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Promise of a New Tomorrow
Nearby Westchester, night time…
Angel is finally heading back home! As he soars through the skies, Warren recalls that Candy is wrapping up the last details back at Worthington Manor. It’s about time he got his feathered wings back to Westchester and the other X-Men. As he makes it closer to the school, Warren suddenly notices that… Lorna is flying up into the air?! Warren calls out to her and asks since when she can fly, but Lorna ignores Warren and flies past him.
Xavier’s…
Inside the school, Scott asks Alex to go over the details once again. Alex doesn’t know what else he can say. Lorna just floated up into the air and drifted away! An angry Bobby wants to know why Alex didn’t do anything about it, if he saw it all happening. Scott tries to calm Bobby down, reminding him that Alex can’t fly any more than they can. And the only member of the X-Men who can really fly is a hundred miles away at Long Island. Bobby knows that, but he shouts that there must have been something Alex could have done. Alex doesn’t see what he could have done. He and Scott have variations of each other’s powers, and the best either of them could have done is blast Lorna out of the sky.
Arriving just then, Beast states that none of them would want that to happen. Scott welcomes Jean and Hank back at the school, and asks if Kraven is taken care of. Hank confirms that, like Scott suggested, they dropped Kraven off on the other side of the town. And Jean admits that she planted a… suggestion in Kraven’s brain that will make him wander to the nearest police station.
Returning to their current problem, Scott suggests that Alex has best shows them where he last saw Lorna. He has no idea how they can even begin to track her down through thin air, but maybe Jean’s telepathy can detect her. Jean hears the phone ringing, and Bobby hopes it might be Lorna.
However, on the other end is Warren, standing in Westchester in a phone booth, ignoring the frightened people staring at him. Warren explains to her that he doesn’t have his com-link with him so he had to land to make this call. He wants Jean to listen, because he thinks something very weird is going on.
Elsewhere, at an unknown location…
Lorna arrives in a dark room and, hesitant, she asks if anyone is there. A door opens, and a man greets Lorna. Confused, Lorna thinks that she knows the man. It’s like there’s some kind of shroud over her mind, but she does recognize him. Suddenly, Lorna remembers the man’s name: it’s Tad Carter! Carter jokes that’s indeed still his name. He promises Lorna that she doesn’t have to be afraid, because no harm is going to be done upon her. In fact, quite the opposite is going to happen. Lorna wants to know where she is.
In demonstration, the lights go on, revealing a high-tech room and half a dozen people in basic uniforms. In addition to this, a telepathic voice reveals that Lorna is in a place of safety in a world gone mad. The man behind the voice introduces himself as Tobias Messenger, and this is his house.
Lorna realizes that Tobias is a telepath, just like Professor X is, though Tobias’ voice sounds so much louder than Xavier’s. Tobias apologizes for that. He reveals that he was born without the ability of speech. Telepathy is his only means of communication, and he can broadcast his thoughts only at the “volume” at which he hears them in his own head. The people around Lorna promise her that she’ll get used to that. And, a man adds, a slight discomfort is a small price to pay considering what is at stake. Lorna wants to know what that stake is. A woman claims that it’s nothing less than the future of humanity.
Meanwhile…
The X-Men have taken their plane and located the airborne Warren, who waves at the team to follow him. They believe Warren must have found a place for them to land. Alex wishes Warren had been more forthcoming about Lorna. He wonders why Warren didn’t just tell them where she is, or how she was doing. Jean doesn’t think Warren was holding anything back. She thinks he really doesn’t know. Scott warns everyone to be ready, and Hank states that Angel is leading them down to a vacant lot just ahead.
The surface looks a bit rough, but Scott thinks they’ll be okay and successfully lands the plane. Iceman steps out first and impatiently asks Warren where Lorna is. Warren claims it will be a lot easier to just show it to the team than tell them. Lorna is in a building just a couple of blocks away.
Not much later, Warren has led the team to what looks like an abandoned building. He explains that Lorna floated down the front door. The door opened and she drifted in. Alex wants to know why Warren didn’t go after her, fearing what trouble Lorna might be in right now. Beast calms Alex down, certain that Warren had a good reason why he didn’t follow. Warren had the best reason and tells Alex to go just inside the building. Alex does as told, but as he does, he starts to feel dizzy and almost loses consciousness!
