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Necrosha: Chapter Four
The Med Bay. Utopia…
Doctor Nemesis struggles to revive Rahne Sinclair as she goes into cardiac arrest. After ordering the standers-by to clear, he places the defibrillator paddles on her chest and sends a surge of electricity through her body. CHOOM! Rahne remains unconscious. Vanisher, standing nearby, asks Nemesis if they can do that to Elixir. X-23 tells him to shut up.
X-23, addressing Dr. Nemesis, plainly states he has to save her. He asks what the hell she thinks he’s been trying to do—torture her? Laura tells him to try harder. Annoyed, Nemesis explains exactly what’s wrong with the girl. She’s got severe internal bleeding, her heart’s about to fail and there’s something kicking the hell out of her insides, which the sedatives are not stopping. “If you’ve got ideas, I’m happy to hear them,” Nemesis says to X-23. “Because otherwise, Rahne Sinclair’s got abboouuttt fiiiivvvee… mmmmiiiinnnuutteeeessss…”
His voice slowly fades; time seems to stop. Within this frozen moment, Wolfsbane’s lover Hrimhari appears with Hela, the Asgardian goddess of death, at his side. Hela seems surprised; for this, Hrimhari has summoned her—for a mere dying mortal? She expected more. Hrimhari begs for Hela to save Rahne, citing his relation to Hela’s servant Fenris as leverage. “Save her and my unborn child,” he asks.
Hela denies him. If Hrimhari wishes to save a soul, he must give Hela his in return. A soul for a soul—this is what Hela will grant him. With the terms of the deal clear, Hela asks Hrimhari to make his choice—and choose which life he wishes to save.
The Upper Corridors…
Wolverine, Domino, Warpath and Archangel stare at the new intruders on Utopia. “It’s him. It’s Bard,” Warpath says. Logan knows; he also identifies one of the assailants as Senyaka, a former goon of Magneto’s. Dazzler, meanwhile, looks in astonishment at Mortis—known to her as her sister, Lois London, whom she has not seen in years. Cyclops spots their former student Wither amongst the five, deadly looking arrivals. Wither’s presence distresses Mercury, his former classmate at the Xavier Institute. Emma Frost identifies the final member of Selene’s Inner Circle as Clarice, also known as Blink, whom she believed to have died years earlier.
Not willing to wait to be attacked, Diamond Lil leaves Iceman’s side, leaps to her feet and charges at the invaders. Madison Jeffries screams for her to wait, but Lil refuses to listen. She charges headfirst at Mortis. Lois, however, calmly grabs Lillian by the neck and effortlessly stops her heart. Lillian slumps to the ground with a sickening THUD, her lifeless eyes wide-open in shock. Madison screams as he watches his wife die.
While Mortis slays Diamond Lil, Senyaka strangles the reptilian mutant Meld with his psionic whips.
With two of their allies already defeated, Cyclops gives Wolverine the order. The four members of X-Force size up their opponents across the corridor and prepare to strike. “Take ‘em down,” Wolverine commands.
X-Force charges. Domino rapidly fires her handguns at Eli Bard, but her bullets pass harmlessly through the ageless, intangible vampire.
Bard places dibs on Warpath, to whom he refers as ‘the Apache’. Wither orders him to just to his job while the others deal with the X-Men.
Emma Frost screams as Wolverine lunges claws-first toward her former student Wither. Don’t hurt him, she pleads! Momentarily distracted by Emma’s screams, Logan stops what he’s doing and turns to face her—leaving himself vulnerable to Mortis’s lethal touch. She places her hand on his shoulder and stops his heart—almost. Amazingly, Wolverine actually survives the attack. “His heart is strong,” Mortis says. “Well…stronger than the girl’s.”
Logan, a screaming mess, falls to the ground and curls up into the fetal position. Wither follows up Mortis’s attack by placing his hand on Logan’s face and forcing his flesh to decay. “Hello, ‘professor Logan’,” Wither says. “I always hated you.” Wolverine screams as the skin sloughs off his face.
Fortunately for Wolverine, Warpath comes to his aid and knocks away Wither’s touch. However, Eli Bard intervenes and resumes his feud with Warpath. He told him this was personal, Bard says as he pins Proudstar to the wall. James vows to slay him, but Bard asks how he intends to do that when he can’t even touch him. The only thing that can save his friends is the spirit blade, Bard says. He demands to know where it is.
Meanwhile, Archangel soars toward Blink and Senyaka. He advises Blink to run while she still can. After glibly saying she’ll think about it, Blink orders Senyaka to ground their assailant. Effortlessly, Senyaka binds the airborne Archangel with his psionic whips and tethers him to the ground. Blink approaches the fallen angel, says goodbye to his wings and, with a mere gesture, teleports the majestic metal wings off his back. Archangel screams as the wings are ripped from his body.
Necrosha…
Selene, curled up on her red, velvet armchair, asks her servant what he brought her. Caliban has found more mutants to serve her, Caliban says. These ones held onto their powers, unlike the others. He promises more are coming. Selene approves; Caliban has served her well.
Behind Selene stands her two resurrected servants, Negasonic Teenage Warhead and Thunderbird—Warpath’s brother. “My brother will fight you, witch…you and the demon Bard,” John Proudstar says stoically. Negasonic Teenage Warhead disagrees. His brother is coming to Necrosha, but he won’t kill Bard, she says. In fact, John will fight him. Does he want to know how it ends? She supposes it doesn’t matter; he’s going to die—again. They all will.
Selene, grinning in anticipation, tells her servants not to quarrel. It’s almost time, she says.
Utopia. Med Lab…
Hela grows impatient with Hrimhari’s indecision. She reminds him her patience is not infinite, even for one of Fenris’s pack. Choose, she commands. He may save one life, be it his love, or his cub. He must choose: his soul, in exchange for one other. Forlorn, Hrimhari claims he cannot make such a choice. He must, Hela says, or both shall die. If that’s the case, then Hrimhari chooses another. He points toward the comatose Elixir.
Angered, Hela asks Hrimhari if he seeks to trick her. Denying her accusation, he claims he only obeys the rules she created. He exchanges his soul for the life of the mortal healer. He will not put either his child or his love in Hela’s debt. Very well, Hela says. She lays her hand on Elixir’s forehead and orders him to awaken.
Just like that, Elixir jerks upward off the medical table and screams for Nori, whom he last remembers saving. Confused by his whereabouts, however, he looks around the room and struggles to discern where he is. The two Asgardian figures call out to him. Josh faces them as their figures begin to fade. There is not much time, Hrimhari tells Josh. He must save Rahne Sinclair; she believes in him. “Tell Rahne I love her,” Hrimhari says as his form fades into nothingness, “and tell her… tell her, I will find a way back to her—”
They vanish. The regular flow of time slowly resumes, and Elixir discovers Doctor Nemesis, X-23 and the Vanisher in the room overseeing the unconscious body of Rahne Sinclair. Nemesis glances over at Elixir; when the hell did he wake up? “Foley! Yes!” the Vanisher says in jubilation. While Nemesis demands to know what just happened, the Vanisher begs Elixir to help him. Elixir, however, shouts at them to move and rushes over to Rahne’s side. He lays hands on her head and womb and begins to heal her. A warm glow emanates from both points of contact. Behind him, Vanisher watches inquisitively. “So, uh… can I get in on this?” he asks.
The Upper Corridors…
The battle with Selene’s Inner Circle continues. Mercury binds Wither with her metallic form and begs him to stop what he’s doing. This isn’t who he is; he’s being controlled, she whimpers. Kevin looks his former flame in the eye. “Cessily,” Wither says softly, “…you’re pathetic.” At that moment, Blink sneaks up behind Mercury and forcibly teleports her away from Wither. Mercury screams as a large portion of her liquid body is transported to parts unknown.
Nearby, Cyclops orders Dust to switch to her sand form so she can take down Wither. He fires his optic blast at Blink; Dazzler accompanies his attack by firing a laser of her own. Blink, however, disappears before their beams can hit.
Wolverine comes to Domino’s aid as she fires her handguns at Senyaka. Surging forward, he plunges his claws deep into Senyaka’s chest. His attack does nothing. “Dammit,” Logan mutters. Senyaka, looking his attacker calmly in the eye, asks if thinks he has not been killed before—because he has.
Mortis, meanwhile, charges at her sister Dazzler, hoping to make her the victim of her next attack. Dazzler repels her estranged sister with blinding pulses of light. Stay back, she shouts! Why is she doing this? “Because I hate you!” Lois shouts back.
As per Cyclops’s orders, Dust swirls around Wither in her sandy form. She begs Kevin to stop; they were once friends. While Dust encircles him, her classmate Onyxx arrives to assist her, diving headfirst at Wither in an attempt to clobber him. Cyclops watches this scene unfold in horror. Although he shouts for Onyxx to halt, he is too late; Onyxx tumbles right into the deadly touch of Wither. Instantly, Onyxx’s rocky body disintegrates as Wither destroys the organic bonds that bind it. His metallic helmet is all that remains. Dust screams as her friend dies—and Wither smiles.
Nearby, Warpath struggles to slay Eli Bard but the vampire’s ethereal form eludes him. The exhausted Warpath pauses for a moment to recompose himself. Bard takes this opportunity to deliver his ultimatum one more time: bring him the spirit blade before there are no lives left to save on this island. Looking him in the eye, Warpath asks if he’ll truly stop the attacks if he gives him the blade. Yes, Bard says—but the killing will continue until he has the weapon. With that, Warpath takes off running, in desperate search for the one thing that can stop this mayhem. A demonic grin spreads across Bard’s face as Warpath departs. “Run, little Indian,” he says, “…run.”
The Med Lab…
Rahne, covering herself with a sheet, sits up and screams. Elixir tells her everything is okay; she’s in the med-lab on Utopia. “On… on where?” Rahne asks. She also asks what happened; the last she remembers, she was with Hrimhari. She thinks she may have fainted. Elixir tells her that would make sense because of her unusual pregnancy. He could sense the genetics of her baby and discovered they were not human. They were similar, he says, but stronger. As he lays his hand on her womb once again, he explains to Rahne he’s transferring some of her baby’s strength to her so her body can survive the pregnancy.
Stunned, Rahne’s eyes widen. Baby? It’s the first she’s heard of this. She examines the room but doesn’t see Hrimhari anywhere. She asks Laura and Josh if they know where he is. Laura tells her that he is gone; she cannot sense him anywhere on the island. Josh, hesitating for a moment, reveals that he thinks he saw Hrimhari. A giant woman dressed all in green took him, but before he left, he said he loved Rahne—and that he will find his way back to her. Elixir tells Rahne he’s sorry for her loss.
