brian replies as he turns to Courtney Ross. Courtney reminds him that Meggan sacrificed herself to save all creation. He insists that he’d know if she were dead. What he doesn’t understand is why he can’t transit back to Otherworld. Well, what does he know? Courtney asks. Nothing but dreams and speculation. And standing here, screaming her name, solves…? Courtney goads. What does she want, he asks impatiently.
Courtney back off and apologises. But while he is worrying about his far-off Meggan, Courtney is there, thinking about him. She reaches out for him, but he warns her that he doesn’t want to hurt her. Too late for that, she replies. Long before he became Captain Britain, she was his first love. Whatever happens, that will never change. She touches his cheek.
Later at the restaurant “The Wild Rover” in London they talk more about their lives. Brian asks if she ever found anybody else. She explains that she’s hardly been celibate but has found nobody to love. As dear Mick so loves to sing “You can’t always get what you want”. As he recalls, she always did, Brian deadpans.
The waiter informs Courtney that her credit card has been declined. A little later, she calls her bank. Angrily, she demands to know why all her credit cards have been cancelled. She is even using her friend’s mobile phone, because her cellular account has been withdrawn as well.
“Having a bad day, Ms. Ross?” asks a woman in a uniform, very much reminiscent of Captain Britain’s first costume. Brian introduces her as Kelsey Leigh aka Lionheart. He asks Kelsey if this is an official visit. Last he’d heard, she was with the Avengers. She replies that the Avengers as he knew them no longer exist. As for why she’s there, he may consider it payback. She strikes at him and Courtney with her staff.
Lionheart again tries to hit Courtney, as she asks if she knows what he has done to her. Something unforgivable, she is sure, Courtney quips. Pissed off, Lionheart warns her not to make fun. The likes of her wouldn’t understand. He told Kelsey she was dead. He offered her a chance to be reborn. He offered her power. She told him all she wanted was to save her children. He told her to choose her own destiny. He was talking about protecting the realm. She was desperate about her babies! Is it any wonder she chose the sword?
Brian, now in Captain Britain garb, grabs her hand and informs her that the amulet represents the quest for knowledge, for truth. Violence is a last resort. The sword speaks for itself. It’s a test of the spirit, of their souls. Their nature defines their destiny. He trips her. Major mistake, Courtney mumbles.
Enraged, Kelsey kicks Cap. Is he laying this on her? she demands. He needed her to save his sodding miserable life. He should have told her the price; that she’d never with her children again. He stole everything from her that gave life meaning. Now she’s going to do the same to him. She raises her sword, ready to strike.
Mike’s Motors, a small garage near King’s Cross Station:
Dazzler informs T.J. that this is where she will find the best in bikes. And in guys, T.J. agrees, ogling the mechanics. How are they supposed to choose? Not her problem as she is broke, Ali replies.
She greets Cain as they are joined by the Juggernaut, who was told by Sage that they are shopping. Dazzler is not happy about her keeping tabs on them. Cain wants to talk to Ali about Wisdom and his offer. Ali simply states that she doesn’t like Wisdom, as she tries out a bike. Cain agrees and offers to buy her the bike. He has some money stashed. She thanks him, but… She’d rather carry her own weight, he finishes the thought. ‘Fraid so, Ali tells him, That’s one thing he loves about her, he begins, when suddenly he tosses her aside, to save her from an energy blast.
The attackers are four Warwolves, two of them wearing human shapes. One of the human ones fired the energy weapon that even managed to stop the Juggernaut. With him out of the way, they intend to have some fun, meaning they’ll take everyone’s faces and lives.
At Sage’s place, the doorbell rings. Gun in hand, she walk to the door to see it is Special Agent Rana Mousabi, Pete’s colleague. Rana claims it is an emergency. Sage opens he door and “Rana” violently kicks her. Sage fires her gun and “Rana” shouts in panic, “not the new skin.. Another Warwolf covers her and tells her to stop whining. It jumps Sage and begins the process that will kill Sage and allow it to wear her skin.


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[Assistant]
Howling Mad!
At Thames-Side, Captain Britain urges Kelsey Leigh aka Lionheart that she doesn’t really want to do this. His foe is not convinced.
In Mike’s Garage, Dazzler and Nocturne are doing their best to hold themselves against the Warwolves.
In downtown, London, a Warwolf is in the process of assimilating Sage, or so it thinks. Suddenly, she grabs its arm and it finds the process being reversed. Sage coldly informs it that she has taken its measure and knows how to beat it.
The other Warwolf in the shape of Wisdom’s colleague, Rana, trains her gun on Sage. Still, she is frightened out of her wits, as she begs Sage to stop. She will tell her everything. Sage demands she talk fast.
Nevertheless, the Warwolf is shot thanks to the hotknives of new arrival Pete Wisdom. Sage’s Warwolf uses the opportunity to slam the woman into Wisdom. Both of them crash through the glass door onto the balcony. The Warwolf gathers up its fellow and jumps out, vowing that they will fulfil the contract another day.
Nasty little buggers, those Warwolves, Pete comments. Still gasping, Sage asks if he knows them. All the rage at Regent’s Park Zoo these past few years, Pete explains, since they were captured by the original team of Excalibur. The tabloids loved them, but the exhibit was closed down a few years back and the Warwolves removed to “parts unknown.” Perhaps it is no accident that they attack just as Pete is proposing a revival of the team, Sage observes and suggests they had better warn the others.
At Thames-Side, Captain Britain is still fighting defensively, asking Lionheart to stop it for mercy’s sake. She shouts at him not to use that word. He cannot expect mercy from her. He slaps her sword aside, as she continues that because of him her children believe their mother is dead. And if she reveals the truth they’ll die.
He tries to apologize. She doesn’t want to hear it. She wants her life back. But she will settle for ending his. She brutally slams him into a wall, causing the building do go down around him.
Courtney Ross is trying to get away in her car. Kelsey tosses a propane tank at her, figuring if she shares Cap’s heart, she can share his fate. Cap has freed himself from the rubble at that moment. Seeing the danger, he joins Courtney in the car, orders her to relax her body and covers her as well as he can. The tank hits.
