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Closing the Ring
Election morning in Chicago. The polls are open and the turnout is heavy in the most hotly- contested municipal campaign in years. One correspondent on the news observes that Kate Pryde was clearly leading until her closing statement. Suddenly, for no reason anyone could see, she was in tears. That moment instantly reframed the debate in wholly non-mutant terms. Not “is she a monster?” but “is she qualified?”
Elsewhere, on the streets of Chicago, men are beating up a young boy wearing a Pryde campaign t-shirt. The men label him a race-traitor.
Chandilar, the Imperial Shi’ar throne world. They came for peace but are ready for war, Rachel Grey, Nathan Summers and, masquerading as Mr. Sinister, Remy LeBeau aka Gambit. However, they are currently standing on the sidelines, watching a drama unfold. Moments ago, the Shi’ar Lord Chancellor ordered the death of new arrivals, Charles Xavier and Magneto, but that moment Lilandra and her son showed up.
Lilandra quickly informs her chancellor that, while he may administer Shi’ar in her name, only the Majestrix can orders the sentence of death. Especially of one who stands protected by the banner of truce. She reminds everybody that Xavier was once her consort. He is sire of the imperial heir. Charles’ eyes grow wide at the news. Lilandra continues that her chancellor is to accord him all appropriate respect and extend him every courtesy. The Lord Chancellor kneels and promises to obey.
Gambit observes to his compatriots that the chancellor doesn’t seem too thrilled, though. He wonders how much trouble that will spell for Lilandra and how far down the road it will come.
Lilandra adds that the Superguardian Plutonia will see to the needs of Charles’ companion. He may remember her from when the impostor took his place and returned to destroy the X-Men. She stood in his defense and paid dearly.
Cable is amazed at the sheer scope of Magneto’s power, as he is sustaining a wormhole all the way back to Earth. Good thing he wasn’t so talented when he was younger, Gambit replies wryly. He muses that the chancellor seems familiar somehow. Rachel cannot help with her telepathy though as his mind is too well-shielded for unobtrusive telepathic probes. Gambit warns both of his companions to be ready for anything. He’ll try and figure the Chancellor out.
The chancellor asks if Sinister’s Hounds – referring to Rachel and Cable – can take out Magneto. At the same time, he too is struck with a sense of déjà vu, as far as “Sinister” is concerned. Lilandra won’t approve, Gambit chides while realizing, at the same moment, that the chancellor is Khan. Khan replies that Lilandra’s reign will end today, as well as the Neramani dynasty.
In private, Charles addresses Lilandra: she never told him they had a son. It was none of his concern, she replies coldly. Charles’ home is Earth. Her son’s destiny is to rule the Aerie. Given what was happening in those days, there was no place for Charles in his life. Indeed, he’d likely have been killed on sight. Many among her people still feel that way, she adds.
The child watches them, seemingly uncaring.
Xavier gets to the reason for his visit. Namely the Warskrulls’ attack on the X-Men. And he thinks the Shia’r are responsible? Lilandra asks. No one’s forgotten what was done to Rachel at her command, Charles remarks stony-faced. Nor has anyone here forgotten what was done by the Immensity wearing Charles’ face, Lilandra retorts. The empire was laid low in a matter of weeks by a single creature. And that was nothing compared to what Cassandra Nova did to her soul!
Lilandra explains that the Shi’ar are creatures of passion. That is why the entity Charles calls the Phoenix is one of their primal totems. She points towards giant statue of the Shi’ar gods. These are the Phoenix’s aspects in Shi’ar theology. Sharra: the fire of creation. K’ythri the absolute and final destruction. Kept separate and apart, they remain forever in balance. Combined, they well earn their title, “the end of all that is.”
Angrily, she turns towards Xavier, asking accusingly if he has any idea of the risk he took coming. The Shi’ar descend from a race of predators. Even today they live by blood and beak and claws, though they sublimate those primal urges beneath a veneer of a thousands generations of civilization. All that saved his wretched world years ago was the fact the empire was in chaos. They are not in chaos anymore, Xavier points out. Lilandra retorts that in her file queue is a submission to unleash the grand armada on Earth. He shouldn’t push his luck. Xavier snarls that his school is gone. Children are dead by the score and X-Men by their side. He has no more luck to push.
Lilandra replies that she mourns his loss, but reminds him that the Immensitiy cost Shi’ar a score and more worlds. Their dead numbered in the billions. Always the threat comes from Earth. Always the X-Men are involved. In her lifetime, she has ruled two whole galaxies, yet at her worst she inflicts hardly a fraction of the horror on the cosmos as the mutants do. So, when her people come to her demanding vengeance – simple justice, how does she answer? Xavier earnestly suggests they find a better way, while they still can. Lilandra recalls that her mad brother craved oneness with the Phoenix. Had they never met, D’ken would have annihilated the cosmos to get it. There are days she wishes he had. Does he ever feel that?
Xavier reaches out for her. The moment he touches Lilandra, images flare though his brain. The battle, when their minds first touched, the moment at Jean Grey and Misty Knight’s apartment when Lilandra teleported there and they first met in person. In that image, Lilandra takes off her space suit’s helmet, but her face is that of Cassandra Nova. It is Cassandra who now sits before him on Lilandra’s throne, surrounded by Brood.
At the Xavier Institute, the X-Men watch in awe as Polaris keeps up her end of the wormhole Magneto and she created. Beast wonders how they ever managed to beat Magneto. Cyclops just hopes the Shi’ar are as impressed. He asks the Spikes for information but they have no telepathic contact with Xavier or Rachel.
Iceman walks over to Polaris. Calling her ‘sexy,’ he asks how it’s going. Sternly, she reminds him they are so over. What’s a decade between buds, he jokes. Ten years? she deadpans. He seriously asks how she is and she assures him she will hold up as long as the old man. He tells her he bets and offers she should let him know if she needs to cool of or needs some water. Mollified, Lorna smiles.
Cyclops, in the meantime, suggests the Spikes try reaching Magneto. His powers are already in sync with Polaris. Maybe they can piggy-back a telepathic link along the same energy steam. A little later, a smiling Magneto observes that Cyclops paid attention in Quantum Physics class. He informs Scott that he is worried about Charles. Other than that everything there is almost too quiet.
The Guard’s leader informs the Lord Chancellor that the Starjammer is approaching and broadcasting a house Imperial transponder code that guarantees safe passage. The code is Deathbird’s, approved by Lilandra herself. Here comes the cavalry, Rachel mutters to Cable. Gambit, however, is worried by the behavior of the guardian Plutonia. In the past, when the X-Men were facing Cassandra Nova, Plutonia had almost died defending them. The betrayal comes unexpected, as Plutonia suddenly attacks Magneto and sucks the lifeforce out of him - Magneto reacts instinctively with a force pulse that vaporizes every piece of ferrous metal within range and fires every unprotected cortex. Even as he begins discorporating into his component atoms, Plutonia moves through the wormhole to her final target, Polaris.
On the Starjammer, the crew is moderately optimistic. The clearance codes Aliyah provided seem to be doing the trick as Aliyah had predicted. Kurt seems bothered though. He explains that, in his last movie, the hero came up with a great plan. But it turned out the villain had it first. He was a step ahead the whole way. The image of Cassandra Nova appears from Aliyah’s head as she asks if life should imitate art. Cassandra / Aliyah presses a button to take out the Carol consciousness of the computer. The next moment, Brood warriors enter and take out Nightcrawler, Nocturne and Phoenix. They gather around an exulting Aliyah / Cassandra.
At the Xavier Institute, the X-Men look in horror at what Plutonia has done to Polaris. Plutonia asks for forgiveness and states that the actions aren’t her own. She was forced by the Immensity. This is its vengeance on all of them. Beast warns Scott that Plutonia is hyper-saturated with energy. Her own energy combined with Polaris’ and Magneto’s is building to overload. She’ll breach the wall to 4-space. The blast will gouge a new moon out of Earth’s crust. Nothing will survive! Cecilia asks if her forcefield can help. Beast sadly informs her that all of them combined don’t have the necessary power.
He’s thinking in the wrong direction, Hub cries, as she jumps towards Plutonia. If you can’t contain a bomb, get rid of it! She sacrifices her life by teleporting Plutonia and herself into space.
After they get over their shock, Beast and Cyclops realize that the ‘Immensity’ Plutonia referred to stands for Cassandra Nova. The Professor is going to need them more than ever now. But how to reach him and Magneto? Lorna’s corpse suddenly gets up, speaking with Magneto’s voice. The next moment she seems restored. Sparkling with energy, she explains that she isn’t here for long. Her father is sustaining both of them by channeling Chandilar’s planetary magnetic field. Their bodies are done. They are both manifestations of coherent energy. They remain sentient and alive by her dad’s act of will. Together, they re-establish the wormhole. Lorna asks Scott to hurry.
Scott informs Storm that he’ll take his team (Dust, Monet, Captain Britain, Archangel, X-23 and several others) through. He tells Storm to follow plan B – come in the back way. Cyclops orders Beast to stay behind. They have a foundation to build. He asks him to be the new professor and teach the children well.
Storm informs Lorna that the others are through and tells Iceman to stay with Lorna. They will be waiting.
With her task done, Lorna collapses into Iceman’s arms. She tells him that she got beat so easily. She let down the team. They’ve all been blindsided and Mags got beaten first, he points out; it happens. Can she hold on? It’s too late, she retorts. She is only an echo of what was. She’s still, a babe though, he jokes. She apologizes for hurting him in the past and confides that she is scared. She doesn’t want to die. He tries to comfort her, telling her he’ll keep her warm. Lorna smiles. He’s made of ice! Her last words are of Kid Colossus, then she dies.