Elsewhere on the island, Warpath barges into his bunk room and stumbles over to his bed. Frantically, he digs through his things, in desperate search of the spirit blade. He finds it in short time. “You want this knife, Bard?” he asks. “I’m gonna put it right in your damn—”
BLINK! A burst of pink light heralds the arrival of Selene’s Inner Circle. They encircle Warpath, who holds the weapon they seek. Senyaka lashes out with his whips and binds James while Eliphas rips the spirit blade from his hands. “Thank you, savage. This is exactly what I was looking for,” Bard says. Through choked breaths, Warpath vows to kill Bard, but Bard merely laughs at his pitiful threats. “Oh, please. You don’t get to kill anyone. You just get to watch as everything you love dies.”
With their mission accomplished, Blink prepares to return the Inner Circle to Necrosha. Wither curses; he really thought he’d get the chance to kill Frost. Nevertheless, he agrees they need to return.
The Upper Corridor…
Madison Jeffries sobs as he cradles Diamond Lil’s lifeless body. He’s so sorry, he says. He never stopped loving her.
Nearby, Dust crouches before Onyxx’s hemispherical helmet, the last remnant of his body. This is not happening again, she whimpers. Cyclops tells her he is sorry for her loss. However, the Cuckoos have detected Cessily on the north end of the island, but she’s hurt. He needs Sooraya to find her and get her to Dr. Nemesis immediately. Dust is unresponsive.
Dazzler and Domino, meanwhile, help the crippled Archangel to his feet. To Domino’s surprise, Archangel’s wings grow back before their very eyes.
Emma Frost remains an emotional mess. She curses Selene’s name as she grovels on the floor.
Cyclops, standing tall, orders Phoebe and Irma Cuckoo to continue scanning the island. They need to find him Wither. Confounded by the attack and their losses, Wolverine asks Cyclops what the hell just happened.
Meanwhile, in Cerebra, Surge and Hellion stand guard while the Cuckoos scan the island. Hellion urges the girls to hurry; they’ve got more company coming. The Cuckoos report to Cyclops that they found Wither, but he’s on Genosha, not Utopia. There’s more, they state; Warpath is with him.
In the upper corridors, Cyclops reports to Wolverine that Warpath is now on Genosha. Wolverine pieces the scenario together: Selene’s crew got what they wanted and took Warpath with them when they left. Declaring that the time for reacting is over, Cyclops begins issuing orders. He and Emma and the rest of the X-Men will stay on Utopia and defend it. Wolverine and X-Force, however, are going to Genosha to save Warpath and stop Selene.
“I don’t want her stopped,” Emma Frost says. Scott and Logan turn and see Emma standing upright in her diamond form. “Let me make this as clear as I can, Logan,” Emma says. “You need to kill her. Her and everyone that attacked us… even Kevin. That’s the only way this will end.”
The Med Lab…
As Wolfsbane pulls on her X-Force uniform, she asks how this can be happening. “We must assume the two of you had se—” X-23 begins to say. Elixir interrupts her; he doesn’t think that is what Rahne meant. Turning to Rahne, he tells her she’s going to be okay; they’re going to get through this. “Not necessarily,” X-23 says. “Both of you are unaware… the island is currently under attack.”
This news takes Josh by surprise, but the Vanisher assures him it’s true. “That’s right! We’re all going to die!” he says. “So don’t you think you should take out the tumor you gave me?”
Dr. Nemesis, standing behind Josh, smiles at this news. He gave the weasel a tumor? That’s great, he tells Josh.
X-23 tells the Vanisher that Josh will not remove his tumor. The entire island is under siege, she says; they need his abilities. “Then take out the tumor and I’ll help you. I swear,” Telford says.
Elixir begins to say something to Telford, but Wolverine arrives and orders him to leave it in. They’re not done with him yet, Logan says with Archangel and Domino at his side. He’s taking them to Genosha.


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Necrosha: Chapter Five
Necrosha…
On the reconstructed ruins of Genosha, Selene sits in her palace, awaiting the return of her deadly Inner Circle. After she asks the precognitive Ellie Phimister for their current location, Ellie reports they just killed two people—like she said they would. One of them was just a kid. A third victim of their attack will die in a few days. However, they did get Selene’s knife and they’re coming back right—
BLINK! “…now,” Ellie finishes saying as the five members of the Inner Circle appear before them in a flash of pink light. They have amongst them a sixth figure bound in Senyaka’s whips: the X-Man Warpath.
With the spirit blade in his hands, Eli Bard kneels before Selene and presents his offering, along with the X-Man scum who stole it from her. Wither, annoyed with the way Bard presented the situation, tells him to shut up and slaps the knife out of his hand. He’s the one who lost it and ran, Wither shouts! Does he think Selene is stupid? Does he think she doesn’t realize what he is?
Enraged, Bard leaps at Wither, his face transforming into that of an ancient, decrepit monster. “I have had enough of you, boy,” Bard says as he pins Wither against the wall. “You have no idea what I am! You have no idea what Selene means to me!” Wither asks if that is what he really thinks. As his face shifts into that of a decaying vampire similar to Bard’s, he asks him to think again.
“Stop. Enough. Wither,” Selene says, “…heel.” She descends from her dais and approaches the two quarreling men. Wither begs her to see it his way, but Bard approaches her first with the sacred blade in his hands. Everything he has done for over two thousand years, he has done for her. He asks Wither what he thinks he could have done that compared? Kneeling once more, Bard presents the blade to Selene and begs her forgiveness.
Selene commands him to stand. He does. He admits he was weak, and that he failed her. He knows this; it is his shame. It has burned within him for centuries—but his love for Selene burns even greater. She granted him eternal life, but cursed him to live it without her. However, he knew he could give her what she needed—the souls she needed—so that she would see him as she once did.
Behind them, Senyaka tightens the bindings around Warpath’s neck.
Continuing, Eliphas claims to know the part of Selene that loves him must still love him. It’s the part that allowed him to live: the part of her that let him back in her life. All he ever wanted was to be with her and help her become the goddess he knows her to be. He did this all for her, he says.
Selene ushers him forward. Standing face to face, she tells him he will always forever be her one true love—and her greatest disappointment. She slams the spirit blade into his chest. Eli’s eyes go wide, his jaw slackens and he lets out of gasp of pain. As the magic of the blade works its way through his ancient body, Eliphas begins to decay. He is able to utter Selene’s name one final time before he crumbles to ash. His arm, riddled with a lattice of Techno-Organic circuits, hits the ground with a THUD.
Nearby, a smirking Wither rolls his eyes. He calls out to Selene after Bard’s demise, but she silences him and calls instead for her Apache servant. Warpath, meanwhile, is incensed to see his brother John back from the dead. He calls to him, but Thunderbird appears not to listen. He instead heeds Selene’s order to put his brother in the dungeon with Destiny, as she still has use for him.
With the spirit blade in his hand, the putrid-looking Thunderbird approaches his captive younger brother. Warpath begs him to listen; he has to fight her! Can’t he hear him? He knows he’s in there somewhere! He has to fight it! Thunderbird stops and stares at his brother blankly. “I can’t,” he says. He slaps Warpath across the face, grabs him by the hair and drags him to the dungeon.
As they leave, Mortis reminds her teammates the X-Men will be coming for Warpath. They must prepare for their arrival.
Four miles outside of Black Rome, formerly known as Hammer Bay...
On a rocky outcrop overlooking the dark valley, X-Force appears out of thin air, courtesy of the Vanisher's teleportation. Logan sniffs the air and winces; he forgot how bad this place smelled. Wolfsbane, on the other hand, immediately begins to scream. She can't be here! She can't do this—not now! Shrugging, Vanisher reminds her that Cyclops ordered him to take X-Force to Genosha. Rahne is wearing black, so she went. Enraged, she grabs him by the collar, effortlessly hoists him off the ground and demands he take her back.
This sudden display of strength surprises both Telford and Rahne. Perplexed that she could lift him so easily, she looks off into space and asks how she just did that. "It, uh, that might be my fault," Elixir says. "When I matched your DNA to the baby's..." He trails off. "I think your baby is going to be really strong." He adds that Rahne's muscle density is also different, and that he doubts even a bullet could break her skin.
Wolverine calls them to attention. They've got a situation, he says. He directs their attention over the cliff and into the valley. X-23 agrees it looks bad. Domino just shrugs. She wasn't worried before, she says.
In the four-mile span of the valley between X-Force and Selene's citadel, a vast army of dirty, undead mutants and humans ambles aimlessly.
Meanwhile, inside the citadel, Selene holds the spirit blade crucial to her ascension. Carved from the bones of her mother, the blade was infused with the magic of her ancestors. To function, it requires blood, either offered from the devoted or torn from the defiant; both hold power. She instructs her Coven to use the blade to perform the ceremony. They have the sigils, they have the runes and now they have the blade. The time has come, Selene says; she can feel it. She orders her servants not to fail.
From behind, Caliban calls out to her. Selene asks if the souls are ready for reaping. They are, Caliban says—but there's something else. After Selene grants him permission to speak, he reports the presence of X-Men on Necrosha, south of Selene's throne, just outside the bay. Additionally, Negasonic Teenage Warhead adds that Destiny also escaped. According to Ellie, though, it was for the best; there was a monster inside of her. Selene, seeming to ignore Ellie's comment, focuses on the impending threat of the X-Men. She refuses to be denied her ascension again—ever again.
In the valley, the legions of T/O Virus-infected mutants receive their instructions from Selene. Craning their necks toward X-Force in unison, they begin to march. "Oh, heavenly father," Wolfsbane prays. The Vanisher, on the other hand, begins to whine. They made a deal, he says! If they want to stay here and die, fine, but he doesn't! He insists they remove the tumor from his brain. X-23, focusing on the matter at hand, states that X-Force is too far away from the citadel. There are too many enemies in the way. "They stink of death," she adds. "I cannot smell Warpath."
Wolfsbane can. She can smell everything. She detects his presence in the city—beneath it, actually, and surrounded by stone. This fact catches Vanisher's attention, who had no idea James was there too. Wolverine, moving on, tells X-Force it's time to do their job. They fight their way to Selene, and kill her. If anyone wants out, he adds, the van is about to leave.
"Your plans suck, Logan," Domino says as she readies her assault rifle. "We're going to die in about five minutes. No way in hell we're getting to Selene, much less James." To make matters worse, she notices the opponents even have units in the air. X-23 observes their approach and readies her claws.
The Vanisher, meanwhile, continues to beg Elixir to heal him. Elixir, his skin black, turns to Telford and speaks frankly. "I already took it out, Porter. When we were in the future. I never wanted to do that to you in the first place. You're not dying," Elixir says. Telford doesn't believe him, citing his illness in Portugal as evidence. "Probably because you have Stage Four Syphilis, you dirty @#$%," Josh states. "Now get out of here! Go!!"