At Mike’s Garage, Dazzler orders Nocturne to get behind her and not look as she blinds the Warwolves with a lightshow. Nocturne tells her that rocks. She uses her acrobatics to topple two Warwolves, somersaults towards the third and then merges with it as she tries to possess it. Moments later, she emerges from the body again, clearly in agony. Her possession trick didn’t work.
Alison fires a laser blast at the Warwolf and informs Nocturne that they have to stop thinking of them as real people. Clever girl, another Warwolf comments as he slashes her back, but too slow.
Who’s too slow? Nocturne asks, as she kicks him away. Still imprisoned in a red crystal-like substance, Juggernaut watches helplessly as the women are cornered by the four Warwolves. Finally, he manages the impossible and breaks loose.
Thames-Side: Lionheart searches the burning wreck, complaining that this was too quick. She wanted him to suffer. Seeing Captain Britain’s crouching still form, she states that Captain Britain is dead and she has her vengeance. Moments later, she tears off her mask, displaying her scar as she cries what has she done? Now she’s a murderer!
She touches Brian’s body to find that he is alive. Courtney as well is unharmed, as Brian protected her with his own body. Cap gets ready to strike Kelsey, who shouts out “don’t!” rather than fighting back. However, it is not she who stops his blow but the hand of a newcomer, a costumed stranger in a golden mask who introduces himself as Albion. He adds that he has come to kill Captain Britain, as he simply tosses him aside.
He informs Kelsey that Courtney is hers. If she truly wants revenge, he can’t think of a better way than to slay the woman who was Captain Britain’s first true love. Is that true? Kelsey asks, as she grabs Courtney. The other woman refuses to answer, but Kelsey can see that she still loves him. That’s as plain as Courtney’s courage. What a waste.
In the air, Captain Britain is waiting for Albion’s attack. They collide in the air above Big Ben, even Juggernaut who has beaten the fours wolves can hear the noise.
In the meantime, Nocturne takes care of Dazzler’s injuries while the singer complains that she is always the designated punching bag. Two fights, two trips to the hospital. They have been joined by Wisdom and Sage, who is watching the fight in the air though her binoculars. She informs the others that Captain Britain is taking on someone his own size and apparently far more power. While they are not even trying to damage the city, the effect on London may yet prove to be devastating, she warns.
Brian demands to know who the other man is, as he throws him down into a construction site. Albion frees himself from the rubble to see that Lionheart still hasn’t killed Courtney. He asks why “this creature” is still alive. Kelsey just stutters. Albion tells her he understands, while he covers her face again with her mask. The nobility of he soul does her honour, but they are at war. This is not the time to yield the quality of mercy. Especially to the likes of her.
Suddenly, they notice a strange glow. Not to far away the others have come up with a plan to help. Dazzler uses her impact beam to steer Juggernaut (and Nocturne riding piggy-back) in the direction of Albion and Lionheart.
Albion observes that the tide of battle is turning. Can’t they take them, Kelsey eagerly asks. Swatting Juggernaut aside into a levee, Albion replies that she is not ready yet. By the time Cain and Nocturne have gotten their bearings, Albion and Lionheart have flown away.
As Cap helps up Juggernaut, the former villain angrily berates him for not following them. He was doing fine on his own. Nocturne chastises him for his attitude, pointing out that even he might drown.
Cap turns to Courtney, glad she is all right. She jokes that apparently even she deserves the occasional miracle. Brian turns back to Juggernaut, explaining that he didn’t follow because that was what Albion wanted. Fighting him one-on-one was hard enough. With Lionheart at his side…? The question is why is Kelsey at his side. Who is he? What is he after? Aside from his death? Courtney asks.
He used to be a halfway decent scientist Cap muses but he has forgotten the first rule of nature: it abhors a vacuum. Sentient life on Earth was evolving. They may have issues with the direction, but it was still a natural process. Then, suddenly, in an instant almost all of the world’s mutants lost their powers. The very genome that created them was erased. Is it any wonder that the reaction may be as extreme? M-day hasn’t made things better for the world. For too man it’s quite the opposite. And he fears that too many will find profit and satisfaction in making things worse.
He can’t be true to his throne in Otherworld by abandoning his responsibilities here. Captain Britain first and foremost is a champion of this realm. But he can’t handle the job alone. He turns to the others – Cain, T.J., Alison, Pete Wisdom and Sage and asks for their help. He isn’t the man or the hero he was. He intends to be better. Now, as before Excalibur stands for an ideal, might in the service of right. “Let’s go do some good!”
“Oh, sure, take all the credit,” Wisdom comments wryly.


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[Assistant]
<em>So why is it I’m not dead?! </em>
(recording)
A young man dressed in a military style red and white uniform introduces himself as Squadron Leader, Colin Hardy, Royal Air Force. Until M-Day, he was the leader of the Scarlet Knights.
(Reality)
At the Royal Victoria Hospital, patient Alison Blaire aka Dazzler exclaims over the mess that was made when she and her teammates fought the evil X-Men from another reality there. Ali admits to feeling responsible. A doctor suggests they could send her the repair bill. Ali snorts, and hints at being broke. The doctor is surprised about that. She confesses she is a fan of Alison and is surprised the singer isn’t a star. Ali replies that talent isn’t a guarantee for success and being a mutant doesn’t exactly help these days either. At least Ali is alive, the other woman points out.
(recording)
Hardy continues that the Scarlet Knights served the people of this realm. They were mutants, considered heroes by some.
(Reality)
While she is being examined, Ali assures the other woman that she feels fine. Is she invulnerable? the doctor asks. She wishes, Ali jokes. Immortal? No gray hairs yet, Ali jokes. The doctor points out that Ali’s heart was crushed. She was clinically dead for ninety-three minutes. Yet within hours, she full recovered and is in perfect health. Wouldn’t she like to find out how and why?
(Recording)
The recording shows a picture of the entire team, more than a team, a family, parents, two brothers and two sisters. When the mutator gene catalyzed in Colin, it somehow passed on the same powers to all of them.