Warren catches Alex into his arms, telling Scott he doesn’t need to worry much about his brother, as he’ll be around in about a minute. At least, that’s how long he was out. And, Alex had the benefit of someone catching him. Beast stretches out his hand, and believes he is touching a… sleep inducing field. He wants to know how far it extends above the house. Warren isn’t sure about that. But the field bulges outward, like a soap bubble. That’s why he landed outside the wall when he flew into it.
Jean notices that Alex is coming around, and asks Scott what they are going to do. Scott isn’t sure, and asks what her telepathy is reading. Bobby wants to know if Jean can “see” Lorna inside. Jean tries it out, but she can’t. But that’s only because she can’t sense much of anything. She explains that the house and ground are like one big psychic black hole. Her thoughts go in, but nothing comes out. Just as Havok wakes up, a giant monster emerges from the ground!
Dunfee…
Teri informs the Professor that Ashley is finally asleep. This has been a hectic couple of days for the young girl, even with what little the Professor allowed her to remember. Xavier agrees, hesitantly. He explains that, though Ashley has no memories of the sudden and dangerous manifestations of her mutant powers, she still knows a Sentinel was near this house, followed by the police and FBI! Teri now realizes that the Sentinels were build to hunt down mutants, like the Professor and his X-Men. And Ashley. But there’s one thing she doesn’t understand. If the Professor was able to use his telepathy to seal off the part of Ashley’s mind that controls her power, why did he allow her to remember any of this? Xavier believes that Teri also wonders why he allowed Teri to remember that she was visited by the X-Men.
Teri reminds Charles that she asked him not to read her mind. Xavier claims that telepathy wasn’t required to read Teri’s mind, as her concern is etched quite plainly on her face. Teri apologizes for this, but it’s just… Ashley is her whole world. Her father was in the Navy, nuclear subs. He was killed in action a month before Ashley was born. Teri has spent every day since that moment trying to be both parents to her daughter. Now, to have Ashley turn out to be a mutant, knowing the way so many people feel about mutants. Xavier understands that all too well. The reason he founded his school and his X-Men was to combat just senseless prejudices.
Still, he can imagine what Teri must be thinking, and even wishing: that all this never happened, that somehow her daughter’s mutant power could remain dormant forever. And that he had never come here. Teri explains that most of what Charles said is true, but she would be lying if she said she wished she had never met him.
At a headquarters near Westchester…
Lorna looks startled at the little Simon, finding it hard to believe that he was born in 1945! Tad claims that none of them are what they appear to be. Lorna asks Tad if that statement also counts for him. Tad confirms that, adding that for one thing, he’s about forty years older than he looks! The Messenger claims that in order for Lorna to understand what his people are, she needs to know how this association came to be formed.
It was in the early part of the 1950s that some of the members of their group were first brought together. The original core group was assembled at that time by a madman who sought to use the group member’s powers for his own purposes. The madman was a would-be-world-conqueror who exploited the fears and prejudices of the time, as the villain called… the Yellow Claw!
Lorna has heard of the Yellow Claw and asks if Tad and his friends used to work for this villain. A female member claims that she didn’t, and Tad didn’t either. The two of them are more recent recruits. And, Tad corrects, none of the Yellow Claw’s recruits worked willingly for him. Another male member reveals that the Claw’s plan failed, but when he was defeated, the remaining members were contacted by Tobias. Tobias continues to reveal that he sensed the members’ collective power, and knew at once they could be more successfully harnessed as a force for good.
If what the Messenger is claiming is true, Lorna asks, then why has Cerebro never detected any of them? A male member reveals that, when their group was last active, Professor X’s mutant-detecting computer hadn’t even been built yet. Simon adds that they put themselves into suspended animation for ten years at a time, and only come out of their tanks once a week to look around and see how much the world has changed. Tad claims that it was during one of those weeks, some forty years ago, that his own mutant powers were detected and that he was recruited into the Promise.