Meanwhile, Archangel surveys the enemy and calls dibs on the pink girl.
Behind him, Josh urges Telford to leave while he still has the chance. Telford begs Josh to come with him; he's going to die if he stays. Josh asks why he even care. He got what he wanted; he's free to leave. That's what he's good at, isn't it?
While X-Force dives headfirst into a battle against a million opponents, the Vanisher hangs back. After a few moments of indecision, he makes up his mind and disappears. "To hell with you people," he says as he vanishes.
Meanwhile, on a rocky outcrop near Selene's palace, Wither slices the palm of his right hand with the spirit blade. He winces as the blood pours from his hand and splatters on the wet rock. Blink watches him patiently.
Do you know who Selene is, James? Thunderbird asks his brother. Do you know what she is? She is the darkness that was tricked away by the coyote when the world was young.
In the battlefield, Wolverine screams as he rips through the bloody hordes of Techno-Organic zombies. Meanwhile on the other side of the citadel, Mortis grunts as she moves her bloodied hand along the lines of a dark sigil. Blink waits for her to finish. Back in the battlefield, Wolfsbane screams as the undead overwhelm Elixir.
Thunderbird continues. He explains that Selene existed before mankind, when the spirit realm was all. The X-Men may call her a mutant, but in truth, Selene is more. She is more than evolution, more than power and strength.
Blink watches as Senyaka draws the spirit blade across his chest, carving the pattern of another eldritch sigil into his bare chest. He vows to kill for Selene.
In the field, Archangel slices his way through some of the aerial undead, hoping to make his way to the temple.
She is hunger, Thunderbird says of Selene. She hungers for everything. And she won't stop.
While Blink prepares the fourth of the sigils with blood from her own hand, X-Force continues its futile crusade through Selene's undead army. At that same moment, Selene ascends a spiral staircase at the top of her palace that seemingly needs to nowhere. When she reaches the stop, she lifts her head and looks into the distance. "Finally," she says.
Inside her citadel, Thunderbird, having finished warning Warpath about Selene, jams the spirit blade through his brother's hand. It pins him to the wall; James screams. Behind him, Blink watches. Warpath, a crumpled heap on the ground, begs his brother to fight it. He has to fight it. James reminds his brother of how he taught him to never give up. Doing the best he can, Thunderbird lifts his younger brother up by the hair and whispers in his ear. This is what will happen, he says, explaining that once the sigils are in place, the spell will begin. Selene will feed on the souls of Genosha and ascend, becoming the dark goddess. Warpath grunts, but Thunderbird begs him to listen. Once Selene begins to feed, her power will grow, consuming every soul on the island. However, she will not stop here. Her hunger will continue to grow. She will consume the world, leaving only ash in her wake, before feeding on the spirit realms itself. "She is the darkness, James," Thunderbird says as he paints the final sigil in blood. "And you must stop her."
Suddenly, Blink catches on to what Thunderbird is saying. She asks him angrily what is happening. Ignoring her, Thunderbird advises his little brother to stop him before he kills him. Although James claims he can't, Thunderbird orders him to find a way.
A fourth party enters the chamber unexpectedly. "Jimmy!" the Vanisher cries as he materializes on the steps below Blink, Thunderbird and Warpath. Blink, her face mangled with anger, tries to kill Telford before he can intervene. She hurls a handful of teleportation spikes his way. Although Telford blocks them with his arm, they take his arm with them when they disappear. Understandably, it causes him much pain; he emits an anguished scream. Nevertheless, he makes his way over to James and grabs him by the arm. James has the chance to warn him of the other approaching attacker. Once more, Telford screams—this time as the undead Thunderbird swings at him with his hunting knife. Telford begins to vanish with Jimmy. However, Thunderbird's blade grazes his flesh before he can fully disappear.
Enraged, Blink screams as both her prisoner and his rescuer escape. Nevertheless, with the sigils complete, Selene's sacrificial spell begins to activate. The sigils painted around Selene's citadel in a pentagonal formation begin emanating a pure, white glow. Wither has to shield his eyes from the light, while Senyaka screams as the glowing energy bursts forth from his chest. Off in the distance, the members of X-Force watch as the five points of light surrounding the palace fire into the sky, while at the center, the brightest beam of all—that produced by Selene—surges upward like lightning.
A pulse of light and energy spreads outward from the center of the pentagon at an inescapable speed. It disintegrates both Caliban and Negasonic Teenage Warhead as it passes over them. The same effect is felt by the millions of undead mutants and humans now populating Necrosha; their bodies crumble to ash as the light overtakes them.
With only moments to live, the members of X-Force watch the approaching energy wave in horror. They have only a short amount of time to comprehend the catastrophe resulting from the failure of their mission. Before they are killed, however, they each disappear in a flash of light, followed shortly thereafter by the VT! sound produced by their teammate Vanisher's energy signature. Immediately after they depart, the light overtakes the rest of the island, turning everything into ash.
VT! X-Force rematerializes in a dark, underground cavern, where they each plummet a few feet to the rocky ground. Elixir wastes no time in crawling to Telford's side, who, among other things, now lacks a left arm. "James... he was, *koff*... was always nice... to me," the Vanisher manages to say. "You better %$@^&#* save me."
Nearby, Domino asks Logan what the hell just happened. To the best of his knowledge, Selene just consumed a bunch of souls and became a goddess, much like Jimmy and Bard said she would.
"You're right," a voice says from the shadows. Domino is surprised to see James emerge from around the corner. His eyes appear heavy, as if relaying some heavy burden. "Selene is a god now,” Warpath says. “But I'm going to show you how to kill her."


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Necrosha: Conclusion
Darkness falls over Africa and the former nation of Genosha. James Proudstar’s brother John told him this would happen. John is connected to Selene, and now, Selene is connected to everything. The sorcerers would feel it, John said.
In Los Angeles, Dr. Stephen Strange feels it. While attending a crowded nighttime sporting event, he recoils in pain as his eyes emit dark energy.
In Latveria, Doctor Doom feels it, as Selene’s ascension to power is like setting off a bomb in the spirit realm. Doom falls to his knees as plumes of dark energy pour out of his eyes.
In New Orleans, Doctor Voodoo feels it too. He screams as a vortex of Selene’s magic encircles him. Just like Johnny predicted, those with the power to do something about Selene’s ascension are hit the hardest.
On Necrosha, meanwhile, Selene lifts up into the air and cackles maniacally, her body pulsing with pure, white energy. She has risen, and there is nothing to sorcerers of the world can do to stop it.
James realizes Selene is absorbing every single soul she and Bard resurrected. She uses them to fuel her ascent to godhood. X-Force can’t hurt her—they can’t even touch her. Worse, she won’t ever stop.
Mortis suddenly grows worried as she witnesses what she helped facilitate. What’s happening? What did they do? Wither replies that they just did as their queen asked. Welcome to the new world, he says to Lois.
Selene, now enormous and emanating blue-tinted light, calls out to her children. She hungers. She orders her coven to bring her sacrifices—the ones with power. All of them, she adds.
Utopia…
Fires burn at the top of the facilities on Asteroid M. Suddenly, a bright red light erupts from one of the towers, pushing with it the green-and-yellow figure of Sean Cassidy.
Inside that building, Cyclops continues firing his optic blast at the rest of the attacking mutants. Don’t let up, he cries out to Magneto and Dazzler! Drive back the undead! Dazzler calls his plan insane; their enemies can’t die, and the X-Men cannot hold this ground.
Much to their luck—or so it seems—all of the undead mutants inside the building vanish in a flash of pink light. BLINK!  Cyclops asks what the hell just happened, and where the Transmode-infected mutants are going.
The Stepford Cuckoos answer his question telepathically. From Cerebra, they monitor the position of all mutants across the globe and notice the signals on Genosha disappearing. They’re all dying, the Cuckoos say, referring to both humans and mutants alike. The girls don’t understand what’s happening.
Emma Frost does. “Selene,” she says. Cyclops asks Irma Cuckoo if she still detects the signatures of X-Force. When Irma reports they’re alive, Cyclops concludes they’re still fighting.
In this case, Cyclops is correct, for at that moment, X-Force is preparing for the confrontation with Selene. Warpath relays to them what his brother Thunderbird said while the members of X-Force paint themselves with ash. Because Johnny told James how to kill Selene, they just need to get to her. “And painting us up like scary mimes is going to help us do that how, exactly, Warpath?” Wolverine asks as he smears paint on his cheek.
In response to Logan’s question, James explains his ancestors could walk in the spirit world. The spirit of vengeance reminded him of this fact. Warpath’s people called this the Ghost Dance, and they could speak with the dead. They had a strong connection to these forces. Through their rituals, they could face their enemies with their souls protected. Through the Ghost Dance, they could kill evil spirits. Now, X-Force is going to use it to tear out Selene’s black heart.
With the preparation finished, Archangel, Wolfsbane, Elixir, Domino, the Vanisher, X-23, Wolverine and Warpath stand, their bodies and faces covered with ghastly, gray war paint.
Necrosha…
Selene basks in the myriad energy she absorbs. Her ascension continues to horrify Lois London, who watches with wide-eyed worry. “We’re going to die here, aren’t we?” she asks her cohorts. Senyaka tells her death is nothing to fear. Wither, his eyes gently closed and his mouth upturned in a smirk, states they’re not going to die; they’re going to be rewarded. Selene needs them; she won’t forsake them.
At that moment, Blink reappears from her assignment to bring the rest of the resurrected mutant souls to Selene. She retrieved as many as she could, she says. Wither takes umbrage with this; what does she mean by as many as she could? Who is still out there?
Before Blink can answer, the sound of Telford Porter’s power signature heralds the arrival of X-Force. Annoyed, Wither and the Inner Circle turn to face their foes.
X-Force wastes no time in striking. “X-FORCE! KILL ‘EM ALL!” Wolverine shouts to his team. He instructs X-23 to come with him, while the rest, he orders to take down their assigned targets. Warpath, meanwhile, he sends to do what he needs to do.
Senyaka, Wolverine and X-23’s target, wraps one of his psionic whips around Logan’s neck. As he draws him closer, Suvik reminds him they’ve played this game before—and that Logan lost. He slams Wolverine into the wall. Grunting, Wolverine just tells him he’s a slow learner. X-23, however, is not. She sneaks up behind Senyaka and slices off his arm. Enraged, Senyaka pushes her away while announcing that death means nothing to him! “We heard you the first time, bub,” Wolverine says to Senyaka once his back is turned. He severs off Senyaka’s head.
Meanwhile, Domino and the Vanisher try to eliminate the elusive Blink. As Domino fires, Blink just mocks her; is she stupid? Does she really think she can touch her? “Yeah,” Domino says—clarifying she means the second part. She gives Telford the order and he reappears beside Blink in time to grab her by the arm. Before she can escape, he twists if behind her back, pinning her. Angered, she declares no one ever hurts her! She’ll teleport their hearts right out of their bodies for this! Do they hear her?