On Chandilar, Scott’s team has arrived.  Magneto cries out that his daughter is dead. Humanity can breathe a little easier. The line of Lehnsherr is no more. So much for Charles’ hope of peace. Now those Shi’ar will earn to their everlasting sorrow how this old man makes war! The battle between Shi’ar and X-Men begins.


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[Assistant]
Hinge of Fate
Chicago, the morning of the mayoral election. At this point, even veteran political analysts have no idea whether the winner will be independent mutant candidate Kitty Pryde or her old adversary, Alice Tremaine. Tension is high, as proven by the unfortunate fate of one teenager working for Kitty’s campaign who has been beaten to death by mutant haters.
While Alice Tremaine is quick deplore the attack, she also points out that this incident highlights the danger of mixing the two species. Kitty, in the meantime, is clearly shaken as she looks at the dead boy in the body bag.
A little later, she gives an interview. She describes the life of 17-year-old Jake deLillo, how he volunteered for her campaign and how he was beaten to death by thugs for whom freedom is just another dirty word. She deplores them and the fear that inspired them. Are they so afraid of the future now, of their children that they must crush them? Life is a gift, an expression of hope to build a better tomorrow. Jake will never have that chance, so it falls upon them to embrace the hope for him, to dedicate in his memory a city and a world that he can be proud of.
A Blackbird near Earthspace. Bobby Drake complains to Storm at the steering wheel (along with Psylocke) that this plan B is totally nuts. Given their collective history, what else is new? Bishop quips. Psylocke advises Bobby to be bold. There are old mutants and bold mutants, Robert points out, but how many of them live to be old, bold mutants? He remarks that they have reached their ride, one of the marvelous spacewhales called the Acanti. It opens its maw and swallows the plane with them aboard whole. A little later, it disappears into a stargate.
On Chandilar, throne world of the Shi’ar, all hell has broken loose, as Shi’ar Superguardians and X-Men brutally fight each other, in the wake of Superguardian Plutonia’s slaughter of Polaris and mortal wounding of Magneto. In his own way, the master of magnetism is thriving though, as he is now transformed into pure energy. He uses the advantages this gives him to create a barrier to protect the X-Men from the Guardians’ energy casters. The harder they try to breach his barrier, the stronger they make him.
Dust is quick to point out to Cyclops that, without her two companions, Spike cannot screen out the psychic static from all the violence. On Cyclops’ orders, X-23, Karima Shapindar and Captain Britain begin to take out the opposition’s muscle.
One of the Guardians advises the Lord Chancellor to withdraw before he is taken prisoner. Victory against the X-Men means nothing if the ultimate prize escapes. He leaves and Gambit decides to follow. Of his two companions, Rachel intends to accompany him, whereas Cable protests, unwilling to leave his father, Cyclops. Rachel hugs her brother and tells him to stand beside the dad he has got. She will fight for the mom she lost.
The battle brutally continues. Captain Britain is finally about to fall before Red Shift before X-23 viciously slices the Guardian apart. Cap is shocked by her display of brutality. She merely states that while Wolverine learned the “life,” she was bred to it.
Cyclops, in the meantime, has managed to somewhat calm the telepathic Spike and asks her to connect him with the airborne Archangel. Magneto asks why Cyclops didn’t bring every X-Man with him, to which Cyclops – watched by the Guardians’ master strategist Mentor – simply replies that it didn’t work out that way.
In the throne room, Cassandra Nova – in Lilandra’s body – flanked by Brood, informs Xavier that his precious X-Men and he are dead in all but name. He attacks telepathically, informing her that they won’t go without a fight. She commends his willingness to use lethal force. How unexpected, Xavier retorts with a very physical attack. He asks Lilandra to forgive him as her body succumbs, to be revealed to be that of the former shapeshifting Superguardian Stuff, who gathers Xavier’s psyche.
(inside Stuff’s mind)
Xavier finds himself in the mental prison he and Phoenix once left Cassandra Nova in to re-educate her. He finds himself helpless and drooling in a classroom with Cassandra Nova as teacher and an image of Phoenix as her assistant, the letter X drawn on the blackboard. Cassandra reminds him of how in their mother’s womb they fought for supremacy. That day’s victory was Charles’. Turnabout is fair play.
(reality)
Gambit and Rachel follow the Lord Chancellor. Gambit demands to know why he is in such a hurry. The chancellor replies that moments like this one are rare and a great strategist takes advantage of every opportunity. He is impressed the chancellor trusts them, Gambit presses. A matter of expediency, the other man replies curtly. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer? Gambit asks.
The chancellor smirks, commenting that the two of them are very much alike. This is a smart move. He is by far the more enlightened ruler. He torched the X-Men, Gambit states. Military necessity, the other man states. He eliminates his most significant potential adversaries or provokes them into a response that will eliminate Lilandra’s foremost defenders. Either way, he wins, as the victorious side will be weakened and fall to him.
He sounds rather sure, Gambit states. Has he done this before? Often, the Cancellor replies. In how many dimensions? Gambit asks, his lips pressed together. Not the geneticist, after all, the Lord Chancellor realizes, but the thief, come to steal away his secrets. He can keep his secrets, Gambit announces, as he lights up some cards. He wants his life!
Khan, for that is who he truly is, isn’t impressed as Gambit attacks and needles him that there is a striking family resemblance between him and Sinister. How does it feel to discover his father is a monster? What matters, Gambit shoots back, is that his kids know that their daddy isn’t.
Gambit lies on the ground, reaching for some cards as he states that Khan could have left well enough alone. This dimension is big enough to share. He doesn’t share, Khan announces, as he intends to move in for the kill. He conquers!
Gambit tosses a last batch of energized cards at him, even as he falls under Khan’s energy blast. He has laid claim to scores of dimension and, in due course, he will have them all, Khan shouts. Why should this one be different? He breaks off. One of the cards is embedded in his chestplace. With a smile Gambit snaps his fingers as he announces that one should always beware the fella who saves his best for last. The card begins to glow. “This is for my Anna,” the dying hero announces with a smirk. Khan barely has time to shout out in protest and denial before the card blows him up.
Back at the battle site, Cyclops telepathically transmits his orders to the others, once again displaying his uncanny grasp of battlefield tactics. Letting the flying Monet and Archangel carry shards of glass, he uses his optic blast in tandem with them to unexpectedly take out another Super-Guardian, their strategist Mentor.
The heroes barely have time to rejoice, for in retaliation another Guardian kills Archangel with her energy blasts. Cyclops is horrified at seeing his oldest friend go down, so much that he doesn’t pay attention to his surroundings and to the Guardian Scintilla moving in for the kill. Dust grabs the alien woman and simply snaps her neck. Afterwards, she admonishes Cyclops, reminding him that they can’t afford to lose him.
In Lilandra’a throne room, Rachel takes a look at the destruction and at Xavier’s form being imprisoned in the shape of the Superguardian Stuff. She realizes this can’t be good. The Phoenix symbol above her eye begins to glow as she forges a telepathic contact between her and Xavier.
(the astral plane)
Rachel finds herself standing in front of the Xavier Institute in its classic form. In front of it, two cars are parked, a Pontiac Firebird and a Chevy Nova, the sensible girl’s cue to run away. But she figures she is as stubborn as her mother.
Once inside, things get worse. She sees a classroom, an unresponsive Lilandra sitting at the teacher’s desk and Xavier sitting at a student desk, his intellect and memories literally pouring out of him. Addressing Rachel as Jean Xavier, barely able to formulate the words, asks her to save herself.
Nevertheless, Rachel, now appearing as her younger Marvel Girl self, enters the room, telling him everything will be fine. Behind her, Cassandra Nova slams the door shut, calling her a fool. With an evil smirk, she asks if she is surprised to see her after all those years. She mocks that she was hiding in plain sight all of the time and no one suspected.
Cassandra is actually rather glad she destroyed her other self on Earth. She pushes Rachel towards the blackboard, where the letter X serves as a tie to keep her bound. Rachel realizes that Cassandra too mistakes her for her mother, as Jean was the one who destroyed her. Cassandra reaches into Rachel’s head as she announces that this is more delicious. Because she is inhabiting Charles’ son, he now loses not only his present, but also his future.
Surprised, she announces that she can’t find Rachel’s brain. Too much to hope for that she simply doesn’t have one. But there’s no rush. She reaches into the fluid of memories coming from Xavier and brings her finger to her lips. Xavier moans that his X-Men will stop her. Of course they will, Cassandra replies. Her hands turn into claws as she reaches for Rachel’s head with one claw and Lilandra’s with the other. Last words, anyone? <>
Lilandra begins to tell Xavier she loves him before being cut off by a bored Cassandra. No need to hear from the other woman, she figures. Taunting Charles that this is merely the beginning, she kills one of the women, telling him to guess who’s next.


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The Die is Cast!
Evening in Chicago. Kitty Pryde reminisces, as she talks to her therapist Maureen Lyszinski. Two snapshot moments from her life pretty much sum up why she is there. Both from back in the day when the X-Men were clandestine and their identities secret:
A kid from dance class called Kitty a mutie-lover and she decked him in response. When her teacher tried to calm her down, telling her those were only words Kitty answered with a racist insult, asking if Stevie Hunter would be so tolerant, if he had said that? Stevie had no answer.