(reality)
The Lake Hose, at the Empess Matilda Docks in Rotherhithe, London, Excalibur’s new HQ, property of MI-13.
The team’s powerhouse, Juggernaut, has been assigned by Pete Wisdom to carry in everybody’s belongings. Cain isn’t exactly happy about this. Entering Nocturne’s Room, he notices the monkey-bars on the ceiling and figures they are perfect for hanging all the clothes she’s been buying. He’s in for a shock, though, when he sees that Alison Blaire seems to own next to nothing in contrast.
(recording)
Hardy describes that his family’s specialty was search and rescue, both in peace and wartimes. They were famous. Every year at Farnborough Air Show, they were the favorite attraction.
(Reality)
Elsewhere in the Lake House, Captain Britain and Nocturne are training. The girl jumps at Cap, intending to possess him. However, she is for a surprise, because Cap’s natural forcefield protects him and repels her. She gets ready for another attack, intending to beat him the old-fashioned way, but being able to fly, he simply catches her.
(recording)
On a bright day, the Scarlet Knights are transporting several passengers when there is an unearthly flash of light.
(reality)
Juggernaut ambushes Captain Brita, who has just set down Nocturne. Brian ducks under the other man’s grip and uses a judo move to throw him into the Thames through an open door, remarking that he learned his lesson from the last time they tussled when Cain was still a villain. After that, he lectures Cain that being unstoppable isn’t all that much, when there is no ground to stand on. He shouldn’t rely solely on his strength and start using his wits instead.
(recording)
The Scarlet Knights fall, bereft of their powers.
(reality)
Atop the Lake House sits Sage in her virtual conference room. As usual she is multitasking, at the same time evaluating her teammates’ performance during the training session, taking in the news of the X-Men’s battle in Chicago, musing about several of her teammates’ powers, about the origin and purpose of their new enemy Albion, before finally giving more than a moment’s thought to the evil Charles Xavier. By rights, Pete Wisdom’s hot knives should have incinerated his brain. Yet he lives. Apparently, his abilities by far surpass that of their Charles Xavier. She is looking forward to the challenge.
(recording)
They never had a prayer.
(reality)
In Her Majesty’s Prison Wormwood Scrubs, Pete Wisdom is reminiscing with the warden, an old friend he is calling “Andy.” The warden notes that, in the past, he figured Pete would end up as an inmate here rather than his guest. The day is still young, Pete jokes, and he may yet get bored with the straight-and-narrow. Of course, Andy would still have to catch him.
Getting serious, he remarks that the prisoner transfer of the evil X-Men is set for the night. Andy doesn’t see the necessity. They’ve been no trouble so far. Whitehall prefers to have them somewhere far from civilian population and the Scrubs is in London, Pete explains. Andy shakes his hand and announces that they’ll be ready. Is he all right? Pete wonders. He sounds a bit… off. Touch of flu, the other man explains. He hasn’t been himself lately.
In the back of the office, behind a slightly ajar door, lies the real Andy, quite dead.
(recording)
Colin explains that they have learned since that M-Day affected mutants all over the world. They were annihilated. Without warning, without mercy. There were cheers when the news was announced. He never realized how many of them thought they were monsters, until they realized the mutants were helpless now. They have sown the wind with their hatred. Now the time has come to reap the whirlwind. M-Day took away his life’s purpose, his family and turned their dreams to ashes. Today, he will give them a taste of what is to come. He presses the button of a small device…
(reality)
…and an alarm goes off in Excalibur’s headquarters.
Sheperd’s Cross Railway station, on the eve of its gala opening the entire main line railway terminus has been destroyed by the blast of the bomb. Casualties are low because the station wasn’t yet operational. Excalibur instantly gets to work and help, looking for survivors.
In a van of the Metropolitan Police Pete Wisdom is meeting with several government and intelligence officials. One man is still in disbelief over what could have caused a hero like the Scarlet Knight to go terrorist. Impatiently Pete asks if he wasn’t listening. In the blink of an eye the Knight’s family was killed. He had no idea who was responsible. A whole lot of folk are cheering. And in a world with the likes of SHIELD, the Avengers and the FF plus all the intelligence services, how plausible is it that none of them has a clue?
Are they doing anything to figure it out, an elderly woman demands. That’s part of why he reformed Excalibur, Pete replies. And what if they find the ones responsible, another man asks. Does he really have to ask? Pete replies cynically.
Getting back to business, the man stresses it is imperative they expedite the prisoner transfer to Crossmore. Pete assures him they are good to go. Security is in Sage’s hands. Looking on the screen, he explains that Nocturne and Juggernaut are staying behind, helping with the disaster. The man is uncomfortable, remarking that Juggernaut used to be an inmate at Crossmore. All the more reason for him to stay, Pete explains. Good rehabilitation for his public face.
The female minister warns Wisdom that this is serious business with everybody watching. He had better not muck it up. And ruin his perfect reputation? Pete retorts mockingly before heading outside, where he complains about what a pain it is to have given up smoking. He reaches for his mobile to phone Sage.
Sitting in a tanklike vehicle in the Scrubs, Sage informs him that she is working, before giving him an update, particularly that Shadow-Xavier is already aboard and they are now in the process of loading aboard the shadow X-Men. Pete notices that she sounds a bit stressed and she admits that there were odd hints in cyberspace. She asks him what Black Air is.
Pete explains that Black Air used to be part of her Majesty’s intelligence. Rotten to the core. He should know, as he was part of them. When he found out he truth, the old Excalibur team helped him bounce them. After that, they went rogue. The like of Black Air don’t care about others. They always assume that they’ll not only survive the outcome of their schemes completely unscathed, but will triumph. That’s why they are so bloody terrifying.
In the meantime, one of the soldiers is looking at Shadow-Xavier, who seems to almost smile.
Back at the detonation site, the rescue workers are having a break. The three members of Excalibur are discussing the bombing, when they are joined by a rescue worker named Alice Connery, who inquires if they know Sam Guthrie.