When Lorna asks what the “Promise” means, the Messenger claims that’s just the name he selected for this group, since that is what they represent: the promise of a more hopeful tomorrow. He reminds Lorna that she has seen the fears and hatreds of humanity. She has seen how the human race can even turn on themselves. Lorna knows that Tobias is talking about the Holocaust and its “ethnic cleansing.” Tobias claims that there can be but one final outcome of the volatile relationship between humans and mutants. He claims it’s an outcome both Xavier and Magneto refuse to see. Another member telepathically warns Tobias, without Lorna hearing it, that he has been monitoring Craig’s defense maneuvers against the X-Men, and he thinks they need to go to “Plan B.”
Above, Cyclops wonders where the monster they are all fighting came from. It’s too big to have just snuck up on them. Jean doesn’t get any psychic fix on the creature. The creature’s misshapen skull has a mind the likes she has never felt before. Iceman notices that the creature brought some of his flying demon friends along with him, as more attackers show up! Yet another creature shows up and spits fire at Beast! Jean uses her psychic powers to protect Scott from another appearing monster. Scott thanks Jean for that, as the monster looked like to appear out of thin air. Speaking of which, both Scott and Jean realize, that’s what first big monster vanished into!
On that very moment, Jean can’t see any of the other X-Men anymore! Scott gets attacked by yet another monster, and he panics when he can’t see Jean anymore. As he dodges an attack, Scott wonders what happened: he was holding Jean’s hand and suddenly she was gone, and that monster was in her place. He fires an optic blast at the creature and knocks it out. Scott states to himself that whoever grabbed Lorna must have worked some kind of teleportation switch. They must have beamed Jean out, and beamed the monster in her place.
Suddenly, another monster appears. Scott doesn’t seem the notice that the monster has, strangely enough, Havok’s energy signature emanating from its torso. Scott can only see that there’s still no sign of the rest of the team. He wonders if they got beamed away like he believes what happened to Jean, or something else. Scott and the monster fire each other’s powers at another, but the “monster” gains the upper hand and defeats Scott!
Havok, not realizing that he just took out his brother, Scott, is glad that in his eyes the monster is finally down. He wonders to where the other monsters have vanished, and he worries about his missing teammates as well. Out of nowhere, Lorna appears and tells Alex that he doesn’t need to worry about the other X-Men. Alex is surprised to see Lorna again, and she happily smiles. Alex asks Lorna if she’s okay, because she doesn’t seem like herself. Lorna wants to know what does she look like: better or worse? She gently touches Alex’ chest, and he tries to explain that this isn’t the right time for this. Lorna defends otherwise, claiming there’s always time for love, and passionately kisses Alex.
After receiving the kiss, Alex loses consciousness. Another member of the Promise reminds Grace that the kiss wasn’t part of the plan. Grace drops the illusion of looking like Lorna, smiling that she knows that, but she was just curious so she kissed the guy. The man thought that he was enough to keep Grace satisfied. He wants to drain how much power Grace drew from Havok, as he’s supposed to be one of the keepers. Grace promises that she didn’t take much, promising that Alex will wake up, though with one big headache. The man is okay with that, and suggests that Grace links with the others so that they can get all of the defeated X-Men into their headquarters.
Meanwhile, Lorna is startled after hearing what the Promise what her to do: they want her to join their group! Tad explains that they have scanned Lorna’s thoughts, and she and Havok are the least contaminated by Xavier’s indoctrination. Lorna doesn’t understand what Tad is talking about, because her Professor isn’t “indoctrinating” anyone.  She defends that’s more Magneto’s style, referring to what happened to Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch.
Tobias asks Lorna what Magneto did that was so different Xavier has done to his X-Men. Tobias believes that mutants are the future. In that, he agrees with both Xavier and Magneto. But where Xavier seeks ways for humans and mutants to live in harmony, and Magneto seeks ways to conquer and rule, they know there can come no resolution save all-out war. Lorna doesn’t really understand that. Tad explains to her that Tobias is talking about a war between humans and mutants. And he believes that mutants, seeing that they have superior abilities, will surely win that war. A member claims that they don’t know how soon the day of war will come, but they do know that when the war is over, there must be voices of reason.