Another time, much later, Kitty met a boy named Larry Bodine and hit it off with him. He was a mutant, able to create lovely light sculptures. She never got the chance to tell him about Xavier’s because other kids at school threatened to out him. Larry committed suicide. At his memorial service, Kitty spoke, but couldn’t find the courage to admit the truth about herself, that she was a mutant, too. Nobody should be the object of that much hate.
Maureen asks Kitty if she thinks she will win the election. She has to, Kitty replies. They have to. Maureen observes that Kitty is always talking in the plural in this context. Old habit, Kitty replies. Push comes to shove, the X-Men end up fighting for the whole human race. And Kitty wishes she were with them, Maureen states. Kitty admits it, but she also knows that this is where she belongs.
Maureen presses that, while she understands the importance of the X-Men’s battle, what is the significance of Kitty’s? Kitty states the obvious: She is a mutant. Alice Tremaine still refuses to concede they are even human and she is slick enough to get a lot of people to believe her. If Kitty wins the election when she proves she can do the job, she can change perceptions on a bedrock level. The darker angels of their natures don’t need encouragement.
So what’s her solution, Mareen asks. Show people the way back to the light, Kitty replies simply. Prove that they aren’t monsters. Why Kitty? Maureen demands. Because she is like Maureen, she replies. She has served her time in the valley of shadows. She wants something better for her kids.
Chandilar, the Shi’ar throneworld:
Xavi, the imperial heir, shows the horrified Superguardians the head of his slaughtered mother, Lilandra. He claims that Xavier is the killer and demands that he and the X-Men must die.
Oh, hell, Cyclops concisely sums matters up. Even while he thinks to himself that Charles would never do this to Lilandra, the giant Superguardian Titan attacks him, smashing the ground beneath Cyclops. While Xavier gloats, Cyclops falls, along with Phoebe, Cable and Dust. Cyclops grabs the Stepford Cuckoo Phoebe and Dust, while Cable telekinetically secures all of them. Titan attacks again, figuring his psi-blockers will protect him from Cable. He has got that right. Not from X-23 though, as she tears trough his foot with her claw.
The Cassandra Nova-possessed royal heir curses and urges Titan to just step on her instead of flailing about. However, instead, Cyclops manages to keep the giant further off-balance with his optic blast. Monet follows through and takes him down with her strength, announcing that this is revenge for the death of Archangel.
Titan falls, while Cable pulls up Cyclops and a strangely reluctant Dust, who urges Cyclops to let her go rather than risk his own life for her. Scott refuses.
Xavi runs from the Titan-caused destruction helplessly shouting that he is the emperor. He is supposed to win!
On the astral pane, Xavier is little more than a drooling idiot, his mind emptied by Cassandra Nova. Gloating, she informs him that he was right to be afraid of her. He always knew she was the superior twin. She was the alpha. Now they both have proof.
Cassandra has all but forgotten about the tied-up Rachel. Like her mother, Rachel was always bonded to the Phoenix, although to a lesser extent. For most of her life, she has denied that birthright, but now she embraces it with all the wild passion in her soul.
Cassandra literally opens Xavier’s skull to find a tabula rasa inside, a blank slate she intends to fill with her own essence. And then, using their combined powers she will wipe the X-Men from existence. Suddenly, she screams in pain as now Rachel is digging her fingers into Cassandra’s skull, just as she has done before to her brother.
Back at the imperial palace, a relieved Cyclops hugs his son. The worried Cable asks if the back-up is coming any time soon, as more Guardians are coming in. Cyclops orders the Stepford Cuckoo Phoebe to keep a telepathic ear out for her sister Celeste. Then he orders Cable to find Rachel and Gambit. Cable protests, but Scott urges that Rachel is more important than she realizes. Fighting off Gladiator, he tells Cable to do as he is told. Then he turns to Magneto, who informs him that the situation is grave. The enemies’ numbers are beginning to tell, but plan B is coming into fruition.
The Acanti carrying Storm’s team exits from the stargate swallowing the Starjammer (a ship bigger than Manhattan Island). Within the Starjammer the Brood Queen embryo having taken over Aliyah addresses her children, announcing they are blessed by the fates. The Acanti thinks them trapped, but they shall make it their slave and claim its body and soul for their hive as their brethren did in the past.
Suddenly, above Aliyah a laser cuts through the ceiling and Bishop, Psylocke and Sage come through. Seeing the Brood warriors, they immediately attack with lethal force. Psylocke quickly uses her psionic blade to free the captured Nocturne and Nightcrawler. Sage notifies the others that some Brood, carrying Aliyah and the cocoon that holds Jean Grey – are about to get away. She then turns to the ship’s security system, intending to put it back online as it could deal with the Brood wholesale.
Nightcrawler grabs Aliyah’s flypack to follow them, only to get attacked by a Brood warrior from behind. Nocturne fends it off and orders Nightcrawler to teleport clear while she handles them. Kurt teleports the flightpack to Bishop, telling him he has to save Jean and Aliyah on his own, as Kurt has to help Nocturne. Using the flypack, Bishop flies into action, announcing it is as good as done.
Sage is still busy with the computer, so busy that she is ignoring the Brood closing in. Psylocke slices it apart with her blade and suggests Sage prioritize. Without even turning around, the mentat just announces that she is busy, while Psylocke and Nocturne grimly realize that they are outnumbered. She thought Betsy loves a good fight, TJ states. Psylocke smiles ferally as she replies, the more impossible the odds, the better.
Not too far away Bishop realizes that the flightpack is a piece of junk, as the Brood are about to outrun him.  He can’t give them the chance to split up or duck into a side corridor. He fires and manages to have them drop Aliyah and the cocoon. He assesses that the cocoon will protect Jean and focuses on catching the girl instead. A moment later, the flightpack gives out and they both crash.
Aliyah babbles, thanking him for the rescue while simultaneously apologizing for the sorry state of her flightpack. Suddenly, she stops, exclaiming whether he is Bishop. That’s right, who is she? he asks confused. She’s Bishop too, she replies. She’s Aliyah, his daughter! She immediately hugs him.
Bishop has barely time to take in that news when they are attacked from behind by a Brood warrior. The evil Brood queen inside Aliyah momentarily takes control of the girl, silently urging the warrior to slay Bishop. The next moment, Bishop breaks the creature’s back and Aliyah is back to normal. Then Bishop notices a familiar energy signature, but too late, as Slipstream teleports in, grabs the cocoon housing Jean Grey and disappears with her, all in one smooth movement.
On the astral plane, Rachel exults in her triumph over a strangely smiling Cassandra Nova. She opens the villainness’ skull to find inside a perfect copy of the classroom she herself is in. Suddenly, Cassandra has disappeared and she herself finds herself in that classroom with Cassandra peering in from above. Hasn’t she heard the dictum about experience and guile being far more than a match for strength and youth? Cassandra mocks. Who has trapped whom? she asks as spiders, all with Cassandra’s face, stream from her mouth to attack Rachel.
The Blackbird is entering Chandilar’s atmosphere. It is covered by Iceman’s ice to handle the atmospheric friction. Nevertheless, the co-pilot, Dazzler, is very nervous about that stunt, despite Iceman’s assurance that he is a pro. And she is a reserve X-Man, she reminds him. She sings for a living. She saves the universe in her spare time, so he should forgive her for being a tad nervous. She’ll do fine, Storm, who can only move with the help of an exo-suit, assures her.
She concentrates to merge with the planet atmosphere and learns to her horror the atrocity that was committed there. She tells Iceman that they must stop the battle. Not understanding her urgency, he agrees and reminds her that this is what they are here for, to kick some major Shi’ar buttskis. She’s not talking about victory, she shouts. Something is very wrong on-planet. They have to stop the fighting completely now. Well, he is open to bright ideas, Robert amends.
A little later, backed up by Dazzler’s light show that is meant to calm everyone, Storm appears before the combatants, ordering them to stop. She explains that there are forces greater and more malevolent than any of them suspect at work.
Gladiator and Starbolt are still out for blood, particularly hers. Don’t they know what happened? Storm inquires. Gladiator shoots back that their Majestrix was murdered because of the X-Men. What else matters? Storm reveals that poor Lilandra did not die alone. Every living soul on Chandilar beyond this palace perished. Gladiator points an accusing finger at Magneto, blaming his force-pulse. Magneto reminds her that this was Plutonia’s doing when she attacked him. He is no monster and doesn’t slay indiscriminately and especially not innocents.
Cyclops chimes in, pointing out that this is way more than collateral damage. These events were set in motion for a reason. They’ve been fighting so hard, non-stop, there’s been no time to see the pattern. If you snuff out billions of lives in an instant, that represents an unimaginable storehouse of psychic energy. But if that power’s to be used against the X-Men, why provoke a battle with the Imperial Guard? And the X-Men aren’t even all there, he adds, thinking of his wife, Emma, and their children. They were attacked, apparently because Jean re-manifested as Phoenix.
A hologram of Bishop appears, announcing that Slipsteam grabbed Jean and teleported away with her. Storm exclaims that they have all been manipulated. She remind them that Plutonia clamed to have been controlled by the Immensity.
That would be me! a voice announces as the heroes are attacked by an energy blast, courtesy of a Charles Xavier possessed by Cassanda Nova. Obediently standing behind him is Slipstream, guarding the Phoenix cocoon. Cassandra smirkingly reminds Gladiator that this is just like old times, except now she is far more ambitious. She means to fulfill the destiny of the Phoenix and bring about the end of all that is!