She and her squad worked together a while back. Juggernaut invites her to join them. Alison in the meantime asks TJ about her time on Mojoworld. How is the bloat? she asks, referring to Mojo. Last she saw, he and Spiral were handed over to Emma Frost, TJ recalls. Good to know, Ali replies and adds with a vicious smile that she hopes Emma killed that fat pig.
Time to rock, petal, Ali is suddenly addressed by Pete, who has come with Captain Britain. Alison demands Pete not call her that and is promptly ignored. Pete then orders Cain and TJ to stay, despite Juggernaut’s misgivings about splitting the team up.
From some distance, a white-haired woman observes them and notes that Juggernaut had the right idea. She puts a canister into the ground and, moments later, red flowers begin to sprout. Agent Scicluna of Black Air watches Captain Britain fly away with Wisdom and Dazzler. Good as Pete is, she remarks, she will always be better. And Black Air will always prevail.
As the rescue troops gets back to work, Juggernauts suddenly hears a sound. Not too far away, he sees his former young friend Sammy Pare trapped in the wreckage and shouting for his help. He wants to rush to help, but TJ stops him, pointing out that Cain is too heavy. The wreckage is already shifting under his feet. He will destabilize the whole crater. Panicked, he demands they do something. Nocturne begins to crawl down to Sammy, wondering whether he isn’t supposed to be dead.
Those rules never apply to X-Men, Juggernaut points out, citing Jean Grey, Psylocke, Colossus and Magneto as examples. Why not this little kid? Who is she to argue, Nocturne remarks. Reaching out to Sammy, she asks how he got there. Suddenly, smiling viciously, the boy who is surrounded by red flowers replies that he was planted. And now it’s her turn to join him in her grave.
Tentacles emerge from the ground causing a cave-in. Before this happens, Juggernaut jumps into the hole to help Nocturne.
In the meantime, Captain Britain, Pete and Dazzler arrive in Wormwood Scrubs prison to be greeted by the warden, who informs them that Sage is ready to depart.
Aboard, Sage and the lieutenant who checked on Shadow-Xavier before remark they are ready. Everything is going according to plan. As if on cue, tentacles burst from the ground. Pete shouts at Sage to initiate plan B, and Sage reacts by pushing buttons and the vehicle becomes airborne, while the heroes outside are let to fend off the tentacles.
Calling Wisdom “Petey-boy,” Dazzler remarks that Pete seemed to have expected this. “This,” no, Pete retorts. But the minute Sage mentioned Black Air, they both assumed the worst. And if she calls him “Petey-boy” again…
While Sage is still busy with the controls a telepathic helmet begins to form in front of the lieutenant and she places it on Sage’s head, revealing that she is controlled by Shadow-Xavier.
Outside, the others notice that the transport is out of control, as inside Sage struggles. Xavier remarks that her struggle is in vain, as this mental construct allows him direct telepathic access to her mind. Wisdom’s hot knives were far less effective than he believed. He is nothing. Sage is less. This day he will make her forever his. Sage’s eyes begin to bleed.
Outside, the tentacles have captured Cap and toss him down hard. Wisdom suddenly finds himself attacked by his old pal, Andy, who hits him with his wooden cane and announces that Pete may be good, but compared to him he is just a babe in the woods. And in these woods, he is the big bad wolf. With those words he uses his cane to transmit an energy burst toward Dazzler. Hit in the chest, she falls, clearly dead.
Taking off his mask, he announces that when, Saint Peter asks her how she met her end, she should tell him proudly it was at the hands of Black Tom Cassidy. And that this is only the beginning.


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[Assistant]
The Price of Friendship!
The remains of Sheperd’s Cross Railway Station. Moments before, the wreckage collapsed on Juggernaut and  Nocturne. Led by Alice Connery, the rescue workers are frantic to try and dig them out, when suddenly the ground shifts beneath them and with a roar the Juggernaut emerges.
However, tentacles emerge from the hole and try to drag him back. Cain grabs a bolt of metal for leverage, but so strong is the force of the tentacles that the metal gear breaks. Cain manages to get some leverage and furiously tears out the tentacles, shouting that nobody stops the Juggernaut!… followed by an anticlimactic  so there.
With the immediate danger over, Nocturne emerges from his boy, which she had possessed before to save herself. The experience apparently wasn’t a pleasant one for Juggernaut as he is about to zone out. TJ takes off his helmet and begins to slap him, as she shouts at him to pull himself together. The possession was too light to do him any harm, she screams. Cain finally stops her slapping him, apparently back to himself. Relieved TJ hugs him and he jokes that she packs a mean wallop for such a little girl.
Outside her Majesty’s Prison Wormwood Scrubs, where Dazzler lies slain at the hands of Black Tom Cassidy, while Pete Wisdom lies unconscious, Captain Britain is battling Black Tom’s mechanic-organic tentacles and Sage is struggling against being possessed by evil Xavier. All the while, Black Tom crows triumphantly, wondering what else could a man ask for from life.
And Dazzler begins to breathe, while Captain Britain is tossed against the hovering prison transport that crashes as a result.
Tom laughs and Dazzler’s eyes begin to move as she realizes that she is alive… and that this is getting ridiculous.
Agent Scicluna of Black Air demands that Tom secure the stasis modules carrying the Shadow X-Men. Tom tells her that this is the part that makes it all worthwhile… apart from the money that is. He assures her the caper is in the bag, but she might want to check Wisdom…
Kicking Wisdom, Scicluna announces he should quit faking unconsciousness. Learning Black Air’s plans won’t do him any good. She’s always one step ahead of him and, of course, there is the fact that he is going to die now…. The next moment she is hit by Dazzler’s laser beam.
Ali follows that move up by kicking Black Tom to the ground, promising to shove his cane up his… She never finishes her sentence as Tom uses his cane to fire energy at her, which she barely evades. Keeping Tom busy, she orders Wisdom to help Brian. That creep is hers. Pete agrees and suggests she leave something of Tom for questioning.
Wisdom addresses Brian, telling him the vines are heading for the transport. Busy battling them, Cap suggests Wisdom do something about it. Throwing hot knives at the vines Wisdom mutters that this is what he got the heroes for, actually.