The Vanisher placidly tells his captive to turn around. Confused, Blink does as she’s told and finds herself staring in the face of Death. As he slices his metallic wing across her chest and torso, Archangel tells Blink to face him—to face her death.
Nearby, Wolfsbane battles Mortis. As Mortis lunges at her enemy, she tells her to get away, adding she smells like a filthy animal. In turn, Wolfsbane tells Mortis she can smell her—and that she smells like Dazzler. “Shut up!” Lois screams. “She’s daddy’s little girl, not me. She’s the Barbie Doll… the star. I’m nothing like her!” Rahne knows this already; Logan told her. Lois is a killer. With that, Wolfsbane swings her razor-sharp claws across Mortis’s neck, tearing a wide, deep gash. Lois screams as warm, red blood begins gushing out of her throat. She crawls along the floor, desperately trying to get away. All the while, Rahne continues speaking to her. She tells Lois that Alison Blaire is a good person. She would’ve helped Lois. Rahne knows what it feels like to think oneself a monster, and to need help. She asks Lois to just trust her—she knows.
“Will you just shut up and die, Sinclair?” a voice says from behind Wolfsbane. As Wither reaches his hand forward to clutch Rahne’s shoulder, however, another voice calls out to him, halting him. Wither turns and finds himself facing his old classmate from Xavier’s Institute, Elixir. Although Elixir claims he does not want to hurt Wither, he approaches him with his deadly hands ready for battle; he refuses to let Kevin kill anyone else. “Foley! You’re not going to let me kill anyone else? I’m going to kill everyone! Once you’re dead, we’ll go back to your little island, and I’m going to kill Frost and Mercury and Hellion,” Wither says. “I’ll find Moonstar and your parents,” he adds. “I’ll kill everyone you ever cared about!”
Hoping to avoid a fight, Josh begs Kevin to not make them do this. However, he spots Rahne sneaking up on Kevin with her claws outstretched and has to ask her to stop; he wants to let Wither come to him. Wither does. He leaps at Elixir with his lethal hands outstretched and a malignant smile plastered across his demonic face. “Do you know how long I’ve wanted this?” Wither asks. “Do you know how long that killing you has been all I can think about? And now I’m going to do it.” They lock hands, trying to overpower the other with their respective death touches.
Wither continues unleashing his rage at Elixir. “Laurie is dead because of you!” he shouts. “You didn’t protect her! I would have! You never cared about her, Foley… you’re supposed to save people… and you let her die!” As Kevin’s fangs elongate and his features grow more distorted, Josh’s golden skin slowly begins to wither. Still, he refuses to let go. “You deserve all of this, Foley… all of you deserve what’s coming to you!”
Elixir’s skin turns black. He looks Wither squarely in the eye and tells him he loved Laurie too. At that moment, Wither’s skin begins to glow gold. His jaw drops as a beam of golden light bursts forth from it. The same thing happens to his eyes. Confounded, he asks what’s happening to him—how this is happening to him—and begs Josh to stop. Josh apologizes—but refuses to stop. Wither screams as the bright energy consumes his body and crumbles him into dust. A moment later, he is completely gone, while Josh stands and stares at the remains of Kevin Ford.
Elsewhere in the citadel, Warpath frantically searches for the weapon needed to defeat Selene. His search brings him to a vast staircase in the middle of an expansive chamber. From across the way, his deceased brother, Thunderbird, calls to him and asks if he's ready. Warpath stops. He looks at his brother and, through the gray battle-paint covering his face, declares himself ready. When he asks John the same question in return, John merely leaps at him with his blade outstretched and cries "Hokahey!"
Warpath manages to halt the thrust of the spirit blade toward his face. Grabbing Thunderbird by the wrist, he holds it steady and uses the moment to reach out to his long-dead brother. He couldn't save his life, but he sure as hell won't let him suffer in death. John, however, refuses to submit so easily. As he takes a swing at James with his free hand, he tells his little brother that if he truly thinks he can fight him, he must prove it!
Thunderbird frees himself from Warpath's grip and slices at the top of Warpath's head with the spirit blade. Warpath ducks the attack, deftly moves behind Thunderbird and locks him in a choke-hold. He's not the same kid John left behind all those years ago, he says. He's changed. He's done horrible things—things of which he is not proud. "I know," Thunderbird says, his face placid and without struggle. "But you only have to do one more."
Warpath pauses. "I love you, brother," he says—right before snapping John's neck. As his brother falls to the ground and releases his death rattle, James tells him it will all be over soon.
Elsewhere, Selene feels Thunderbird and the others amongst her Coven die. Her worried eyes widen. She decides to take action against X-Force.
Beneath the towering Selene, Domino, Wolverine and X-23 look upward nervously. When Domino asks if anyone has thoughts on what to do next, X-23 responds by cursing. Domino doesn't find this very helpful.
A moment later, Selene smashes her fist down on X-Force. They barely leap out of the way in time. As she glares at them from her elevated position, she mocks their resilience. How noble of Xavier and his children to fight until the end, she snorts derisively. She reminds them, however, that the end draws near. Their souls are hers now—and she will have them all!
Meanwhile, in the corner of the room, Blink uses the last of her strength to grab the dying Mortis and teleport her to safety. They depart without notice.
Up above, Selene makes a grab for Archangel. As she grips him, however, she realizes she cannot feel his soul. She cannot feel any of their souls. Why? "Because you are weak!!" Archangel shouts. He slices off her hand. Instantly, it grows back, and Selene tosses her captive away. If she cannot feed on their souls, then she will have to be satisfied with burning the flesh off their bodies. Pointing her arms downward, she directs a white-hot energy blast at the scattering members of X-Force. Did they truly believe they could kill her with their claws and guns? She is a goddess!
Her blast catches Wolverine's leg. Amidst the pain, he orders Elixir to go and get Selene. Josh tries his best. He rushes over to her leg, climbs to her glowing torso and lays on his death touch. It has no apparent effect on Selene, however. Declaring herself beyond this realm, she brushes Elixir aside. She is neither human nor mutant, she proclaims! Her opponents are nothing to her! She slaps X-23 off her feet and clutches Wolfsbane around the neck. "I am Selene!" she shouts. "I am—"
"Hey!" Warpath yells. "We get it. You're Selene. Now how about you shut the hell up, goddess... and get ready to die." He lurches toward her, bearing in his left hand the spirit blade crafted from the bones of Selene's long-dead mother.
Despite how futile the attempt may seem, Wolverine orders his companions to restrain Selene. The scramble up her immense, blue body and try to hold her limbs in place. Selene's facial expression doesn't even change. They dare touch her? They will all burn, she says! As easily as ever, she smacks them aside—and commands them to burn. Wolverine, however, holds fast in his grip. He pulls himself up to Selene's shoulder and looks her dead in the eye. "I saved your life once, remember?" he asks. "Here's the news, you old hag... I was wrong." With that, he gives Jimmy the order.
James, sneaking up on Selene unnoticed, thrusts forward and plunges the spirit blade deep into her chest. At first, Selene merely stumbles backward, unfazed. As the debilitating effect of the mystical weapon spreads, however, she realizes what is happening to her—even if she doesn't quite understand. After all, she thinks herself a god; how can this happen? This is not how she meant for events to transpire! With her last breath, she once again attempts to declare what she was supposed to be—then explodes in a flash of pure, white energy.
Genosha, once again shrouded in darkness, falls silent. Slowly, the scattered members of X-Force pick themselves back up and check in with each other. When Wolverine asks Warpath if he's okay, he says he's fine, mainly because he hid behind Logan when Selene erupted. Domino, meanwhile, helps Laura off her feet and notes she is already healing. Elixir and Wolfsbane likewise report they're okay. As Wolfsbane reaches out to give Josh a Elixir a hand off the ground, however, he curtly tells her not to touch him. Vanisher, meanwhile, asks Archangel for a hand. "The only thing I would do to your hand is cut it off," Archangel says. He directs his attention elsewhere and encourages the others to do the same.
Where Selene once stood stands a pillar of light that reaches up into the sky, farther than the eye can see. Within this column, the souls of those Selene attempted to consume drift upward, away from the taint of Genosha. Warpath sees his brother's noble spirit amongst the dead, free at last from Selene's control. With his parting words, Thunderbird tells his little brother he can finally let go. He vanishes into the sky with all the others. Warpath merely lifts his hand and waves. "Thanks," he says.
The Vanisher is the first to speak after a prolonged silence. "...can we get the hell out of here now?" he asks. Wolverine answers affirmatively. The group heads home.
Angel's Aerie. Colorado. 48 hours later...
Out on the balcony overlooking the Rocky Mountains, Cyclops and Logan debrief. Cyclops tells his field leader that some of the resurrected mutants may have escaped Utopia before Blink was able to take the rest of them back. Although no one is showing up on Cerebra, Scott fears they could still be out there. Logan grunts. Cyclops then asks for a status report on his team. "Dom and Vanisher are in Brazil for some R & R, doing god knows what. They're in. But Warpath's out. He's made his peace," Wolverine states. "Elixir's gone, too. He's having a hard time staying gold, apparently. And Wolfsbane, she never should have been there in the first place." Cyke asks about X-23; Logan tells him she's out too. When Cyclops asks if she's okay, Logan responds by saying Laura is out of the team because he says so.
With the debriefing complete, Logan asks what happens now. Cyclops still needs him, he says; he still needs an X-Force. "It's all coming to a head, can you feel it? It's always darkest before the dawn, right?" Summers asks. He pauses for a moment. "The dawn hasn't come yet."


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Second Coming: Chapter 5
On his top screen, Bastion surveys the mutants who remain on Utopia: Scott Summers, aka Cyclops; Namor McKenzie, aka Sub-Mariner; Emma Frost, aka White Queen; Erik Lensherr, aka Magneto; Robert Drake, aka Iceman; and Megan Gwynn, aka Pixie.
On his second screen, he keeps tabs on two members of Cyclops’s secondary squad of X-Men—Samuel Guthrie, aka Cannonball, and Douglas Ramsey, aka Cypher—as they travel in a Blackbird over Omaha, Nebraska.
On his screen displaying New York City’s mutant threats, he monitors James Madrox, aka Multiple Man, and Layla Miller, aka Butterfly.
In San Francisco, he takes not of the positions of Neena Thurman, aka Domino, and Telford Porter, aka Vanisher.
On his next screen, he denotes the location of Cyclops’s Alpha Squad: James Howlett, aka Wolverine; Piotr Rasputin, aka Colossus; Elizabeth Braddock, aka Psylocke; Warren Worthington III, aka Archangel; and Laura Kinney, aka X-23.