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<em>The Final Hour! </em>
In Chicago, the mayoral race still remains too close to call, with reports from all precincts of the heaviest voter turnout in a generation. Campaign Manager Marie d’Acanto orders the volunteers to stop canvassing, as they don’t want to risk another kid being killed by mutant haters.
In the meantime, Kitty gives an interview to Manoli Wetherel and reminisces about the old days. What does it mean if she wins, Manoli asks. That mutants now have the same God-given right to screw up the system like everyone else? Kitty jokes. Kitty reminds her that, no matter what they look like, mutants are also human. Why cant they help make a difference just like everyone else?
Don’t they accomplish that  simply by existing, asks Manoli. Try telling that to Alice Tremaine, who wishes that they didn’t, Kitty retorts. It took mutants years to claw their way out of the gulag. She wants people to stop marginalizing them. Instead, they should embrace them and use their assets for the common good. Evolution is another word for growth. It happens whether they like it or not. Hope takes them one way, fear another, as some have learned to unimaginable cost. She runs because she wants to make tomorrow better than today. For all of them.
On the Starjammer, Aliyah introduces herself to her astonished father, Lucas Bishop, as she explains that her mother was the crown princess, Cal’syee Neramani, aka Deathbird. Still shocked, Bishop admits that Deathbird never told him about Aliyah. The girl replies that she probably wanted to, but she had to save the empire first. She wasn’t so great on the family togetherness side of things. Before she got the chance to learn, she died. But she always loved him. Overcome with emotion, Bishop hugs his newly discovered daughter, unaware of the threat of an embryo Brood Queen slumbering within her body.
Their tender moment is interrupted by a hologram of Sage, who orders both of them to the bridge. She informs  Aliyah that the Carl Danvers personality of the ship’s computer is dead and that she now controls the Starjammer’s command nexus.
The two Bishops reach Nightcrawler and Nocturne to find that Psylocke apparently had perished as well during her fight with the Brood. Sage just coldly reminds them that Psylocke is not their first casualty and wont be their last. They are urgently needed on the surface. She teleports them off the ship.
With them gone, she addresses Elizabeth, who was merely pretending to be dead, to be Sage’s ace in the hole. Everything rests on her, Sage announces, according to her instincts… her very first leap of faith.
Down on Chandilar, Cassandra Nova  is now in possession of Charles Xavier’s body. Xavier alone was powerful enough to once harness the psychic potential of every mind on Earth to repel a marauding alien race called the Z’Nox. Cassandra is just as powerful in her own right. Now she’d claimed his abilities as her own, to use on the populace of Chandilar, just as Xavier has done against the Z’nox. Only she took it all, which turned the world into a charnel house. And then she turned the full force of those terrible, titanic energies on the last folks left to oppose her, the X-Men and the Shi’ar Superguardians.
Cyclops is the first to act. Asking his mentor for forgiveness, he fires an optic blast at Cassandra which literally rips her / Charles’ head off.
However, moments later, an energy head of Cassanda’s appears. Mockingly she praises Cyclops before remarking that combing hers and Xavier’s powers allows her to transcend corporealty. Possessing a physical body has its moments. But she’s learning quite nicely to do without. Her energy hand reaches for Magneto and she begins to suck him dry.
X-23 jumps at her, intending to attack. Worried that the dense nature of X-23’s adamantium could actually gut her, Cassandra flays all the flesh from Laura’s lower left arm. As the young woman falls, Cassandra wonders if X-23 has Wolverine’s ability to heal. The next moment, she finds herself impaled by Cable’s psimitar. Annoyed, she turns her head 180 degrees. Attacking him, she finds that he no longer can focus on holding back his chronic techno-organic condition, which threatens to consume him. Nevertheless, he laughs ferally and threaten that he has resources she can’t even imagine.
Cyclops touches the shoulder of the woman who seems to be Dust, who is staring intently at the battle. Calling her “Madelyne,” Cyclops states that, if she needs his strength to help their son, it is hers. Madelyne, for it is she, demands to know how he knows it is her. Scott simply replies that he knows Sooraya, but he loved Madelyne. He’d recognize her anywhere. He said nothing! she snarls. He wanted to learn her intentions. She spells out that she came to kill him. He reminds her that she kept saving his life. No one gets to kill him but her, she replies. That’s her right! But no one gets to harm her baby, she adds as she looks back at Cable. Cyclops reminds her that he is their son. Maddie asks if he ever thought of the life they should have had. Every day, he admits. And there’s nothing he can do to make things right. For Nathan or for her.
Cassandra realizes that Nathan is drawing strength from Madelyne. She awakens X-23, who is in agony and plays with her senses. She mixes lies and truth, as she makes Laura believe that Cyclops has been suborned by the wiles of his ex-wife who slew Sooraya. She urges her to save Cyclops and kill Madelyne. In a berserker rage, X-23 attacks. Cyclops desperately tries to stop her, realizing she is beyond reasoning. He is caught between defending himself and not hurting Laura too hard.
Finally, he blasts her into the Phoenix cocoon and Slipstream. Faced with a potentially uncontrollable berserker, Slipstream does just what Scott expected, namely trying to get away with the cocoon. Thank to their telepathic network (due to Phoebe and Celeste of the Stepford Cuckoos), the X-Men are one step ahead of him. Nightcrawler teleports in and takes Slipstream out and X-23 frees Jean from the cocoon.
A little earlier, the Starjammer crew had landed on Chandilar, only to find the unconscious Rachel and the dead Lilandra. The two Stepford Cuckoos Phoebe and Celeste had informed Nocturne and Nightcrawler that Cyclops needed them and told them where to teleport. Left behind are Bishop and Aliyah. Aliyah sees Xavi running by and decides to chase him with her jetpack, while she suggests Bishop go help his friends.
Bishop learns that Rachel is the only one still alive while Aliyah tackles Xavi. While this seems to be a struggle between cousins, the actual combatants are the Brood queen controlling Aliyah and Cassandra Nova controlling Xavi. Cassandra Nova is less than pleased, reminding the Brood Queen that this wasn’t part of the original deal. She was supposed to be on Cassandra’s side. The Brood do not serve, comes the reply. We rule! Cassandra gets ready to kill her, but Aliyah instead uses a previously hidden knife to stab Xavi.
In the meantime, Bishop asks the somewhat recovered Rachel what happened. She replies that after facing Cassandra her thoughts are less than coherent. They run into an anxious Aliyah, who claims that Xavi tried to kill her. He was boasting that he had slain Lilandra and was responsible for this whole mess. All this time, he was host to the soul of the “immensity!”
At that moment outside, Phoenix breaks free. Immediately, Jean pours her power into Cable, helping him to vanquish Cassandra Nova, whose energy finally dissipates.
However, the effort proved too much for Cable as well. Totally taken over by the techno-organic virus, he falls. He tells the others not to be upset. He gave her all he had. Crying, Madelyne runs to his side, demanding they save him. Cable begs her to just let him rest. Nightcrawler joins Madelyne and remarks that both his body and soul are deeply tainted by the work of Apcalypse and Sinister. They can never purge that poison. Perhaps this is for the best…
Jean flares up with energy again, remarking that Kurt might be surprised at what Phoenix can do.
In Chicago, Kitty and her staff have to wait after the polls have been closed. While 60% of the precincts are reporting, the race is still too close to call.
On Chandilar, Jean begins to purge Cable of the infection, causing Scott to remark that she is a miracle. Jean disagrees and tells Scott that their children, Nathan and Rachel are the miracle.
Chicago. With 92% of the precincts reporting, the news are getting ready to announce a winner.
Chandilar: Suddenly, Jean is hit in the back by an energy blast, which goes right through her and injures Scott as well.
Telepathically bonded to their teammates on Earth, the injured Wolverine and Kitty Pryde scream in agony as well. Kitty falls down, seemingly unconscious.
On Chandilar, as Scott and Jean fall the others look in horror at the culprit Rachel, who herself cannot believe what she has done. From her skull emerges an energy version of Cassandra Nova, changing before their eyes as she announces that now and forever she is Phoenix.


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Come the New Dawn!
On Chandilar, X-Men and Superguardians alike stare in disbelief and shock – and in Marvel Girl’s case in grief – as Cassandra Nova who seconds before forced Rachel to lethally injure Jean Grey and Cyclops now stands reborn as Phoenix.
On Earth, at the Xavier Institute, in response to the events on Chandilar, the already injured Wolverine is flatlining and Beast and his wife, Cecilia Reyes, are desperately trying to save his life.
In Chicago, Kitty Pryde isn’t faring much better and her campaign staff helplessly wonders if she was attacked.
Back on Chandilar, Gladiator gives the order for the Superguardians to attack, bravely leading the charge herself. Moments later, Cassandra tosses Gladiator’s severed head past Storm and then proceeds to kill the rest of the Guardians, while gloating whether they truly believe they can fare better against her than their predecessors. Haven’t they learned from history?
Suddenly, a small light circle appears on her forehead and a laser beam burrows a hole in her head, courtesy of Dazzler, who quips that they took notes. Iceman and Storm follow up with attacks of their own, as does a bloodthirsty Aliyah Bishop, who blasts the frozen body of Cassandra apart with her ray gun.
That wasn’t very nice, announces Cassanda, as she brutally counterattacks her foes and takes them out one after the other.