Cassidy seems to feel the backlash of Wisdom injuring the vines and Dazzler gloats. The next moment, Scicluna attacks from behind but Alison headbutts her quickly. Angrily, she announces she has had enough of being beaten up and killed. Countering her attack with a judo throw, Scicluna retorts that she is in for a disappointment, for both things are about to happen to her again. Cassidy fires at her, but Ali manages to deflect the blow with a light shield.
The reflected energy hurts the tentacles holding Captain Britain, enabling him to break free.
Sage, in the meantime, is struggling for her very soul against Dark Xavier, who is looking forward to making her his pet. Telepathically, he begins to pull back the layer of her experiences and on the astral plane she changes to Tessa of the Hellfire Club and finally to the young armed girl in Afghanistan who found the crippled Xavier. Shadow Xavier urges her to join his darkness, telling he she was born to it. Like calls to like. Grinning ferociously young Tessa points her gun at him, announcing that he should know that in her head one plays by her rules. She fires.
Back at the prison, Wisdom forces some tentacles to back off, but is getting exhausted. He looks at the vehicle’s tank leaking petrol. One hot knife and both Shadow X-Men and vines are taken care of in one big boom, he muses.
From within the vehicle, Sage has second-guessed his plan and urges him to act on it. The prisoners mustn’t escape. He agrees that it would be the smart play but instead attempts to free Sage, announcing she is worth more than his urge to blow things up. Don’t the X-Men always say there is another way? Maybe the more upbeat members, Sage remarks wryly. Now, she tells him. He sighs.
That moment, reinforcements arrive, as a plane flies above the prison and Juggernaut jumps from it with a war cry. He is dumped straight on the tentacles, causing them damage and as a result Black Tom pain. Worried, Dazzler hesitates and Black Tom uses that hesitation to hit her, viciously adding that he hopes to one day have the opportunity to kill her again. With that, he flees.
The next moment, Juggernaut is at Dazzler’s side, asking if she is ok. She assures him that she is but regrets Black Tom getting away again. Hearing that his former partner and long-time friend is here Juggernaut tells Captain Britain to look after Sage and Wisdom. He should leave Cassidy to him.
In the meantime, Black Air have used the confusion to load the Shadow X-Men into their stealth vehicle. They are still shy one member but Sciculna figures they can’t take the risk anymore and orders them to leave. Cassidy has fulfilled his usefulness to Black Air. Tom swears as he sees them abandon him. As he hears Juggernaut shout his name, he runs.
A little later, Cain bursts through the door of a small house to find Tom inside, having taken the woman who lives there hostage. He threatens to kill her. Cain urges him to give up. This is the end of the road. Not hardly, Tom scoffs, predicting that he and the young lady are going to walk out without Cain stopping them.
Cain hesitates. He recalls the death of Sammy Paré. Furious, he reminds Tom that the boy couldn’t possibly hurt Tom, nevertheless he killed him without a second thought. Tom makes excuses, claiming he wasn’t in his right mind then. And is he now? Cain asks pointedly. Did he get better?
Swearing, Tom orders Cain to look at him. He woke up on M-day and was himself again, human once more. Cain assures him he is glad. Tom goes on ranting that the life before was like some kind of dream. Sammy ain’t wakin’ up from it, Cain reminds him. It wasn’t his fault, Tom shouts. Maybe, Cain accedes, but a stand-up guy looks at his deeds and decides for himself where he is accountable and where he isn’t.
 Tom asks whether he figures he has the right to judge him, now that he is on the side of the angels. Cain retorts that he figures that, due to their partnership in the past, he owes Tom the chance to make the decent call. Personally though … he kinda hopes Tom stays stubborn. He’d like to hear his bones break the way Sammy’s did. He’d like to make Tom scream the way Sammy didn’t.
The hostage pleads. Cain continues that Sammy was just a kid. And Tom and Cain for all their faults used to be better than that. Sweating, Tom wishes he could explain. Cain says he is willing to listen if Tom lets the girl go and gives himself up.
A little later, Cain leads both of them outside where the police and the rest of Excalibur are waiting. So they don’t get to beat Tom up, TJ asks disappointedly. Smirking, Dazzler suggests there is always a next time. Cap just advises them to be nice. Somewhat to the back stand Wisdom and Sage, who is now prominently displaying her old eye tattoes again.
Pete marvels at Juggernaut playing hostage negotiator and admits the team didn’t do half bad. They need to do better, replies Sage with a stony face and continues that Black Air’s execution was poor. The one they left behind was Shadow Xavier and he was the one that really mattered. What’s the deal with him, asks Wisdom. Sage assures him Xavier won’t bother them again. He’s history.
Nevertheless, Shadow Xavier seems to slightly smile…


[User]
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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Brainstorm!
Nocturne is going on a shopping spree-cum-sightseeing tour of London, ignoring the curious stares people give her.
Elsewhere in a club, Dazzler, wearing a longhaired wig (reminiscent of her original hairstyle) and a slinky gown, is having a gig. For the first time in a long time, the venue doesn’t reek of smoke and cheap beer and the crowd has fallen in love with her. She is watched and admired by her teammate Cain Marko, who is carrying a torch for her, as well as the doctor she befriended in the hospital. TJ joins them.  As she passes a few men, they grow interested in her, until one of them notices that her  blue skin isn’t due to make-up but that she must be a mutant.
Elsewhere in the club sits Brian Braddock aka Captain Britain with his twin sister Betsy aka Psylocke, who is telling him about her recent adventure with the X-Men and their crazy elder brother, Jamie. She has learned that it was Jamie who brought her back from the dead and altered her, leaving her to wonder if she is a monster like he was. Grasping her hands, Brian points out that she shares the trait of liking to win with Jamie, but that’s it. She has lost sight of what is good and true in her and the world. Of course she is not insane. She is still unsure and Brian points out that as her twin he just knows, like when she is in trouble.