His last screen displays his final two targets, who currently find themselves in Kansas City, Missouri: “Anna Marie”, aka Rogue, and Kurt Wagner, aka Nightcrawler.
From his position in Washington, DC, Bastion keeps an eye on all of these threats. He asks his assistant, Steven Lang, for a report. Lang tells him they’re still tracking Cable through the tech virus in his arm, as per his orders. He’s on the move, currently positioned in Indianapolis. Coldly, Bastion states that Cable is now traveling with a contingent of X-Men. Lang begins asking how Bastion knows this, but interrupts himself and instead says he has Mutant Response Division soldiers in the area who can intercept in five minutes.
Bastion doesn’t respond. Lang prods him. He finishes processing something; his red, glowing eyes widen, and he simply states that he will require transport.
Elsewhere, Karma screams. Her teammates, all former members of the New Mutants, try to subdue her bloody, writhing body, but Karma finds the pain of her severed leg too intense to lie still. While Magma orders Bobby to hold her still, she hopes what Dr. Nemesis said about the uniform stopping the bleeding proves true. Dani Moonstar, meanwhile, shouts at the squad captain, Cannonball, and tells him they need to move—now! Warlock looks on with worry.
Reporting to Cyclops, Cannonball tells him that Karma is in bad shape, and recommends they split up; half of them could head back to Utopia, while the other half could check out Bastion’s towers. Cypher completes Cannonball’s thought. “The data we found in Hodge’s computers, it’s not—”
Interrupting him mid-sentence, Cyclops orders Cannonball to bring his team home. The package is on its way, he tells them; they need to regroup at home. He begins issuing an additional order. The connection gives out mid-sentence, however. When Cannonball inquires what happened, Cypher tells him it just cut out. It doesn’t matter to Sam; Shan’s hurt. They need to get home.
Back on Utopia, Cyclops and Dr. Nemesis observe a 3D display of their base in San Francisco and the surrounding area. Five eerie towers pepper the simulated landscape in a triangular formation. Nemesis assumes it’s bad; Cyclops probably thinks so. He relays to Nemesis the information Cypher gleaned from Cameron Hodge: that these towers were important to him. Therefore, they’re important to the X-Men as well. After Nemesis reports that Jeffries is still repairing Cerebra—which failed for reasons currently unknown—Cyclops states that the towers are now a priority. Fine, Nemesis consents; anything else?
Prodigy suddenly barges into the room with urgent information. After Cyclops tells him he lost contact with Cannonball’s team, Prodigy informs him he already knows—and that communications have gone down island-wide. They’ve also lost contact with the Alpha and Beta teams, too. Scott spends a moment processing this. “…we’re being attacked,” he states.
Meanwhile, in Indianapolis, a flame-covered Wolverine leaps over the top of an overturned truck and plunges his outstretched claws into a mechanical soldier of the Right. Cable, also in the fray, fires his machinegun at a target while formulating strategies out loud. Their enemies have a bird in the air, Cable tells his allies; they’re going to try to flank them. Psylocke sees it. Picking up Cable’s implication, she tells X-23 she needs her help for a moment.
Behind them, a Hummer barrels through a traffic obstruction at full speed, heading toward the cluster of X-Men. Colossus stops it in its tracks, overturning the vehicle. Up above, Archangel asks if they even know who these foes are; Colossus doesn’t think it matters.
Meanwhile, Psylocke and X-23 take temporary cover behind an overturned Jeep. As she begins charging her telekinesis, Psylocke asks X-23 if she needs a minute. She doesn’t. “Good girl,” Psylocke tells her as she launches her upward toward the approaching jet. When X-23 collides with her target, she ruptures its engine and sends it plummeting to the ground in a smoking heap.
Colossus, having just dismantled another armored foe, says he’s had enough; they’ve done enough here. Logan agrees, but Cable doesn’t; he can tell that all Colossus cares about is finding his missing sister. Logan doesn’t disagree with that, but reminds Cable that Bastion appears to be sending everything he has after their squad; he must believe Hope’s still there with Cable. Nathan tells him not to be so sure.
At that moment, Nightcrawler, Hope and Rogue appear amidst a cloud of sulfurous smoke in a barren alleyway in Las Vegas, Nevada. Kurt grunts as he and his traveling companions hit the ground. Rogue, worried about Kurt’s depleting energy, tries to gauge if he is okay. He tells her he’s fine—just as he falls to his knees and tries to catch his breath. Rogue accuses him of lying; he’s clearly exhausted. He’s been performing too many jumps and going way too far. “Let me take your power,” she tells him. “I can help!”
Kurt, still struggling to speak, asks her to save her strength—just in case. Their other passenger is all that matters.
On that note, Rogue turns to Hope, who stands reeling against the alley’s wall. She’s gonna be sick, Hope says. After reminding her they’re almost there, and that it should only take a few more jumps, Rogue assures her she will get used to it. That’s not the problem, Hope replies; Cable’s timejumps are far worse. She just—she just feels weird.
Suddenly, Hope stands upright, totally alert; do they hear that? Nightcrawler doesn’t. Mere moments later, however, a large object hits the ground with meteoric force. The resulting wave of released energy sends Kurt barreling into his allies. He grunts as he collides with Rogue, who immediately galvanizes herself using mutant power borrowed from Colossus. “What the hell?” Hope asks, peering over Rogue’s shoulder. Wide-eyed, Rogue tells Hope to get behind her—right now. They’ve got trouble.
Before them, in the middle of the newfound crater, stands Bastion. His metallic body glimmers in the sunlight. His jagged, metal wings exude carnage. His gaze remains downward for a moment as he analyzes his new surroundings. A moment passes. He looks up and glares at them with his magenta eyes. He begins his threat assessment.
Hope, his primary target, he deems a threat of unknown capacity. After all, he has no idea what her powers entail at this point. His secondary target, Rogue, he considers a severe threat, due to the multiple mutant powers detected within her. Nightcrawler, he deems a medium threat—and a flight risk.
Hope, meanwhile, asks Rogue what this thing is. Bastion, she tells her. She orders Hope to get to Nightcrawler—right away. She can hold off Bastion while they escape. Refusing, Hope declares that she’s not going to leave Rogue behind. Do as she says, Kurt pleads.
With that, Rogue charges toward Bastion. Hope screams at her, but Rogue once again orders her to run! Nightcrawler picks himself off the ground and moves toward Hope. He does this just as Bastion raises his left arm, aims it at Hope, and executes his primary directive. A beam of high-powered plasma emerges from the palm of his hand and moves along its trajectory toward Hope at light speed. Luckily for her, Nightcrawler throws himself in the path of the beam and catches it on his shoulder. He groans and falls to the ground.
Rogue, meanwhile, reaches her target and plunges one of her steel firsts through its face. Before Bastion has time to recover from this catastrophic damage, Rogue unleashes a set of bone claws from her other hand and cuts an incision from Bastion’s torso up through his neck. The machine counters this by grabbing her claws and snapping them off. Rogue cries out in agony. Bastion, instantaneously repairing the damage to his head, backhands Rogue into the wall. “Enough,” he states. “The child is a clear and present danger to humanity and will be terminated.” Defiant, Rogue springs off the wall, sprouts a set of wings—as well as talons out of her feet—and tells Bastion to go to hell. “Not applicable,” he states as Rogue plunges one of her toe claws through his head. Bastion initiates a counter-attack. The resulting energy discharge forces Rogue upward and incinerates her wings. Again, she screams in sheer agony.
Teary-eyed, Hope cries out at Bastion lays waste to her protector. Nightcrawler, meanwhile, struggles to stay conscious.
“I’m not going to let you have her, machine,” Rogue says to Bastion with flames reflected in her metallic skin. She lunges at him and knocks him to the ground. “Do you hear me? You can’t have her!” Bastion stares at her with a blank expression on his eerily smooth face. Then, a moment later, a surge of pink-hued energy emerges from his chest and reverberates through Rogue’s body. Screaming a final time, she collapses to the ground, unconscious.
Behind them, Hope screams out her protector’s name. Bastion stands. Craning his neck toward Hope, he locks onto his primary target and resumes the termination procedure. “Get away from her!” Hope screams as she knocks Bastion over the head with a steel pole. The impact nearly separates its head from its body—but, as usual, Bastion quickly repairs itself.
Kurt, slowly regaining himself, observes this scene. He watches as Bastion’s head reconnects itself—and refuses Hope’s futile orders. Gasping for air, Kurt mutters Hope’s name.
Bastion, meanwhile, explains to Hope why she must die. They have seen her, the machine says. They have seen what she becomes. They have seen what the world becomes because of her. And they cannot allow her to live.
Nightcrawler, finally having gathered himself, prepares to teleport. His eyes glow pink and he disappears with a signature BAMF. Sensing this impending use of mutant powers, Bastion readies himself and calculates his counter-measure. He reaches his arm out toward Hope’s throat—just as Nightcrawler appears in-between them. BAMF. Kurt reappears on their plane of reality with Bastion’s metallic arm lodged through his heart. He lets out a gasp.
The three of them stand motionless for a moment. Bastion, his arm unable to function, releases his grip on Hope’s neck. Hope, meanwhile, looks at Kurt with tears in her eyes. Behind them, Rogue lifts her head and sees what will surely be her foster brother’s final moments of life. Kurt, meanwhile, lifts his hand and rests it on Hope’s shoulder. “O…O Luh—Lord…in this…this time of need,” he mutters, “…st—strengthen…me…”
Tears well up in Kurt’s eyes. Then, with a BAMF, he and Hope vanish, taking Bastion’s arm with them. The smoking remnants of Bastion collapse to the ground.
Moments later, on Utopia, Nightcrawler and Hope reappear on a rocky outcrop and collapse. Kurt lands on his back, with Bastion’s arm jutting upward out of his chest. Reaching over to him, Hope says they need to get him help. She crawls to his side and begs him not to die.
“Huhh…wuh…worth it,” Kurt manages to say. Hope takes his hand. Tears stream from the corner of his eyes. “I…I believe in you,” he says—the final words he will ever speak. Kurt looks upward into Hope’s eyes. With sun behind her creating the appearance of a halo, Hope appears almost angelic to Kurt. He beholds this image as the remaining life leaks out of his body.
From the structure on Utopia, Cyclops and the rest of the X-Men come running. He doesn’t immediately sense the lethal damage done to Nightcrawler. Emma does. After a moment, Scott stops in his track as he beholds the deadly tableau. Hope doesn’t move; she remains kneeling by her savior’s side.