Bishop charges into action, shooting the energy form of Magneto, who weakly thanks him. Bishop deduced correctly that Cassandra was using Magneto’s lifeforce to sustain herself. He follows this up by striking her with a leech blade to drain her energies into him. She commends him on making the right move. Unfortunately, considering how powerful she is now, she didn’t need Magneto and has more power than Bishop can absorb. She should let him go pop, she muses, but she wants to play.
On the other hand, his daughter deserves no such consideration. She gestures and raises Aliyah telekinetically. Then, Casandra forces the girl and the Brood embryo within her apart to kill the creature due to is betrayal of Xavi. Looking around at her falling foes, Cassanda furiously screams at the sky whether this is all there is.
There’s me, announces a calm Madelyne Pryor, standing over the bodies of Cyclops and Jean. Not anymore, comes the reply, as Cassandra unleashes an energy blast at her. Bored now, time to go, she adds, while looking at the sun.
On the Starjammer in orbit above Chandilar, alarm klaxons go off and Sage shouts out in horror, as she witnesses the Shi’ar sun going supernova.
Back on Chandilar, Madelyne still stands tall and unhurt. Angrily, Cassandra unleashes energy at her, shouting out that she is the Phoenix while Madelyne shouldn’t even be a ghost. Maddie informs her that she had it wrong from the start. She is the essence of Jean that loved Scott with all her heart. That’s why it never worked afterwards between Scott and Jean. Maddy is the part that was willing to die for Scott; the part that made them whole.
Firing more energy at Madelyne, Cassandra shouts that she is no match for her. Maddie snarls back that she doesn’t have to be. She’s an X-Man and they don’t fight alone.
That moment, Psylocke attacks Cassandrar Nova from behind, stabbing her with her psychic katana through Cassandra’s brain.
Maddie, in the meantime, kneels down to touch both Jean and Scott. Jean’s tattoos appear on her back, as she announces that she and Jean were never meant to be apart. But they were both too scared, too stubborn, to be the one to yield. We only thought of what we had to lose, she continues as she fades away, while Scott and Jean healed begin to stir. … never what could be gained, Jean finishes Madelyne’s sentence. Everything that went wrong about them came from that fear, she tells Scott. Until now. She simply tells him that she loves him and he loves her. That’s all she needs to know.
The exploded sun has almost reached the Starjammer. And Sage realizes that the flare will reach Chandilar in a little over eight minutes. Phoebe tells her that something is happening on the surface. The others won’t leave. Sage worries that, if they try to ride this out, she can’t guarantee the shields will hold.
On Chandilar, Psylocke is still holding down Cassandra. Wolverine and Kitty’s psychic essences are there as well, with the men being bare-chested and the women wearing Phoenix-shirts like Jean’s. Scott tells Bishop to take the others and get clear. This is more important than their lives; it’s an opportunity that may never come again. Nightcrawler announces that they are all in this together.
That’s what Cassandra never understood. Not simply the concept of sacrifice, but that of fellowship, continues Xavier, who is standing next to Magneto. In that way, this family can transcend even one so powerful as her. Cassandra cries out in denial shouting that this isn’t fair: she killed them both! Wolverine asks her if she hasn’t figured things out yet. They are moving to a place beyond the mortal perceptions of life and death.
Xavier tries to reach out to her and she slaps his hand away, shouting that she hates him. Bolstered by Magneto, Charles admits that he gave her good reason. His shame at what he’d done made him afraid his whole life that this terrible truth would be found out. And that fear gave her power over him. That hasn’t changed, she snarls. Until now, remarks Phoenix, who is still busy healing Cable. She tells Psylocke to step away from Cassandra. Betsy’s part is done.
Free again, Cassandra threatens that Phoenix’s arrogance will cost her dear. She tries to attack but finds she can’t, as Jean calmly informs her that she is on her ground now. Cassandra even provided an exploding star to replenish Phoenix’s strength.
Strange patterns corresponding to Phoenix’s tattoos appear on the ground and Jean asks the others – Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Storm, Xavier, Magneto, Cassandra, Cyclops, Rachel, Cable and Kitty – to assume their proper places in the Tree of Life, so that they may transcend this plane of existence.
Xavier hesitates. He apologizes to Jean, but he can’t do this. She – referring to Cassandra – is evil. Cassandra, on the other hand, won’t do this. Charles tried to kill her. He is the true evil! Both admit that they are afraid. Jean replies that this is the nature of new things. They’re scary. And there’s nothing they can do to stop them from their first breath to their last to beyond. But is that all they are? For all the power, the limitless potential they possess, are they both so limited?
Without her, Phoenix’s celestial tapestry is incomplete, Cassandra points out sullenly. Without them, she is left behind, Jean retorts. Turning to both of them, she remarks that neither of them is alone anymore. Their flaws make them human. Being human allows them to overcome them. Reaching out to both, she tells them to let the strength of the others sustain them, as they are sustained by the faith of those they love more than life. As the sun comes closer, they agree to try. Cassandra and Xavier clasp hands as identical tattoos appear on their backs.
As everybody takes their place, Xavier muses that he brought them together in search of a dream, never realizing that it was tainted from its inception. The fear and hatred he perceived in the world was but a reflection of what was in his own heart and soul. His first encounter with a mutant, his twin sister, led to a response of fear, hatred and violence. He was their teacher, if his world view was built on a foundation of fear and hatred, how could their be otherwise? And if they who possess such miraculous gifts choose to hide themselves from the world, is it any surprise that the world took their cue from them?
With the Tree of Life complete (its shape echoing the shape of Phoenix’s tattoo), Charles wonders how different things could have been if they had shown to humanity the wondrous promise of their genome. He decides that it is past time to lay that fear and guilt and shame to rest. The X-Men were his candle in the darkness. He never imagined that all he had to do to let the light in was to open his eyes. And that light is so beautiful.
20 Years later:
In the White House, a brunette teenager calls her two younger siblings, Doug and Sara, to hurry up or they’ll be late for practice.
Meredith Pryde then hurries inside the Oval Office to meet her mother, Katherine Pryde, President of the United States, who is just finishing up her interview with Manoli Wetherell. They are soon joined by the two younger siblings.
Meredith jokes about the official event later and that the dragon lady is outside, “Dragon Lady” referring to Alice Tremaine, now Speaker of the House of Representatives. Surprisingly, Alice asks if she can attend the ceremony. Kitty bluntly points out that Alice has hated her since the day they met. Alice explains that she hated a mutant. She was wrong. She offers her hand and Kitty takes it, inviting her to come.
Later aboard Airforce One, Kitty remarks that, that night in Chicago, Alice never called to concede. Alice explains that, when she heard Kitty had collapsed, she actually hoped she’d die. But Kitty proved to be a surprisingly good mayor, a halfway decent governor and, given a little luck, she might actually make a truly great… parent.
What changed her mind? Kitty asks. Alice refers to a quote by Robert Kennedy Kitty she is fond of. Knowing her, for the better part of her lifetime, she came to see that the things they had in common matter were a whole lot more than the prejudices that drive them apart. Manoli interrupts, reminding Kitty that she never finished her story. Sure she did, Kitty replies, clinking glasses with Alice. In the way that counts, Manoli just saw it happen.
Later, Kitty holds her speech in front of the Xavier Institute. Guests are, among many others, the surviving X-Men and their children.
Kitty explains that they have gathered on the centennial of Charles Xavier’s birth, which is also the twentieth anniversary of his passing. She says “passing” rather than “death” because, while he was a man, he was also the embodiment of a dream. And that dream brought them together. The X-Men were the embodiment of that dream and they few are what remains.
They expected to always be X-Men. It was how they defined themselves. They thought that it was the sum and substance of their lives, when in fact it was no more than a stage along the road. But they had to grow. Above all, Xavier was a teacher. With a final prima lesson for both sides. For humanity truly to evolve they had to lose their safety net. The X-Men had to end.
And, since then, they have come far. They have jobs, they raise families, a mutant sits in the Oval Office. They make themselves special, not by the flashy powers they were born with, but with how they choose to raise their kids and contribute to the community. They were outcasts then, who swore to protect a world that seemed to fear and hate them and often tried to bring them to an end. They met the enemy and it was indeed them.
And with that realization the conflict that divided humanity also came to its end. That is Xavier’s legacy, the fulfillment of his dream The struggle isn’t finished, it will likely never be – but for the sakes of their children they have made a start.


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
(1st story) A Hope Summers & Jean Grey Story, (2nd series) A Cyclops & Corsair Story
1st story:Hope Summers is leading a Danger Room sessions for several students, including Glob Herman, Nature Girl, Anole, Armor and Primal.
Hope informs them that, in dire situations, her dad understood the importance of being present. Suffering from the techno-organic virus forced Cable to be hyper-aware ever moment. If he let his mind slip for a moment to the past of future, the virus would have consumed him.
Jean Grey, Bishop and Nightcrawler watch the session.
He lived one battle at a time, Hope continues. No matter how many battles he won in the past, all that matters is the opponent facing you right his moment. As if on cue, Apocalypse – several of them – burst from the ground.
Hope announces that her dad always said all you need to operate is what’s at hand. Some of the kids panic, others are clueless. Hope urges them to work with what’s at hand. Nature Girl realizes how to get plants in and Hope gives some hints to the others how to proceed.