 Is he in trouble, Betsy suddenly asks, referring to Lionheart and her mystery partner, Albion. Brian explains that he has given this a lot of thinking. All deemed worthy of becoming Captain Britain face the challenge of the sword and the amulet, he explains – might or reason. All the Captains he knows of, those sworn to Roma, chose the amulet. Kelsey Leigh, however, chose the sword and became Lionheart. Perhaps there are more, another corps of Captains who chose might over reason.
From the way Albion presented himself, he seemed a natural leader and he seemed to consider Captain Britain his personal rival. Perhaps he is stuck there on Earth, same as Cap. Brian smiles bitterly as he adds that he is monarch of Otherworld. The fact that he can’t return home tells him something is royally mucked up in crosstime. Serve them right if there was some kind of war being waged across dimension and both leaders were trapped on the sidelines.
What does he plan to do, Betsy inquires. Pointing out that he is the champion of the forces of reasons, Brian concludes that he’ll just have to thump Albion’s head until he wins.
Nearby, Dazzler has finished and bows to a enthusiastic audience. A handsome young man asks her what she is doing there. She should be selling out major venues and be at the top of the charts. Belatedly, he introduces himself as Gareth Edwards, an A&R for Vestal Music. He offers her to make a demo with him. TJ enthusiastically shouts ‘yes.’ Alison on the other hand inquires if Gareth is aware of her being a mutant. With the way she looks and sings, nobody will care, he assures her. Ali is flattered but tells him that she doesn’t do albums and auditoriums anymore. What she has right now is more than good enough for her.
Gareth shows himself to be amazingly perceptive when he asks whether she has been hurt that badly. She simply replies that he has heard her sing. Does he really have to ask? She had the fame, the money, even the movie. All that matters now is the music. He hands her his card, asking her to call him should she change her mind. And he also asks her to let him know whenever she has a gig. That’s not business. He likes her voice and would like to hear more.
In the meantime, TJ is accosted by the guys from before, who want to know if her skin color is natural. She politely blows them off. One guy announces that she is a mutant after seeing her fingers. Calling him Albert, his buddy agrees. TJ caustically observes that Albert’s last name probably isn’t Einstein. Undeterred, one of the guys announces that he heard the mutants went extinct recently. They should do something about that. He has some very specific ideas. Juggernaut suggests they move on. At first they jeer at him, until he actually stands up, causing the guys to run and TJ and Ali to call Cain their hero.
In the corner, Betsy announces that there is trouble. Believing she refers to the previous shuffle, Brian tries to calm her, but she explains that she is talking about him – meaning the tiny hologram of Pete Wisdom that appears at their table. Happily, he announces that he is “Nick sodding Fury.” Nothing but the best toys at MI-13. He makes some cracks about Betsy not being real, before moving to the proper topic, namely “evil Charley.” He’s braindead, of course, but why should that stop him from being a bother? Apparently, he is asking for Betsy.
A little later, Excalibur’s jet arrives at Crossmore Prison, where Sage is already expecting them. She informs them that they have drugged evil Xavier as much as possible. TJ points out how creepy it is here as they are the only people in the prison. Sage explains that the facility was evacuated when the incident occurred. Every single mind within a two-mile radius is at risk. So, of course, they are going in, Juggernaut sighs.
As they walk further into the complex, Sage elaborates on Shadow Xavier’s state - there is no brain activity within his body. He is being kept alive by machines. But seven hours earlier, a guard killed the medical team overseeing him. Afterwards, the guard said one word: “Psylocke”. And then he shot himself in the head.
Unnoticed by the others, Dazzler’s eyes glow briefly before returning to normal again .
Sage leads them to an observation chamber overseeing a special cell, which was specifically built to hold high-level telepaths. Xavier was constantly bombarded with ELF sonics, as an irritant, surrounded by PSI-dampeners and drugged. And yet there they are, Betsy states as she looks at the shackled slumbering form. Cain muses that Xavier survived getting his brain fired by Wisdom and then getting astrally shot in his astral head by Sage. Why don’t they just nuke the place with him?
Sage addresses all of them, stating that in his head she sensed something larger than what they perceive. Xavier is there for a reason and has an agenda even she doesn’t understand yet. They have to find out and with her newfound immunity to telepathy Betsy would be in a perfect position to confront him. But he’s a vegetable Juggernaut points out. Is he going to confront her with drool? Sage suggests that she monitor Psylocke and Xavier from the observation room and, if things go wrong, they send in Juggernaut. Captain Britain despises using his sister as bait but Betsy is willing.
In the meantime, Dazzler asks Cain to step outside with her, as she must tell him something.
Betsy steps into the chamber.
Outside, Dazzler thanks Juggernaut for watching out for her those past few weeks and for saving her life. Embarrassed he assures her it’s no problem.
Inside, Betsy goads Xavier to come out.
Dazzler steps closer to Cain, revealing how lonely she has felt and that Cain makes her feel safe.
Xavier begins to smile.
Alison touches Juggernaut’s faceplate as if to kiss him and Cain begins to take off his helmet.
A monstrous shadow form begins to surround Xavier, identifying itself as the Shadow King. Mockingly, he reminds Psylocke of the long time he was trapped inside her mind, kept from his realm, the astral plane.
Inside the observation room, Sage sees charts going off the scale and shouts at Betsy to get out. Before she can finish her sentence Nocturne and Wisdom, already possessed, attack her. Sage evades TJ’s attack and aims her gun at Wisdom. Before she can shoot, Captain Britain steps between the two of them, keeping Wisdom from hitting Sage with his hot knives as well. He doesn’t understand what has gotten into them.
Sage announces that they have been possessed and tells him to handle Wisdom, while she takes on Nocturne. Wisdom screams that it is actually Sage who is under control and sent his sister to die.
Cap hesitates. That moment, a possessed Juggernaut breaks thought the wall, followed by Dazzler who takes out Sage. The possessed members of Excalibur surround Cap and Nocturne gloats that he really should have listened to Sage…
Within the cell, Psylocke announces that the Shadow King can’t enter her mind. He replies that, while her mind is closed to him, he knows her too well. He was part of her. And of course he was with her when she died. Psylocke protests: this Xavier is from an alternate reality. How could the Shadow King be…?