Later, the Blackbird returns home with the Alpha squad. As the loading dock opens, Colossus and Psylocke emerge, engaged in conversation. Piotr intends to find Pixie and head to Limbo immediately to recover Illyana. Psylocke assures him they will get his sister back. She’s not listening to him, Colossus says; Illyana’s either hurt or dead. For all they know—
Psylocke, perceiving the awaiting figures of Emma Frost and Scott Summers in the foreground, interrupts Colossus mid-sentence. She doesn’t need telepathy to understand the forlorn expressions of Scott and Emma. “Who?” she asks coolly.
Cyclops doesn’t answer. He averts his gaze downward. Wolverine removes his mask and stares at him for a moment. Then, he unsheathes his claws. Blood drips out of his knuckles and down the cold steel like tears. He doesn’t need to hear it from Cyclops to know who it was. Looking ahead with his brow furrowed, Logan says aloud the name of the fallen. “Elf.”
Back in Las Vegas, meanwhile, the Purifiers and other associates of Bastion arrive at the site of their master’s defeat. As they rush into the alley, Bastion reboots himself and stands up as his body begins its repairs. He asks Steven Lang for a report. They’ve reached the island, Lang tells him; they can account for all the X-Men. Lang asks what happened with the girl. “She escaped. Inconsequential,” Bastion says, examining the arm it just rebuilt. With his bulky frame now resembling a Nimrod unit more than it does Bastion, he lifts his head toward h is subordinates and tells them to proceed with the secondary plan.


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Second Coming: Chapter 9
On San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, under the blood-red dome surrounding the city, the X-Men, standing dangerously close to the temporal sphere in the center of the bridge, fight for their lives. Out of the temporal disruption emerged five Nimrod units bent on their destruction, leaving the X-Men no choice but to hold their ground.
Cyclops, Surge and Hellion fire their energy attacks at the units circling the sky. Namor, acting as a bullet, propels himself off the concrete and directly through one of the Nimrods. Its allied unit counters this by knocking Namor out of the sky. He plummets to the ground amidst a spray of his own blood.
On the surface of the bridge, Colossus rips the arm off one of the deadly Sentinels while Magma takes her fiery fists to its face. Their young peer, Armor, takes the opportunity to crawl away from the fracas and recover. Despite having a full-body shield that grants her invulnerability, smears off blood adorn her battered face.
Nearby, Psylocke rends a Nimrod unit in two using her telekinesis. Behind her, her fellow telekinetic Hellion vaults Wolverine through the air in their version of a Fastball Special. While Wolverine soars toward his target, however, a different Nimrod unit sets its sights on Hellion and fires an energy attack at his hands. The attack meets its mark; Hellion’s disintegrate. In agony, he screams and falls to the ground, his former hands nothing but smoking stumps. Behind him, X-23 watches in dismay.
Up the in the air, meanwhile, Wolverine reaches his target. While he slashes away at one Nimrod, another unit approaches from his six—unbeknownst to him. Moments before it can incapacitate him, however, its head jerks back with the force of a high-powered bullet. It seems Wolverine has a protector on the shore of the bridge who wields a sniper- rifle: Domino, his X-Force teammate.
Elsewhere on the bridge, Rogue, wielding the powers of Angel and Colossus, plunges her fists into one Nimrod unit and knocks it over the edge of the bridge. While her fist tears a hole in its head, it counters by ripping one of the feathered wings from her back. She falls screaming into the water below, a fountain of blood erupting from her shoulder blade as she goes.
Things continue looking dire for the X-Men on the bridge. Armor, doused in flames, struggles to crawl away from an approaching Nimrod unit. Iceman comes to her rescue and fires a beam of his signature attack at the immediate threat. It manages to counter and hit him with an energy attack that neutralizes his powers and sear his flesh.
Namor, meanwhile, continues smashing away at a Nimrod unit on the bridge. His furious fists repeatedly make contact with its cranium.
Nearby, Cyclops manages to blast yet another unit out of the sky, while behind him, Surge writhes on the ground in pain.
The X-Men eventually prove victorious against these five Nimrod units, but at great cost. While Surge cradles the seemingly lifeless body of Julian Keller, X-23 mourns. Archangel, meanwhile, fishes Rogue’s limp body out of the river. Magma and Armor come to the aid of the badly burned Bobby Drake. Not ten feet from their position, a downed Nimrod unit reports back to its mother computer. “Receiving transmission…contact made,” the unit reports in binary. “Nimrod-class scouting party 4-924 has successfully completed the chronal jump.”
This message soon reaches its destination: Bastion, the Master Mold and Nimrod amalgamation. At one of his various headquarters, Bastion stands hooked on an altar to his various communications devices. He reports to his subordinated that the portal is active and initiates his uplink. His subordinate Graydon Creed admits he doesn’t quite understand what this means; he whispers to Steven Lang for clarification. Lang tells him not to be so stupid. Bastion is wired into their minds, after all; whispering is pointless. Honestly, though, Lang thought Creed would have figured it out by now. There exists somewhere a future in which humanity wins. Bastion is merely bringing that future to their present.
Bastion, meanwhile, makes contact with the computers on the other side of the wormhole. Having detected multiple mutant targets, the computer begins preparing counter-measures.
Back on Utopia, Cyclops asks Beast for a damage report. Beast reports that Iceman has third degree burns over 25 percent of his body. Hellion’s hands, meanwhile, are completely gone, including most of one forearm. The city is well past panic, but they at least have military and police cooperation. Everyone is at risk, Hank says—mutant and human alike. Whatever’s coming, the people of San Francisco know the X-Men are their only chance.
Emma Frost tells Scott that the Cuckoos are in contact with the contingent of X-Men he left on the bridge. “If more Sentinels appear,” she begins to say. Cyclops interrupts her.
“Not if. When, Emma,” he says. Finishing her thought, Emma tells him they’ll probably know about it instantly.
Turning now to Prodigy and Beast, Cyclops asks what they’re dealing with. The dome’s origin is unknown, Prodigy tells him. The energy that comprises it is unknown; by all accounts, it’s physically impenetrable. It blocks all communications, including tech and telepathy. They can’t even see out of it. However, Prodigy adds that they know nothing yet about teleportation. Do they have any teleporters left?
Regrettably, Rogue informs him they do not. Vanisher went missing when he found out the teleporters were targeted. “Wonderful,” Beast sighs. “And as for the sphere…it’s streaming an incredible amount of data. I asked Namor to put his hand into it to see what would happen. It’s organic-unfriendly. Anyone other than Namor would have been killed.” Beast adds that, to a certain extent, the orb is temporal. It directly connects their timeline to a future timeline—the one from which the Nimrods originate.
Stoically, Cyclops asks how many Nimrods this timeline contains. Prodigy, his expression dire, answers him. “Our sensors analyzed the data from the sphere and the downed Nimrods…they’re in contact with a central A.I. in the future,” he says. “We think…we think…I…oh, God,” he mumbles. “I can’t do this.”
Cyclops commands him to answer. “How. Many.” He says.
Prodigy turns and looks at him. “The sensors failed after 170,000.”
The conference room falls silent. Dani Moonstar hangs her head. Emma Frost turns away. “Well, I’m no mathematician,” Domino says, “but that seems bad.” Prodigy, meanwhile, begins to freak out. They have to get out of there, he claims; they’re all going to die!
Wolverine tells him to shut up. Prodigy claims he doesn’t understand! They’ve got no chance! He’s seen the data; the odds are—
Logan interrupts him and tells him to shut the hell up and get himself together—or else he will die there. “Logan,” Rogue says, craning her neck toward her teammate, “back off. Now.”
Emma, turning to Scott, suggests he say something brilliant before they start passing out the Kool-Aid. Scott answers her with one word: Cable. They still have one bullet left, he says; Cable and Hope came back to the present using a time-travel device. Cable still has it. If Bastion’s sending hell after them from the future, then they need to send a team into that future to shut it down. They take the fight to them.
He makes it sound so easy, Rogue says. Beast concurs; even if they could somehow attune Cable’s device to that specific timeline, what then? Surely he heard the same numbers everyone else in the room is keenly aware of—and Sentinels are not known for their ability to be persuaded. Cyclops, however, reminds him they have someone who speaks their language: Cypher. After all, Prodigy said they’re reporting to a central A.I. If Cypher can access that system, he can rewrite it, he can take control of it, and he can shut down every single Sentinel it controls. He can wipe them all out at once, Cyclops declares.
“Yeah? Well, you’re forgetting about Ramsey’s one weakness,” Wolverine sneers. “Bullets.”
Enraged, Dani Moonstar stands up in her chair. “You son of a bitch!” she shouts at Logan. Scott, trying to maintain order, tells them both that’s enough. It is for the very reason Logan mentioned that he’s sending a team in with Douglas to get him to the central computer. Psylocke aloofly asks whom he plans to send on this suicide mission. Rogue eagerly volunteers to go. She’ll absorb all the powers she can take and then go.
Cyclops denies her request; he’s sending X-Force. At this, Domino drops her head and shuts her eyes. “Damn,” she says. Storm, sitting across the table from her, looks confused; she’s not away of any X-Force. Beast takes advantage of their confusion to blow open Scott’s secret. He barks at Scott to tell them all about the team of killers he assembled—the ones he sent to kill Bishop and god knows who else.
Confounded, Storm asks Scott if this is true. He doesn’t hesitate for a moment before answering that yes, it is. Ororo narrows her eyes and chooses her words carefully. If they survive this, she says, then she and Scott have a lot to discuss. That’s fine with Scott, but right now, he reminds her they have work to do.
He orders Psylocke to clear the city and get as many people as far away from the sphere as she can; she embarks on this task atop her motorcycle. Rogue, he orders to lead the evacuation of all humans and non-combatants to the Atlantean column; they need to stabilize the wounded and get them out of Utopia. When this goes down, he says, it’s going to happen fast—and they need to prepare themselves for casualties. “Everyone who can fight, fights,” he says. “Because we’re out of time.”
In the infirmary, Beast rubs his eyes as he keeps watch over his old friend Bobby Drake, who lies comatose. Elsewhere, Mercury consoles Surge, who grieves over the grave injuries done to Hellion. X-23, meanwhile, keeps watch on the unconscious Hellion.
At the bridge, a team of X-Men approaches the temporal sphere and stand guard. Rockslide and Dust cannot hide the expressions of fear and despair that adorn their faces. Colossus and Namor, on the other hand, stand tall before the portal.
Meanwhile, on Utopia, Hope asks Cable why he has to go. Because it’s a good plan, Cable replies. Hope, unsatisfied with his answer, presses the matter further, but Cable interrupts her. It’s a good plan, he reiterates, and it doesn’t work without the tech in his arm. “Nathan…” Hope says while looking at him with pleading eyes. With his back still turned to Hope, Cable pulls on his shirt. He has to do this, he says as he assembles with X-Force and Cypher.