Later, Hope sits outside in Central Park. Bishop joins her announcing it shouldn’t surprise him, but the Danger Room session made it clear she knew her father better than anyone. Nathan would have been proud of her. Old man taught her well. Hope clearly bristles at his presence and asks what gives him the right. Taken aback, he explains he is trying to pay his respects. Hope reminds him how he chased her and Cable through time to kill her. Bishop admits he did a lot of things he isn’t proud of. Her father and he had that in common. Easy to speak on behalf of someone who isn’t here to defend himself, Hope scoffs. Can’t change what’s done, Bishop retorts. Cable knew that.
He reminds Hope that, without her, he wouldn’t be standing here. He figures that, since they both saved each other from Stryfe, they could at least have a conversation. He owes her family his life. Hope shoots back whatever his point is it is too little, too late.
Jean joins them and suggests he give Hope some space. Looking away, Bishop announces he is sorry… for Nathan… for everything. He leaves.
Jean tells Hope the students loved her lesson. They’d like to see her at the Institute more. They all would. Maybe, Hope replies evasively. When Jean tries to break through to her, Hope cuts her off. Is Jean going to tell her everything happens for a reason or how proud Nathan would be of her? She’s so sick of everyone saying that… of everyone treating her like a little girl!
Jean looks down hurt and reminds Hope she lost him, too. She lost her son. Hope apologizes then admits she can’t even picture his face. How sad is that?
Jean apologizes as well then sees the key Hope is holding. Does she want to clean out his safehouses? Hope agrees but wants to do it alone. Jean urges they should do it together. Hope insists she needs to do this alone and asks for Jean to respect that. Jean asks her if she is mimicking her powers, because her thoughts are closed off. Hope states Cable taught her to never trust a telepath. Jean points out she doesn’t need to read Hope’s mind to know she is hiding something.
Shouldn’t she be allowed some privacy? Hope spits back. Jean tells her she has seen more death than Hope can imagine. The one thing she has learned is that one should never let that tear them apart. It should bring people together. They are family. They are his family. Hope opens her arms and Jean hugs her.
A little later, they arrive in Cable’s first safehouse in Hell’s Kitchen. Cable really went overboard with the cyberpunk stuff, Jean jokes. Hope sends back at her to be quiet. Someone’s here. She follows the source of the noise, ignoring Jean who suggests they should formulate a plan.
They find Deadpool with a bag of cookies. Calling him scum, Hope attacks him with her psimitar. Deadpool lamely jokes he was really Hope-ing she wouldn’t show up.
How did he even get in here? she shouts. Dodging her attack, he asks where does she think he and daddy Dayspring bro’d down all these years? They were the Askani Boys, this was their special place.
Hope expresses her disgust at him and attacks again. She accuses him of bringing out the worst in Cable.
Jean shouts at them both to stop. They are acting like children! Ignoring her, Hope accuses Deadpool of stealing from a dead man. He retorts that he is scummy, but not that scummy. Unimpressed, Hope cuts off his arm, to Jean’s horror, while Deadpool just jokes that luckily he has two of those. Blocking her psimitar with his sword, he jokes someone reached stage two of the Kuebler-Ross Grief Model. Hope skewers him. Yep, that’s anger, he states.
Jean orders them to stop at once and paralyzes them telekinetically. So it’s enough when he is impaled? Deadpool asks. Thanks a lot, Jeanie!
Hope shouts at Deadpool, calling him a filthy merc who tried to pull her father into his stupid schemes. She insists to Jean that he has no right to be here. Deadpool rejoins that he’s known Cable longer than she has been alive. Bad news for her. Her dad wanted him here.
Hope wants to retort but Jean insists they let Deadpool say his piece. Thanks, Red, or is that Grandma Red? he quips. He takes off his mask, showing his disfigured face. He knows he is a joke to most of them, but Cable always treated him like a human. They had a real bond. Cable told him never to tell them, but they had a death pact. When one of them dies, the other one is to erase his data, his browser history, his weapon cache. To ensure there is nothing left behind for their enemies to use against the ones they love. He isn’t in the business of robbing the dead. At least not the ones he cares about.
Hope snaps she is clearing out the safehouses, so he is absolved. Whatever, he shrugs. He cleaned out this house, she can do the others. He already got what he wanted anyway. Jean asks what he is holding. He explains, part of the pact was they get a souvenir. Cable’s personal cup keeps coffee hot even when jumping through time. Shocker, he knows, but unless you bring it with you, there is no coffee in the Age of Apocalypse. He warns them to destroy Cable’s stuff and offers to go with them. Family only, Hope replies coolly. He was probably better family to him than the two of them, Deadpool replies and stage-whispers in Hope’s ear he knows exactly what she is looking for. It ain’t here and it won’t work. Hope looks caught out.
Hope and Jean continue searching and cleaning the other safehouses, one in the Adirondacks, one on Muir Isle and one outside Cooperstown, Alaska, where he found Hope as a newborn.
Hope hesitates, not sure if she can go inside. Jean tells her she is with her and she can take all the time she needs, but it is freezing outside. They finally enter. Hope admits seeing all his stuff is cathartic, but she still cannot imagine his face when she closes her eyes and she worries she will never be able to again. She’s been putting this off for so long, hoping he’d come back like last time.
Jean opines, as someone who’s been recently revived, it doesn’t take away the pain. When she came back, she felt all the others’ pain. She muses, they are two of the strongest mutants in the world and still have to go through this, but twice? That’s just cruel.
Going through Cable’s stuff, Hope admits she feels like she failed him. Taking the hat Cable wore as a child, Jean asks how that is the case. Hope explains he told her she was the mutant messiah, but now she feels just aimless She just came back to where she was born.
Jean wonders what Hope is looking for. She replies it’s not gear or guns. Jean muses he wasn’t always obsessed with this stuff. He was such a sweet little boy. All he wanted was to play outside, hang out with his friends, help people. He was actually a pretty scared kid. His father and she were probably overprotective, because of the virus.
Hope has finally found a small device, something Jean has been expecting. As Nathan’s daughter, of course Hope was looking for a time machine. Hope angrily announces Jean knows what she has to do. Jean shoots back she isn’t considering the consequences. Hope claims, Nathan would have wanted it. Jean doubts it. He knew better than anyone; if you go back in time to change one thing, you change everything. He doesn’t need to be dead! Hope insists. He would do it for her. Jean telekinetically takes away the time machine.
Hope copies her power and tries to fight back but Jean states Hope cannot beat her with her own powers and wins the tug of war easily. Hope tries to hit her but Jean easily shields herself and waits until Hope exhausts herself. She sinks down sobbing she is so sad. She apologizes for using Jean as a punching bag. Dropping her shield, Jean tells her that’s what family is for. What’s happened happened. Doesn’t mean they have to like it. It’s time to let go and focus on the present.
Hope destroys the machine. Jean hugs her as Hope admits she didn’t want to admit he was gone. Jean agrees it’s easy to hold onto the past when you’ve been through so much with someone.
Jean wipes away Hope’s tears and muses that she sees so much of Nathan in her. It’s no wonder he called her Hope. As they step outside, Hope admits she still cannot picture him in her mind. She asks Jean for help. Jean uses her telepathy to help Hope with her memories.
2nd story:Scott Summers and his wife Madelyne Pryor are visiting Scott’s grandparents presenting their newborn son Nathan Christopher.
As Scott’s grandparents, Philip and Deborah, Scott’s father Chris (aka Corsair) and Scott’s brother Alex and his girlfriend Lorna Dane coo over the baby, Scott and Madelyne avoid each other. The others can’t help but notice the tension. When Alex wants to speak to Scott, Lorna holds him back, telling him Madelyne needs them right now. Phil tells Chris to talk to Scott before things get off track.
In the night, Chris finds Madelyne lying alone in bed with Nathan after crying herself to sleep while Scott sleeps downstairs on the couch.
He orders Scott to get dressed, they are going for a walk. Scott demurs but Chris isn’t having it. He points out he hasn’t walked these hills in twenty years. He’d like to do so with his son at his side. With a ‘yessir,’ Scott gets dressed.
They walk through the forest and Scott muses he feels like he’s been here before. Chris replies he has been here lots of times. Scott has a memory flash from his childhood, walking here with both parents shortly after Alex was born. Scott screams ‘no’ as the memory shatters. Chris asks if he is okay. Scott replies his memories are like shy ghosts. Soon as they are noticed, they spook and vanish. That’s why he stopped looking for them.
They sit down on some rocks and Chris asks how long it has been like this. For as long as Scott can remember, though some images are solid. But most of his life before the X-Men slips through his fingers. Even Professor Xavier’s telepathy can’t sort out the mess.
Best theory Xavier has is that panic and a desperate need to save Alex’s life catalyzed Scott’s power way ahead of schedule. Scott’s optic blast broke their fall. They survived the landing – barely, in Scott’s case. He was in a coma for a year and got passed to a foundling home. When he woke up, his memories were a shambles and Alex was adopted right away whereas he was forgotten. Why did he throw them away? Scott asks his father.
Chris tells him, they were trying to save them. Scott insists. Why didn’t he ever come back for Alex and him?
Chris tells him they saw the boys’ parachute was burning and they were five miles high. They thought their boys had died. After the Shi’ar abducted them and Scott’s mother died, he became a slave. He founded the Starjammers to take revenge on the Shi’ar but, at the same time, they also become his new family and salvation.
Scott muses, the X-Men were his salvation. They were the bedrock of his world. Now, though, he feels like he is drowning in quicksand… with him, with Madelyne, with Nate.
Chris assures, him he is not. He has a family who loves him. All he thought lost is in his hands. They both have the chance for a new beginning and to heal. Scott admits he is scared. What if he’s made a mistake?