Lorna understands that if the voices of reason aren’t there, the mutants will surely begin a war amongst themselves. She asks Tobias if he sees himself and his group as those voices. Tobias confirms that. Suddenly, he apologizes for doing this, but he has some important business to attend to. He switches the lights off again, and leaves a surprised Lorna once again behind in a dark room.
The Promise have all captured and chained the unconscious X-Men in a separate room. The Messenger reminds his people to remain focused. He jokes that the X-Men have saved them the trouble of subduing them by responding to Craig’s dreamcasts exactly as he predicted. One of the members believes that Cyclops was busy figuring out what was really happening. The Messenger admits that Beast is by far the smartest member of the X-Men, but Cyclops seems to have an incredible gift for tactics. Tobias is also aware that Scott Summers was the first student of Charles Xavier, and thus also the longest under his influence. He believes it would be too dangerous to allow Scott to join their circle.
Lucy wants to know what they are going to do about the Angel, because she finds him to be so… beautiful. Simon smirks that Lucy got a crush on Angel. He reminds the other members of the Promise to be careful, because they seem to keep falling in love with the X-Men. The Messenger shouts at Simon to stop mocking, as such talk from a boy Simon’s age is most unbecoming. Simon reminds Tobias that he must mean his apparent age. He angrily defends that he only looks ten years old and, since the teaching circuits kept them all up to date, he explains that their minds develop at a normal rate.
Tobias admits that’s something he didn’t anticipate. He knows this must be frustrating for Simon, to be a man in the body of a child. Gene explains that they all had to make sacrifices. He for instance had to watch his business fall into the hands of his competitors, and Lucy had to watch her children grow up without her and even learn that one of them had been killed in Vietnam! A bit ashamed, Lucy reminds Gene that she doesn’t like to talk about that. Tad has heard enough sad stories, and reminds everyone that they’ve got enough of extra tanks. Grace suggests that they let Lucy keep the bird-man, if she wants him. Tobias agrees with it, though he isn’t convinced of the wisdom of this action, but there is no more time left to debate: they are already behind schedule.
A few moments later, Lorna has been given a special, plastic suit to wear. She wants to know where she is and what this place is. Gene smiles that they are deep underground. Tobias reveals that he built his home deep above a vast network of tunnels he discovered many years ago. He doesn’t know who built those tunnels, but he and the Promise have been using them to move secretly all over the world.
Floating into the air, Lorna wants to know what the Promise is doing to her, Havok and Angel, as they all wear the same suits she is. She also wants to know what happened to the other X-Men. Tad promises that the other X-Men are… safe. Gene adds that the X-Men are safe in a place where they can be no further threat to the Promise. He places Lorna in a stasis tank, and tells her to relax. He explains that the hibernation process is completely painless. It’s just like falling into a deep, deep sleep. After he chains Lorna into it, Gene reveals that when Lorna wakes up again, it will be the dawn of a new century! Lorna freaks out, yelling at the top of her lungs.


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[Assistant]
Broken Promises
In a mysterious jungle…
Very much alone, Beast is attacked by a giant, monster-like beetle! Recognizing it as an example of the species Dynastes Hercules, Beast remarks that its size coulg daunt the god for which it is named. However, rather than face it, the Beast flees further into the jungle.
As he races, with the giant beetle in pursuit, the Beast takes in his surroundings. Hank notices that everything in the jungle is a thousand times bigger as it’s supposed to be. He wonders if he has been shrunk. Suddenly, Cyclops attacks the giant bug using his optic blast, admitting to Hank that was his first thought as well. The bug is still alive, but seems to have lost interest in Hank as it takes off.
Hank climbs up to the hill Scott is standing on, and thanks him for the assist. Scott states that there’s no reason for them to go after the bug, and instead asks Hank if he has seen Jean or the others. Hank hasn’t and adds that, on closer observation, he withdraws his earlier query as to their own potentially diminished proportions. He explains that the textures of these local flora are not what one might expect if it were they who were so small, rather than them being huge. Scott already noticed that.
Joining the conversation, Jean, coming crawled out of the bushes, asks if she is seeing something like really giant plants. Scott is relieved to see Jean again and they embrace. Hank admits that the plants are giant, but no more so than might have been familiar to the dinosaurs. Jean thinks that that raises another question, which Scott voice: have they been transported through time? Hank states that though there are some people out there capable of doing that, he doesn’t believe that’s what happened to them. He tells his teammates to observe the way the vegetation arcs above them, forming an enclosed vault.