Defeated, Hope lowers her head and gently closes her eyes. Cable stops. After Logan tells him to get on with it, he turns back toward hope as tears well up in his eyes. Hope begins to speak, but Cable, wrapping his arms around her, says the words first. “I love you, Hope.” A moment passes. “Goodbye,” he adds. He releases her from his embrace.
At that moment, one of the Stepford Cuckoos reports to Cyclops that it’s happening. Cyke looks out from Utopia at the effervescent orb on the Golden Gate Bridge. It glows brighter and brighter as figures approach its surface. On the bridge, Dust, Rockslide and Namor all watch with anxiety. “We need to not be here” is all Colossus can say.
Just then, five more Nimrod units breech the orb and enter the containment zone of San Francisco.
Cyclops frantically gives Cable and X-Force the signal. After activating the chronal device on his arm, Cable and his associates disappear into the timestream.
Moments after they depart, Emma asks Scott if he really thinks they can do it. He does. Although he answers her question, however, something about his demeanor leaves Emma feeling queasy. What is he not telling her? With his back still turned toward Emma, Scott simply says that he just killed them. Cable’s tech only had one jump left in it, he says. Cable knew it—they all knew it—and they went anyway. Win or lose, it’s a one-way trip, Cyclops states. Hope, crouching behind a desk, hears what Scott says next—and it hits her hard. “I just killed X-Force,” he says. “I just killed my son.”


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Second Coming: Chapter 13
Just outside of San Francisco, Thor, the God of Thunder, pounds away at the impenetrable red dome enveloping San Francisco. Although he hits it with the full force of Mjolnir, the dome doesn’t budge. Down below, Reed Richards—otherwise known as the Fantastic Four’s Mister Fantastic—converses with the X-Club about their status. According to Reed, energy levels are at 13.4 percent of the initial reading and falling, but the dome’s composition is…
Dr. Nemesis cuts him off and tells him to quit his prattling. Work, he commands! People are dying inside the dome!
Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch, hovers up above alongside Iron Man. Noticing an ever-expanding crowd of people amassed outside the perimeter of the dome bearing flowers, Johnny asks Iron Man what he supposes it means. There are eight hundred thousand people trapped inside that dome, Iron Man replies. Johnny wants to know what everyone is doing out there? Well, they’re hoping and praying that the X-Men save their loved ones.
Meanwhile, inside the dome on the Golden Gate Bridge, Hope stands awestruck at the chronal distortion at the center of the whole mess. She stands at a safe distance and watches as her father figure, Cable, emerges encased in the Techno-Organic Virus. Please, she whimpers at her father; come back to her.
Cable, resembling Atlas as he bears the incredible burden of a Techno-Organic tunnel running through time, hoists open the pathway to the future. The virus appears to infect every cell of his body.
Cyclops and the White Queen also observe this scene in awe. Scott asks Emma if she can detect Cable’s thoughts. She tells him she’s made contact; according to what Cable’s telling her, this was the only way to save the others. He let the Techno-Organic Virus out, she explains. His entire life, he fought this infection—but now, he’s stopped; he’s letting it take over his body.
Hope takes off running toward her dad. The X-Men try to restrain her, but she’s too quick. Meanwhile, a figure emerges from the portal carrying a body in its arms. As the figure hits the pavement, the others can see that it’s Domino, cradling the badly injured—but still living—body of X-23 in her arms. Surge lets out a relieved shout as her friend Laura emerges. She’s alive—they’re all alive, the White Queen confirms. She tells the X-Men that the rest are coming through at that moment.
Amidst another flash of bright light, the portal ejects Archangel, followed by Wolverine, who carries the limp body of Cypher in his arms. “We need a doctor here!” Logan shouts. “Now, dammit!” When the others rush to his side, Wolverine tells them to take Cypher. “He did it,” Logan tells them. “The kid shut it all down.”
Hope, meanwhile, watches Cable with dread. With tears welling up in her eyes, she asks him to say something. His metallic skin shimmering in the light from the portal, Cable just smiles at her. Then—he explodes. The eruption rends every cell of his body into pieces, sending shrapnel in all directions. His left arm, however, comes off largely intact. Hope screams in horror as she witnesses the death of the man who protected and cared for her throughout her entire young life.
Meanwhile, from the shores of the bay, Bastion and his two remaining minions watch as their link to the future erodes. Bastion reports to Steven Lang and Graydon Creed that the time sphere has collapsed; they no longer have any contact with Master Mold. Creed begins to freak. He proclaims that it’s over—that Bastion has failed and that they need to get out of there and regroup. He begs Lang to convince Bastion of this. Not surprisingly, Lang agrees with Creed; whatever the X-Men did, their Sentinels are down, their forces are scattered, and there are too many mutants for them to handle.
Bastion refuses to accept this. Overriding the T/O Virus technology in the bodies of Creed and Lang, he subverts their wills to his and tells the humans they will not fail. Do they understand? Can they understand this? The girl, Bastion states, must die—even if they have to tear her head from her body with their own hands. With that, he launches off the ground and toward the bridge.
How will I know?
The 31st century…
“Know what?” Cable asks a young Hope Summers.
“When I’m ready to go back. You keep saying I’ll know. How?” she asks. Cable simply tells her she’ll know. Again, she asks how she will know, but Cable responds this time by telling her she needs some sleep.
Hope begins to whine. Sitting before a campfire, she leans her head against Cable’s robotic left shoulder. Acquiescing, he tells her she’ll feel it when the time comes; it’ll feel like nothing she’s ever felt before. It’ll be like a switch turned on inside of her, like a fire. Once that fire’s lit, he adds—everything will change. Hope asks Cable if he’s ever felt this feeling. “I have,” he answers. When, she asks. “The moment I first held you.”
The present…
Cyclops approaches the grieving Hope. He tells her he’s sorry. She says nothing and remains kneeling on the ground, amidst Cable’s ashes and his disembodied left arm. She rebuffs Cyclops’ attempt to console her; in fact, she tells him that if he puts his hand on her shoulder, she swears to God he’ll lose it.
Cyclops, undeterred, tries to console her anyway. Hope turns around and glares at him. “You did this. This is all your fault,” she says. “I hate you. I hate—”
Suddenly, an object crashes through the center of the Golden Gate Bridge with meteoric force. It rends the bridge in two, and both ends begin plunging toward the bay. The X-Men—and everything else on the bridge, for that matter—tumble toward the icy water, dodging rubble and abandoned cars as they go.
While Domino dives in to retrieve the unconscious body of X-23, Hope swims to the submerged end of the bridge and pulls herself onto the asphalt. As she struggles for each inch, she encourages herself by repeating some of Cable’s motivational mantras. “Move,” she tells herself. “Survive...”
“No,” a voice says from above. Hope lifts her head and beholds Bastion, fully armored and accompanied by the Sentinel-powered Graydon Creed and Steven Lang. They hover in the air ominously. “Survival is not an option. The mutant species ends here. It ends with you,” Bastion tells Hope.
Undaunted, Hope glares at him, her eyes the embodiment of rage. From behind her, Cyclops pleads with her to get out of the way while he fires his optic blasts at the Sentinels. Bastion easily deflects the attacks. He orders Creed and Lang to exterminate every mutant they see. “We will deal with the girl,” Bastion says. Again, Cyclops begs Hope to escape, but Bastion fires an energy attack at his feet. He leaps out of the way. Hope, meanwhile, continues glaring at Bastion.
Just behind them, Domino, carrying X-23 over her shoulder, emerges from the water alongside Wolverine, Archangel and Armor. Domino asks what’s happening now; she thought they took all the Sentinels down! The rest of them wonder what Hope is doing—and why she isn’t running for her life.
Hope, snarling, threatens Bastion for what he did to Cable. Cable was all she had; he was her whole life. Bastion simply tells her to die and fires a plasma beam directly at her.
At that moment, a swirling, protective aura envelopes Hope, effectively deflecting Bastion’s attack. From within the whirl of flames, she keeps her eyes locked on her target. Bastion looks at her with confusion; his systems inform him that this is a new mutant power signature. Its classification, he states, is unknown; its power levels, incalculable. He continues firing at her anyway. Before long, however, an optic blast obliterates his left arm—an optic blast coming from the eyes of Hope Summers.
While repairing himself, Bastion tells Hope that their only purpose is to eliminate her: to end the chaos and death that she brings. Does she understand this?
How will I know?
Hope’s left arm suddenly turns into living steel. She plunges it through Bastion’s torso. They will end her, Bastion declares. Hope lunges backward and falls to the ground. While resting her armored hand on the asphalt, she coats the surrounding area with a light layer of ice.
You’ll feel it, Hope. Like nothing you’ve ever felt before.
A pillar of ice, under Hope’s control, suddenly surges upward and encases Bastion, immobilizing him. This moment is the beginning, Bastion snarls at her. They may look to her as a messiah, but she is not. She is the adversary, he states. He fires an array of rockets at her from his shoulder.
It’ll be like a switch turned on inside you.
As the rockets near, Hope erects a wall of molten asphalt in front of her as a shield. The rockets hit the wall and detonate harmlessly. Bastion, meanwhile, breaks free of the ice and continues outlining to Hope why she must die. Her death is the reason for their existence, he says, referring to himself and the Sentinels. And they will never quit. She must be killed in order to ensure that humanity lives. That, he says, is their purpose—for if she survives, nothing survives.
Hope begins levitating. Crimson flames swirl around her body; she glows bright-red with the light of a sun.
Like a fire. And once that fire’s lit…everything will change.
A beam of white energy, directed at Bastion, erupts from Hope’s eyes. Radiant fire springs from her back like a pair of wings.
Nearby, while fighting the two remaining Sentinels, X-23 asks Logan what’s happening. Logan doesn’t answer her; instead, he stares at the familiar energy aura surrounding Hope in awe. Emma, encased in diamond, appears to see the same thing. So does Scott; he watches as Hope takes to the sky encased in the fiery form of a bird. She turns to look at them for a moment and makes eye contact with Scott. He stares deeply into her green eyes, framed by her head of red hair.
He suddenly cries out at Logan and charges toward Hope and Bastion. Logan joins him—and tells Emma to stay. There’s nothing she can do now, he says. Emma gently shuts her eyes and lowers her head. “I know,” she says.
Hope and Bastion continue to grapple. As he closes his claw around Hope’s throat, she screams. It is beyond their capacity to hate her, Bastion says. It is beyond their capacity to enjoy murdering her. They have grown beyond their capacity, however; they DO hate her, and they WILL enjoy killing her.
An optic blast hits Bastion in the arm, knocking him away long enough for Hope to break free and for Wolverine to tackle him in mid-air. “You wanna enjoy something, you murdering son of a bitch?” Wolverine asks. “This is for Kurt!!” He sinks his claws into Bastion’s cranium.