That moment, there is an earthquake and something hits Scott’s head.
A hologram of Hepzibah appears informing them that Madelyne and the boy are in danger. Chris demands they beam them up to the Starjammer. Unfortunately, they can’t establish a proper signal lock. Chris asks her to guide them to Madelyne, and they start running. Hepzibah warns them though that was just the preshock – the real quake is due in a minute. Corsair orders her to tell Waldo to focus on him and be ready to teleport them up any moment.
Madelyne, who is carrying Nate, is trapped beneath a tree that fell on her leg, with a ravine beginning to open beneath her.
Hepzibah announces they still can’t get a solid lock on Madelyne with the tree in the way.
Madelyne looks up and begs Scott to save their son. Instead, as the chasm opens, Scott jumps over to her. Madelyne urges him to save Nate and leave her. Not in a heartbeat! he replies. A growing boy needs his mom, he jokes. He knows. He’s been there. She calls him crazy. He retorts, she is the woman he loves, as he smiles. He promises that they will always be a family.
The chasm opens and they fall. Scott orders her to hold tight to him and Nate, as he uses his optic blast to slow their fall. Before they hit the ground, though, the Starjammer teleports them aboard.
Scott and Madelyne kiss and baby Nate laughs, because as Corsair figures, this is the happiest day of his life.
They spend a few days aboard the Starjammer to heal and later return to their home. The other Starjammers and Summers extended family are in the living room while Scott and Madelyne are in bed with a happy Nate between them.


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[Assistant]
Witch Hunt
(Salem, Massachusetts)
Irene Merryweather has decided to blow a month’s rent on a trip to Salem, Massachusetts. Her recent S.H.I.E.L.D story for the Daily Bugle has slammed more doors shut than it swung open, with editors fearing she might be a loose cannon. In her possession is a book by an Obadiah Shaw called ‘The Truthful Account of the Salem Witch Trials.’ There’s a story out there somewhere; a big, fat juicy one, and she’s gonna find it.
The following morning, she heads out to a church where the local priest introduces himself. She informs him that she is a reporter, researching a story, and he replies that he can’t imagine there’s much left to tell, what with all those books about the witch trials and all. Irene tells him that the literature is exhaustive, but there appears to be a major detail that seems to figure prominently in the trials that’s completely missing from most of those accounts, except for one very obscure and very suspect chronicle: a Reverend Hiram Shaw.
Not another word, he tells her, and he closes the gates of the church behind them and locks the chain. Inside the church, he asks her to kneel and face the almighty. He says that she should never write that story and she invites damnation if she does. She tells him it’s gonna take more than that and he says, very well, but she must swear to him that what he tells her never leaves this sanctuary. She looks at the figure of Christ in front of her and promises. Holy guilt! The priest then begins to impart his story, a tale of power and prejudice that begins in a time not unlike their own; on a funeral pyre in the Massachusetts colony, during the most infamous year of our Lord, 1692.
(flashback, 1692)
The town of Salem is rife with rumors of witchcraft, accusations of heresy and its citizens’ own puritanical rigidity. The adolescent pranks of a few mischievous girls fanned the flames of righteous indignation among the faithful and in particular, the Reverend Hiram Shaw. Three young girls are burnt to death on his word. Hailing from England, Shaw dutifully served as a minor clergyman and exorcist of little acclaim. For most of his adult life, he accepted his meek station in life, confident he would someday inherit the Earth, for within him burned an insatiable hunger for power.
When the Salem witch trials began, the town’s previous minister was convicted of being a warlock and sentenced to dangle from the end of a gallows’s pole. The townsfolk wanted a savior and Hiram Shaw was the answer to everyone’s prayers. Well, almost everyone’s.
As the parishioners leave Shaw’s church, Hiram’s young son, Obadiah, is called away to the privacy of the forest by his girlfriend, Abigail Harkness, an attractive fair haired young woman. They kiss, and Abby asks him if he’s managed to tell his parents about them. Obadiah admits that he tried the other night, but his father would hear nothing of it. “You know how he is about people like you,” he adds. Abby becomes defensive, pushing her finger into his chest, asking if that means she’s a witch, and inquiring whether he cottons to those suggestions. She turns and folds her arms, so Obadiah tries to explain that people in this town don’t trust widows and their kin. They all suspect witchcraft is responsible for her family’s misfortune. Abby turns and says her father died building this damnable community. Sickness took him from them, not Satan. He loved them and they him. Obadiah hugs her and assures her that he knows that and he loves her too. Secretly watching their liaison is Hiram Shaw, and he looks not best pleased.
On a darkly overcast and rainy evening, the Shaw family sit for their evening meal. Hiram’s wife, Sarah, serves the food and asks Obadiah where he disappeared to after the morning services. He lies and tells her that he was just with his friends, Thomas and William. His father adds that his friends greeted them on their way home to spend the Lord’s Day with their families, like all good sons should. Obadiah is shocked that his lie was destroyed so simply. Hiram rises from the table and orders Obadiah not to see the Harkness girl again…ever.
Obadiah, in a surprising show of disobedience, tells his father, no. He doesn’t care what he thinks of her; he won’t stop seeing Abigail. He loves her and they plan to marry. Hiram is furious and asks Obadiah if he courts his wrath. He moves close to his son who backs against the wall. He tells him that he won’t see his wishes ignored, or allow his son to condemn his eternal soul to Satan’s furnace for the temptations of that filthy witch. Obadiah insists that she’s no witch and his father cannot prove it. “Can’t I?” his father replies.
Hiram leaves and Obadiah’s mother pleads with her son to obey him, but he says that he cannot deny his heart. She places her hand on his shoulder and says that nor can his father deny his. He believes he is God’s sanctified agent, sent to punish the wicked for their sins. Obadiah replies that perhaps he is, but even he is not above the law of the land. Without proof of her involvement in the dark arts, there can be no case against Abigail. She hugs him and says that she prays he finds none, for both their souls. Their father watches from outside in the rain, dressed in a robe.
Later that night, as Hiram Shaw sleeps, his slumber is disturbed by the appearance of several demonic arms that claw him from his bed, and through an interdimensional portal into the dark dimension belonging to the dread Dormammu. Dormammu calls him ‘Sorcerer Supreme,’ and Shaw says there are few that can pierce his Earthly guise. Instead of his priest’s outfit, he changes his clothing to those of a sorcerer, a long red robe with hood, tunic, trousers and boots. Dormammu warns Shaw that, if he continues to bar his way into his world, he’ll find there is little he cannot do.
Shaw despises Dormammu and tells him that his corruptive seed has already spilled across the void spanning their dimensions. He infects the people of Salem daily with his madness, and he will see it end. He raises his hands above his head and casts a spell, aimed at Dormammu, but his foe simply blocks it without raising a finger and says that Shaw pretends to be Salem’s holy savior, who shall raise those wretched masses into heaven’s glorious kingdom. Yet, in so doing, he damns his own kith and kin straight into the eternal pit. Shaw insists he doesn’t know what he means, but Dormammu uses mystical tendrils to immobilize Shaw and tells him he knows precisely what he means. Shaw, with his lust for power, is the spark.
Dormammu creates mystical visions from nowhere and illustrates them to Shaw. “Behold; the ashes of your legacy.” Surrounding him are images of people, some who will not live for another three hundred years. Among those shown are Captain America, Mister Sinister and Union Jack, the X-Men, the Hellfire Club and Apocalypse with his Harbinger. Dormammu warns Shaw that his sins shall weigh heavily upon the backs of his spawn. If he submits, then he will lighten his load. “Never!” replies Shaw. “Then we shall meet again,” says Dormammu, who snaps his fingers and returns Hiram Shaw to his own reality. Shaw wakes in bed with a start, holds his forehead and begins to tell Sarah of the nightmare he has had. He turns to look at her and finds she is dead beside him, her face gaunt and eyes blackened.
As Shaw buries his wife, he has already selected a scapegoat from his flock. Abigail Harkness is brought to trial, her hands tied behind her back. The judge lets the record show that Abigail Harkness has been found guilty of conspiring with the devil to destroy goody Shaw, and shall be put to death by hanging at first cock’s crow. Obadiah shouts out that he won’t let them do this to her but his father shushes him, and tells him that power demands a sacrifice. Someday, he will understand. Obadiah storms off, telling his father that he will never abide by his ways.
That evening, Obadiah knocks out Henry, the guard watching over Abigail in her cell. He takes Henry’s keys while begging for his shriveness and enters. He frees Abby and they head for his waiting horse. He tells her that they haven’t much time, as their ship sails from Boston harbor on the morrow. She asks where they will go and he replies, London. The chase is on. News of the breakout spreads like wildfire; the entire town is outraged, but none more than Reverend Shaw, who is prepared to chase them through perdition’s flames to save face in the eyes of his community. Pursued on horseback by several of the townsfolk, Shaw amongst them, the couple’s horse tires from the chase and the pack begins to close in on them.
Obadiah sees them closing in and takes out a pistol, which he aims behind him. Abigail asks him to allow her. Her hand begins to glow as she casts a spell and Obadiah is shocked to discover that she truly is a witch. She asks him to just ride and their troubles shall soon be ash. From her hand, she fires a bolt of fire, which stops Hiram Shaw’s horse in its tracks, but burns his fellow hunters to death. Shaw is horrified at their deaths and knows he could have prevented them, but to do so would have revealed his secret. He remembers Dormammu’s portentous words, the words that haunt his descendents to this very day; “You, Hiram, are the spark.”