He begins to explain that when Vargas’s sword slid trough her it was ecstasy. It was freedom. But surprisingly Betsy’s consciousness did not disperse… it was pulled by the strings of reality itself. And while the Shadow King escaped, he found himself in another universe. There he found another Charles Xavier and shattered his mind. Then he made Xavier’s children his Hounds. Because, in all the realities, there is only one Shadow King.
But he never forgot her who imprisoned him. And by a cosmic whim – namely the Scarlet Witch creating and destroying the “House of M” reality – he was shown the way back to her. Reality shifted and cracks formed across all the realities. He and his pets were able to slip back into this reality. This reality, he prattles on, that has caused him so much trouble. She has no idea what waits… what pawns are in motion… But, no, he never forgot about her.
What shall they do first, he wonders. Ah, yes, he returns his attention to Captain Britain, who is being badly beaten by his teammates, watch her brother die!
Juggernaut hits Cap through the wall of the observation chamber into the room where the Shadow King and Betsy are. Sadistically, the creature informs Betsy that they will find everyone she ever loved and then she’ll watch as they are torn apart before her eyes. On his knees, Cap asks Betsy to get out while the King gloats that mindblind – as she is she can do nothing about it.
Is that right? she asks with a frown. If he could really hurt her and take over her mind, he would have done so. Xavier begins to look in pain and the Shadow King moans as Betsy forms a telekinetic bubble in the center of Xavier’s brain. Next she causes a stroke in his host body. As a result Excalibur stop fighting Brian, regaining their senses. Does he feel sections of his brain being crushed, Psylocke asks as she manifests her PSI-sword and then urges him to repeat how helpless she is.
She jumps through the Shadow King form, intent on stabbing Xavier`s body, but before she can do it, she disappears in a flash of light. Brian Braddock cries out her name helplessly and Xavier flatlines.


[User]
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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Chamber
(conversation / flashback)
One voice asks if he got that right. The person he is talking to was a secret agent working for something called the Weapon X program? Another voice interrupts him with a curt ‘no’. The first man corrects himself, apologizing. He was actually an undercover agent for the X-Men and he infiltrated the Weapon X program in order to liberate a mutant death camp called Neverland, but he was caught and brainwashed into service instead. He honestly doesn’t know how those X-people keep up with all this.
Anyway, according to his notes war broke out between three different factions of the program and that’s when all hell broke loose. Not that any of this really mattered, of course, not after M-Day anyway.
For the young man named Chamber, it was his powers that allowed the Weapon X installed device in his chest to function. With his powers gone… everything went pretty much kablooey. Then, Chamber woke up to find his chest, lower jaw and several fairly vital organs completely obliterated. Which brings them to now…
(present)
A hospital where a sitting, elderly man, taking notes is talking to Chamber, who is hooked up to several life-support devices. Referring to their sessions, the elderly man asks if he thinks they have made some progress these past few weeks. Using a recorder to help him talk Jonothon Starsmore curtly replies ‘no.’
With a sigh, the doctor sympathizes with Jono’s situation, telling him it’s enough to break anybody. But Jono cannot allow this to happen. Giving up can be attractive. He has never told Jono this but there was a time when he was in a situation not unlike Jono’s, so he knows where he is coming from. Jono may not realize it yet, but he can promise him something more. Jonothan has options.
Another voice interrupts them, informing the doctor that he doesn’t know about him, but the boy certainly does. Enter Pete Wisdom, who remarks that he is kind of a member of Jono’s family, a distant family member he has never met before, but a family member nonetheless. He tells the doctor this is over his head and sits down at Jono’s side.
He tells Jono that he represents Excalibur of all things, which was probably Braddock’s idea, but that’s not important. What is very bloody important is what they are doing. And that’s helping people in situations like Jono’s post M-day. Hell, when they eventually do fix him up, they’d even like him to maybe join them. The doctor interrupts him, informing Wisdom that this is highly irregular. He’s been the boy’s therapist for weeks and he doesn’t recall him having a single visit, never mind any family members. How did Wisdom get past security again?
With a smile Wisdom asks Jono to pardon him, before standing up in front of the elderly man, sizing him up threateningly. “You, doctor” he starts, “Hartley,” the elderly man, adds undeterred. Whatever, Wisdom retorts impatiently. With an angry glare, he informs Hartley that he is going out for a smoke now. It would be in his best interest to be gone when he returns.
Wisdom leaves the room, stops outside and lights a cigarette, muttering that there go three months of cold turkey right down the bloody tubes. With a disapproving glance, a nurse informs him that he can’t smoke in there.
Wisdom reacts annoyed, then makes an effort at pulling himself together and apologizes to the nurse. He adds that he needed something to relax him before he strangled Dr. Hartley. The nurse reacts surprised and assures him that there isn’t a Dr. Hartley on staff. Wisdom hurries back into the room to find both Hartley and Jono gone. Well he asked him to leave, didn’t he? he sighs.
Jono awakes to find himself changes: his eyes are a pupil-less red, his skin is grey his lips and fingernails black-blue with extended black lines from his lips running parallel to his jaw. All in all his looks are frighteningly similar to Apocalypse. What truly surprises him is the red tattoo on his now completely healthy chest, a red shape reminiscent of an eye surrounded by four symmetric other shapes. He also notes that there are two tubes attached to his arms pumping him full of some red fluid. A voice announces that he told him that there were on the options.
Hartley apologizes for taking him like that, but after all the trouble they went though, arranging to transfer him to that hospital, Hartley gaining his trust, he was damned if he was going to let someone swoop in and take him.
Jono shakes Hartley’s proffered hand off. Two questions answered immediately, he demands curtly. Why? And how?