On the ground, meanwhile, Hope’s eyes begin glowing as brightly as stars. Placing the palm of her hand on the ground, she tells Nathan she’s finally ready now. The asphalt glows white hot around her hand before erupting. A pillar of fire spews out of the ground directly beneath Bastion and surges toward the dome-covered sky. It knocks Wolverine clear of the most powerful part, while Cyclops and Hope fall backward and are mercifully spared. Bastion, however, is not so fortunate; the pillar of fire completely obliterates him. It even destroys the supposedly impenetrable red sphere surrounding the city of San Francisco.
Outside, the Avengers watch with puzzlement as the dome disintegrates. Thor could feel it weakening, but admits it was not he who shattered it. They’ll have to figure it out later, Iron Man says; he’s receiving transmissions from police and firefighters. At that moment, however, the two of them look toward the unveiled city and discover that the Golden Gate Bridge is not only destroyed, but that the X-Men are at ground zero.
From his viewpoint inside Mister Fantastic’s hovercar, Dr. Nemesis observes the scene unfolding on the bridge. Cyclops did it, he acknowledges. Reed doesn’t understand; what exactly did he do? “He kept his people alive,” Nemesis explains. “He survived.”
Meanwhile, on the bridge, enveloped by a ray of light seeming to stem directly from the heavens, the seemingly unconscious Hope Summers floats with her head thrown back, basking in its warmth. The rest of the X-Men stand around her unable to hide their expressions of sheer awe.


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Scratching the Itch
While Elizabeth Braddock aka Psylocke is still at the Jean Grey School, her X-Force teammates wait for her somewhere in the Amazonas. When Marrow complains, Cable tells her she is free to go.
Back at the Jean Grey School, Psylocke uses the Cerebra chamber.
Marrow asks why they keep sitting around. They know now that this Volga character is whom they seek. Cable tells her they are waiting for Psylocke who’s got intel based on this location. Fantomex chimes in; it’s only polite to wait for Betsy.
Psylocke steps out on a mission with her team of X-Men.
Marrow complains that she doesn’t see why they all treat her like she’s such %$§& royalty. Cable tells her off again and Fantomex suggests she lay off the swearing. Marrow insists: Psylocke acts so superior the whole time when she ain’t that hot. Think about this: She’s this super-assassin ninja chick with a &%$# psychoactive sword and telekinetic power and blah blah blah who refuses to kill people. Assassin. Sword. Nonlethal. One of these things is not like the others. She doesn’t get why Cable recruited her. She doesn’t fit. What’s the %$/ secret, huh? For her sake, he hopes Marrow never finds out, Cable replies.
The X-Men’s mission over, they return to the mansion. Psylocke changes into her X-Force uniform and asks Dr. Nemesis to teleport her in. Moments later, she joins the others in the Amazonas, northwestern Brazil, the middle of nowhere.
My name is Elizabeth Braddock and I am an addict. It has been twenty days since I last weakened.
She takes Marrow aside for a private conversation and warns her not to badmouth her again in front of her colleagues. Or Betsy will fry her language centers, so she sounds like the drooling idiot-goblin she is.
How does she kn--? Marrow begins to burst out. Psychic, Betsy replies. You unbelievable prat. Also MeMe was replaying the whole thing in her earpiece.
Marrow insults MeMe (who is present via floating comm devices). MeMe laughs. Team who shares together cares together.
Marrow can’t let the subject go though. All this “killing’s bad, mmmmkay” $§”%? She doesn’t get why Psylocke’s here and why she has to be such a sanctimonious %&$§/ the whole time…
Betsy tells Cable she is bored with the little monster swearing at her. He can’t say she didn’t warn her.
What the jellymold does she mean by that, cowdunk it? Marrow asks a moment later.
Peering through binoculars, Cable announces there is some sort of structure ahead. What’s the score, Betsy? Yeah, why the foxtinkle are they here, duchess? Marrow adds, causing Fantomex to snort.
Betsy explains she ran a mindsweep on Cerebra, poking about their new friend Volga. So they still think he’s the nipplefrost who caused the Alexandria incident, right? Marrow interjects. Cable guffaws. Marrow doesn’t get it.
MeMe interferes excitedly, showing them data about Volga: more money than God. Sick torture ambition, stole her, hurt her. No powers, no mutant, just human. Got goons, many goons, red faces all around. His biz: mostly arms, guns, bombs kaboom. Friends in high places. Can’t find. Apologies. Sorry.
Betsy tells her not to feel bad. Cerebra didn’t do much better. She got plenty of his mind mentionings from generals, terrorists, bankers. There are rumors the little sod’s launching something new on the arms market. Plenty of excitement about that. But nothing to say where he actually is… until she found Antonio Aggasiz.
He’s a mutant, Brazilian. Brain’s bursting with the name Volga, very scared. He’s some sort of dimensional teleporter. She couldn’t tell much before someone slapped him with a psi-dampener. But he was definitely one of Volga’s captives. Past tense. Except in his case, he was neither rescued like MeMe nor found wandering with his memories buggered like Twinklemouth over there. Fudge you, Marrow spits. So she figures he’s an escapee.
She mentioned a PSI-dampener, Cable remarks. Betsy points toward the fortress-like building ahead. This place is reading dozens of very faint mutant signatures. She thinks they are being deliberately shielded.
It’s a batcrumpet mutant sanctuary? Marrow asks. Cable doubts it, as he looks through the binoculars again. The guards are all facing inwards.
Marrow wants to be sent in and take out the guards. Cable decides they do this the quiet way. Oh come on, for Grimblepixie’s sake! she pouts. She’s so totally the hot squid when it comes to the quiet… Cable and Fantomex break down with laughter and Marrow still doesn’t get it.
Soon Fantomex and Psylocke close in on the guards, quietly and separately. She is never more perfection than when doing le infiltration, he tells her as they separate. It’s la not le, she replies. Shut up and do what you do, you ridiculous bloody fraud!
She climbs up a watchtower and imagines killing the guard with her sword. Instead, she uses her telepathy to put him asleep while Fantomex breaks the neck of his guard. She runs to the next watchtower.
My name is Elizabeth Braddock and I am an addict. It’s been twenty days since I last weakened.
Before she can take out the next guard non-lethally, Marrow impales him with one of her bone spikes.
She tells Betsy she likes her, she really does. She’s really pretty. She likes the elasticity and texture of her skin. And she doesn’t want her thinking she’s riding her puddlejam for no reason. It’s just, c’mon, what business has she got in a team of professionals like them?
Professionals, Betsy mutters, looking at the dying man who manages to set off an alarm button. Aw, croutons! Marrow swears.
Loud way it is, Cable realizes outside. He asks MeMe if she really wants to be part of this. Doc Nemesis is proud of the gadget she’s riding, but nobody can force her to use it. Want to, she replies as they join the others. Enjoy mutant helping, good things. Still learning self skill. New ways, new thoughts, body pattern. Scattered self. New ways to be. Swarmthink. Her floating units separate and fire at the entrance.
Armed guards in psi-helmet attack. Psylocke announces she can’t puppet them. Marrow scoffs.
Psylocke imagines killing the guards. Cable asks why there are so few guards and where is Aggasiz. Betsy strains. She doesn’t know, there’s a null-field.
Fantomex points at the cells and remarks those mutant prisoners are from all over the world, not only les Bresiliens. Marrow asks what that means. Means it’s a damn rendition center. MeMe explains that after the Alexandria incident many nations didn’t want mutants anymore, so they secretly sent them here. She also found Aggasiz and his rendition is underway.
An imprisoned mutant girl in a school uniform addresses Psylocke and explains most guards went in there when the alarm stated. Maybe fifty, all in psi-helmets. Too many for them. Let them out. They are enough to take them all at once.
Marrow and Cable agree with the idea. Betsy does not. Those people aren’t killers. But MeMe opens the cells and restraints. Cable tells their new army to rush the guards. No! Betsy announces and puts everyone including her own teammates to sleep. She draws her sword and walks into the treatment center.
Sometime later, she wakes them up. Sitting in meditation stance, she announces she has something to say to each of them. They were recruits. They were approached and enrolled by a soldier. Cable found them in the wake of what happened in Alexandria when there was no X-Force. She knows why each of them said yes. You can’t hide things from a psychic. They are all so sick with their secrets that they wear them like armor. So they assume everyone does the same.
She turns to Fantomex. He should have asked for her help with his search.
She turns to MeMe. She should tell him the truth. She can’t, MeMe stammers.
And as for Marrow and her… loss… She has nothing to say to her.
Psylocke gets up. She was not recruited. She came to Cable. She sought him out. Does Marrow want to know her secret? Why she is here? She has no secret. She has no reason to be a part of X-Force and every reason to stay away. She tries not to kill. She makes vows. She counts the days that she manages without spilling blood. She tells herself that if she does take lives in the course of doing what’s right… then at least it means other people won’t have to. Like… she’s saving innocent souls. But that’s a lie. That’s lazy guilt-dodging bollocks. The truth is this: she rejoined X-Force because she couldn’t bear to stay away.
My name is Elizabeth Braddock and I am an addict. It has been zero days since I last weakened.
The others look around the room where everyone has been butchered save for the prisoner strapped into a chair who begs Cable to keep her away from him. Antonio Aggasiz, Cable identifies him. How did he come to be here?
Captured, he stutters. He was hiding in the jungle, but—Yeahyeahyeah, that ain’t what he meant, Marrow interrupts. He already escaped from somewhere else before those bozos caught him, right? V-Volga, Antonio stammers.
Betsy tells Cable he’s terrified. She shut off the psi-dampener but they should get him out of those restraints. Negative Cable replies. He’s a jumper. Be gone before they know it.
Volga, Antonio repeats. Tortured him, she bets, Marrow agrees. Made him jump off to other worlds. Volga! he repeats at a louder volume. They wanna know where he sent Antonio, Marrow explains and what he did there. Volga! Antonio shouts. They wanna know where that elaborately carved narwhal pelvis actually lives. VOLGA! he screams. Why’s he keep saying that? Oh no, she realizes.
Zdravstvujtye, sexy peoples, Volga, surrounded by an energy globe shouts, as he enters. One of the energy tendril hits Antonio.
Cable runs towards Volga. Calling him a bastard, he demands how does he fix his daughter?
Very interesting, Volga remarks when he sees him. He should be dead by now.
Psylocke tells him to practice what he preaches and stabs him with her sword, only to find he was an energy projection.
Fantomex remarks he was under the impression the big bad was just human. Not a supervillain. He’s supposed to be, Cable mutters. All the more reason to find him and stick a nuke up his hashtag, Marrow opines. She suggests they grab the patsy and— Betsy opens the restraints and Antonio falls forward. They get a good look at him. He’s dead. Marrow swears.