(present day)
The priest tells Irene Merryweather that this is why she must never speak of him again. “That’s just it? He just disappeared?” she asks. So the legend says, the priest replies. He adds that what became of his son is unknown. He imagines that discovering his beloved was a witch came as an incredible shock to him. Irene produces Obadiah’s book from her purse and tells the priest that it seems to be what prompted him to write it. She quotes a passage from the book.
“I give this accounting of those terrible days to cleanse my soul of their ungodly taint, and to protect future generations from the pestilence that is my namesake…”
The priest crosses himself and prays for his troubled soul. Irene departs, thanking the priest for the scoop, and he reminds her of their agreement. He watches her leave through the gate but thinks that it’s funny, as he thought he’d locked it. He thinks his memory’s going again but, as he heads back inside the church, a gunshot rings out from the darkness.


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[Assistant]
Toll the Bell Liberty
(The present)
Irene Merryweather is burning the midnight oil again, only this time it’s in Philadelphia. She’s supposed to meet a Professor Thornton Fieldish. He is the country’s premier colonial scholar and genealogist. If anyone has the skinny on the Shaw family role in early American politics, he’s the man. She enters one of Philly’s oldest taverns, carrying a copy of the professor’s book under her arm. The bar is almost empty and there’s no sign of Professor Fieldish, so she decides to grab a neat whiskey. The barman gives her a shot and slips a beer mat under her glass. She takes a sip of her drink and, when she looks down, she notices that the beer mat reads, ‘Turn around.’
She swivels in her seat and notices in the booth behind her the familiar blue face of Warren Worthington III. He pours them both a glass of wine, while warning Irene that he doesn’t think she understands how fiercely the Hellfire Club guards its secrets. Irene replies that she’ll take her chances. He takes a look at the professor’s book, giving him credit for managing to take historical muckraking and turn it into modern art. However, there’s still plenty of filth even he never found out. Irene places a small recording device on the table and switches it on. Warren immediately flicks the off switch. “Off the record,” he says.
(flashback, 1780)
It is the time of the latter days of the American Revolution and a time of change for the city of brotherly love. Its favourite son, Benedict Arnold, has just revealed his colors to be anything but red, white and blue. The citizens of Philadelphia feel betrayed by him and they are overcome with paranoia. Though the Founding Fathers have already declared their independence from the crown, many feel it a tenuous assertion. They fear it won’t last. The continuing military conflict, as well as the lingering presence of certain powerful Tory dissidents, reinforces those fears. Philadelphia is a powder keg, ready to blow. It would take but one person to ignite the fuse.
A stagecoach rides into town, carrying a determined-looking woman with bright red hair. The coach has a trident on the door. She calls for Jarvis, the driver, to stop the coach, as she spots something of interest. A young blonde haired girl takes an apple from a cart and makes a run for it. Unfortunately, she is confronted by the cart’s owner, who tries to chase her. He is a large man and certainly no match for the flighty Elizabeth Shaw, who heads off at pace.
Elizabeth fled the gutters of her native England at the age of thirteen. She came to America in search of a brighter future but, as cruel fate would have it, all she did was trade one gutter for another. That was two years ago. Now fifteen, she is still poverty’s slave and can only dream of owning one of the fine dresses she ogles through a store window. As she gazes at them, a voice behind her says, “Ahhh dreams. How elusive as butterflies are they.” Elizabeth turns to see the red-haired woman behind her. She is clearly wealthy and educated. Elizabeth asks nervously if she can be of some service to her. The woman replies that, perhaps, she is the one that can be of some service.
Later, they enter a grand building and begin to ascend the wide staircase that showpieces the lobby. Paintings adorn the walls and a large chandelier hangs from the ceiling. It must be a dream, thinks Elizabeth. The woman informs her that this is the Hellfire Club. For some, it is a vehicle for indulgence; a hedonist’s haven devoted solely to the pursuit of excesses unmentionable in genteel society. For others, membership provides more influential privileges: locally, nationally, globally.
The mysterious woman tells Elizabeth that the apprenticing of protégés is one of the responsibilities for those with privilege. Their wealth or class is insignificant. All they must have are similar dreams, ambitions and passions. They must be people with fire smouldering in their hearts. She reaches out her gloved hand and asks Elizabeth what burns inside hers. “Freedom,” she replies. The woman welcomes her to the club.
(Six months later)
Jarvis welcomes the passengers of a stagecoach to a party. Out get Sir Patrick and Lady Diana Knight, along with Commander Clinton. Jarvis informs them that Lady Grey awaits their arrival in the parlour. Sir Patrick asks for a snifter of his best brandy to be brought to his private quarters. Ms. Knight enjoys a good nip after their… liaisons. “Already taken care of,” replies Jarvis. They enter the Hellfire Club and are warmly welcomed by the redheaded Lady Grey, who tells them it’s wonderful to see them again. Commander Clinton says he has no time for pleasantries and asks if Major-General Worthington has arrived. “See for yourself,” she replies and pulls back a curtain to reveal dozens of people mingling in the main hall beyond.
They notice Worthington down below from their balcony. He is one of the colony’s most patriotic soldiers. He would never betray their country. Lady Grey says that his recent appointment to succeed Commander Arnold as the city’s commandant notwithstanding, his financial status is presently embattled. That makes him vulnerable. Lady Knight asks how she proposes to exploit that weakness. “How else to turn the tides of a man’s heart, Diana dear, but with a woman’s touch,” Lady Grey replies.”
Wallace Worthington is standing alongside Captain Rogers, chatting to Elizabeth, who looks radiant in a long flowing green dress. They are discussing Captain America, whom Worthington has fought alongside. He’s quite the soldier he says and asks Rogers if he would agree. He does; whoever it is under that mask. Elizabeth tells Worthington that she’s never met a man possessed of such a commanding presence as he. Worthington replies that he has never beheld a woman as beautiful as she and asks her for the next dance. He leads her to the center of the floor, telling Rogers he hopes he has better luck next time. As the couple dances away, Lady Grey watches as the early stages of romance unfold before her; a romance that would ultimately lead Elizabeth to become Mrs. Major-General Wallace Worthington. Lady Grey’s prize fish took the bait and all that remains is to reel him in.
The war rages on. Alongside fellow heroes such as Captain America and Ulysses Bloodstone, Wallace Worthington cements his reputation in the annals of American history, and also his wife. Despite Elizabeth’s best efforts, the ambitions that once burned inside her instead turn to love. To Lady Grey, this will just not do.
(December, 1781)
The snow falls on the Hellfire Club, as Lady Grey calls Elizabeth in for a chat. She reminds her that falling in love was not part of the plan. Seducing Worthington into parting with military secrets was. Elizabeth tries to explain but cannot get the words out. Lady Grey explains that, without this intelligence, the colonial resistance will continue to elude their troops and this pitiful revolution will succeed. In this eventuality, Elizabeth will have all her precious strings cut. “Such is the price of freedom,” she adds as she departs. Elizabeth puts her head in her hands, before realizing that Wallace may be in real trouble.
Wallace Worthington is at home, smoking a pipe and enjoying a glass of wine in front of a roaring fire. He is waiting for Captain Rogers when he hears a knock at the door. He opens it, only to find Lady Grey standing before him, with two burly looking men flanking her. She asks him to forgive the intrusion, but they’ve come to collect his wife’s debt. He has no idea what she’s talking about. The two men quickly grab him and the door slams behind them.
Captain Rogers rides through the snow on his way to the Worthington house. He expects the Major-General to be three sheets to the wind by now. Suddenly, his horse is cut up by a stagecoach, heading in the opposite direction, seemingly in a hurry. He continues, only to find the house in flames. He leaps from his steed and pulls a round red, white and blue shield from under his cloak. Captain Rogers is Captain America. Running straight into the fire, he uses his shield to crash through the burning doorway, vanishing into the flames.
Elizabeth gasps for breath as she arrives on foot outside her home. She is shocked at the sight of the burning building. Suddenly, Captain America comes crashing back through the flames carrying the body of Wallace Worthington over his shoulder. He gets clear and lays Worthington on the ground. Elizabeth rushes to him and apologizes. He nears death and tells his wife that they wanted secrets. With his dying breath, he says he told them nothing. With that, he dies in her arms. As Lady Grey smiles from her stagecoach seat, Elizabeth reflects on her actions. Freedom was all she ever wanted; freedom from poverty, freedom to choose her own destiny. Now, they’re all gone in a puff of smoke.
(present)
Irene has listened intently to Archangel’s story. He finishes off by saying that it all ended because Elizabeth was blinded by ambition. “Sound familiar?” he asks. If you say so, Irene replies, before saying that he and Sebastian Shaw are kinda related. That’s pretty heavy, she adds. As he leads her to the door, Warren replies that she’s really missing the point. Irene asks him to remind her to thank Professor Fieldish for standing her up tonight. She doubts she’d have gotten half the dirt from him that she got from Warren. He tells her that he’s afraid that’s impossible. Irene asks why not; it’s the least she can do. “Because he’s dead,” Warren replies before whisking them both into the air and away.
He explains that the professor was murdered. They found his body this evening and are still searching for the head. He informs Irene that she’s opened a Pandora’s Box.
She’s now a walking bullseye, as is anyone she contacts. Before she goes any further, she needs to ask herself, is any story worth dying for? Archangel flies off towards the city, leaving Irene standing alone. Depends on the story, she thinks.