Why? Hartley repeats. Because Jono is very special. More special than those horrible X-people could ever dream of. Clenching his fists in rage, Harley shouts that they have the audacity to call Jono family? They left him to die in a hospital like an animal… worse than an animal! The X-Men are not his family, they are. He points to several other people in the room, sitting at a long table, people from different backgrounds, some of them also displaying similar physical characteristics to Jono. The only one hidden is the massive character sitting opposite Jono at the far end of the table. The atmosphere is at the same time old-fashioned and festive. In the background, there are stained glass windows reminiscent of a church showing scenes of the life of Apocalypse.
Hartley reveals that they are Clan Akkaba. For centuries, it has been their duty to honor and safeguard the legacy and ideals of he who never dies: En Sabur Nur, Apocalypse. But they are more than his descendants. His blood… his powers runs through their veins, as it runs through Jono’s. So while his powers are gone, so powerful is their lord that his very blood is power. And therein lies the “how”. It was fairly simple to activate that power within Jono’s blood by combining it with Apocalypse’s own. They used the blood’s metamorphic properties to heal Jono’s body, making him whole again. And by whole, he means with no mechanical parts like the ones Weapon X gave him. His new appearance is a side-effect of the treatment.
Tearing off the tubes that feed his body the blood, Jono shouts, “enough!” His eyes flare as he announces that he knows all about those people. His great-grand dad used to go on about the clan all the time. But aren’t they like Clan Akkaba: The Next Generation? Old blue-lips wiped the originals out over a century ago. The only ones left were his great-gramps and a veggie named Frederick Slade.
Very coolly, Hartley informs him that he never did like being called that. He closes his eyes and opens them to reveal they have turned green and pupil-less. The stained glass windows show the picture of a young man in a wheelchair with the same eyes, Jono suddenly understands who his doctor friend really is. Hartley, or more to the point Slade, points out that he told Jono he was in a situation not unlike his once. Is he truly beginning to understand what he is?
He reaches for a chalice fluid with a red fluid and offers it to Jono. In time, the healing blood of their Lord’s blood will return Jono’s power to him as it did to Slade, he offers. Jono looks at the chalice then informs Slade that his great-granddad was a fool. He stopped believing in their mad god and yet he still insisted every member of their family be branded with those stupid tattoos when they were babies, just in case. He was almost happy the first time his chest went Hiroshima, so wouldn’t have to look at the stupid thing anymore. As they can certainly imagine he is not too happy to see it back on, so thanks for the patch-up job, no thanks for the creepy Apocalypse Jr. look, and now he’d appreciate it if they showed him the door.
Suddenly, the shadowy bulky figure gets up, revealing himself to be Apocalypse. Jono’s decision is an unfortunate one, he states. Jono grabs a torch and assumes fighting stance, warning Apocalypse off. The villain informs him that this isn’t necessary. Jono has made his decision and is free to go. He points to the exit. And the catch? Jono asks. None, Apocalypse replies. But he should know, whether he wishes to accept it or not, he is not on his own, and Apocalypse always takes care of his own. Wordlessly, Jono runs outside.
Moments later, he is joined by Excalibur. Worried, Dazzler asks him what happened. Coolly, he informs her he is fine. Sage points out that he may be healed but they are not so quick to accept his current appearance as “fine.”
Juggernaut and Nocturne get ready to storm the mansion, until Jono tells them to leave it alone.  The team looks at him in surprise. Sage ventures that he has been through some kind of trauma and isn’t thinking clearly. If nothing else, she’d like to take him to their HQ and examine him. Jono insists he is fine. What happened there is his business and nobody else’s.
Captain Britain ventures that they don’t know each other very well, but… Jono interrupts. Cap is wrong. They don’t know each other at all! Other than Alison, who he’s met only a handful of times and Sage who he met all of once and the bloody Juggernaut, who tried to punch out his lights on more than one occasion, they are strangers to him. And now they all swoop in and save him? Don’t they get it? Not everybody wants to be saved. Not everyone wants to play dress up as part of the brand-spanking new X-Men team of the month. Not everybody wants powers. Some just want to be left the hell alone.
He was okay lying there with that giant hole where his chest used to be. Obviously, he wasn’t thrilled about it, but if those were the cards he was dealt with, then so be it. He’d deal with it. At least he had some bloody peace for once.  And now here he is. Did he ask to look like this? Did he even asked to be fixed up? It’s none of Excalibur’s concern, because one thing is certain: he never asked for any of them!
However, there is still one thing they can do for him, if they are still in a helpful mood. They can pass on to “Mr. High and Mighty” Charles Xavier and whatever other heroes might want to help him out that the whole lot of them can go sod off. Excalibur wordlessly stares at him leaving until Wisdom breaks the silence. A simple “thanks but no thanks” would have sufficed.
From inside the mansion, Slade and Apocalypse watch the goings-on. Slade wonders if the deception was necessary. Apocalypse’s armor opens up to reveal Ozymandias, who asks Slade if in all their time together he has ever led him astray. Slade hurries to ascertain that this is not the case. But he wishes they could have done more to help the boy and show him how much the Clan has changed. For that matter, their lord has never seen how much they have changed. All these years, the new version of the clan has always only dealt with Ozymandias. When will they finally get to meet Apocalypse directly? They have heard word of his recent reappearance. Why hasn’t he summoned them? He himself would love to see if Apocalpyse was pleased with the progress he made sine their last encounter over a century ago.
Ozymandias tells him to be patient. The time for the clan to reveal itself to Apocalypse is soon upon them and they shall have Chamber to thank for that…
Later, staff of MI-16 examine the mansion, but there is no trace of anyone left inside the house, they report to Pete Wisdom. He figures they knew that the time it would take to get a search a warrant was ample time for them to disappear. There is one thing however the other man hesitatingly admits. Pete’s hunch was on the money. They scanned the front of the house, right where Wisdom said they encountered Jono… and his energy signature is off the charts. Whoever told the kid he doesn’t have powers, lied big time.
Lovely, Wisdom sighs. Now he has a potential omega-class mutant running around there, having had God knows what done to him. He doodles a pattern on a sketchpad and the other man asks what it is. Wisdom explains that it is the symbol he saw on Chamber’s chest. He never saw anything like it but he will find out if somebody has. The whole affair isn’t over, Wisdom vows. Not by a long shot.