Jean realizes they must be in some kind of huge chamber. Scott has noticed something else which fits Hanks theory. He explains that he fired into the ground to scare that big beetle off that attacked Hank. And his eyebeam uncovered something build out of metal! It looks like the floor, which must have been built by someone. But Scott wonders who build it, and why.
Elsewhere, the Mole Man’s servants have brought their master’s attention to their viewing screens, which have spotted the X-Men. The Mole Man recognizes his enemies, because their paths had crossed once before, many months ago. He states that, if that encounter has to be repeated, this time the outcome shall be more to his liking!
Meanwhile, Scott, Hank and Jean happily wave their hands into the air as they spot Iceman ice-gliding through the air. Bobby is glad that he finally found his teammates again, because he was beginning to think he would never find them again. Noticing their absence, Bobby asks where are Warren, Alex and Lorna. Scott explains that there’s no sign of them, and that they have also no idea where they are.
Still studying the metal floor of the jungle, Beast admits that he’s beginning to think he may have been a bit too hasty when he dubbed this chamber as “man-made.” When Jean wants to know what Hank means by that, Hank claims that he can’t be sure about it, at least not without the proper tools with which to make a detailed analysis, but the metal appears to be an alloy unlike anything known to modern science.
Yet, Hank adds, and this is the most perplexing point in his theory, there is evidence that the metal artifact is thousands of years old! It’s certainly older than industrialization in North America. Jean mentions they can only assume they are still in North America. Iceman jokes that the history lessons are all very interesting, but he wants to know how that’s going to help Lorna.
Dunfee…
Teri visits Charles in his room, telling him that she thought he had gone to bed. She asks if there’s something wrong, with the Sentinel, for instance. Xavier promises it’s nothing like that. He claims that the robot that attacked Teri’s daughter, Ashley, is the last Sentinel they are likely to see. But something disturbed his slumber. His telepathic abilities have allowed him to develop a subliminal bond with his X-Men, and that bond has been broken. It’s as if the X-Men… are no longer on Earth!
Elsewhere…
Iceman asks if they are sure their plan is a good idea. Concentrating his optic blasts on the metal plate, Scott admits that he can’t make no guarantees. But it seems no more than common sense to him that if someone put them in this place, they should do everything they can to get out. So, he uses his optic blast to try and fire a hole in the metal floor. The down part is that the metal is most resistant to his blasts. He asks Jean what her telepathy is reading. Jean explains that she isn’t reading anything but the four of them. It’s as if this chamber is in the middle of some kind of psychic dead zone.
Tobias Messenger interrupts, and appears in a holographic image of himself. He compliments Jean on the apt description. Tobias reveals that he has created a neutralizing field all around this chamber. He introduces himself to the X-Men, though he believes his name doesn’t mean anything to the youngsters. He admits that he’s the leader of a group of mutants, not unlike the X-Men and call themselves the Promise.
Iceman covers his ears and tells Tobias to turn down the volume since none of them are dead. To this, Tobias rejoins that he himself is deaf. He was born unable to speak or hear, and only a mutation allowed him to communicate with his fellow. Beast asks the Messenger what it is he feels he “promises.” Tobias confirms that he promises nothing less than the future of the world. To answer Hank’s question in greater detail requires that they need to know something of the strange story of Tobias’ life.
(flashback)
He was born in the year 1959. And before the manifestation of his mutation during his nineteenth year, Tobias was sealed in a prison of silence. But by the time he became thirty years old, Tobias’ power was developed enough that he could travel abroad in the world, looking for others like himself. By the time he turned fifty, Tobias had gathered a small group of mutants. Tobias admits that none of these mutants possessed powers as… flamboyant as the X-Men’s. He realized that the atomic age was still some thirty years in the future, and his and his fellow mutants were only such minor skills as Mother Nature herself created. Still, they found they could combine their powers, and even before America’s entry into the first World War these mutants used their special abilities to help shorten what might have been a much longer conflict.
Alas, death and attrition whittled away at Tobias’ fragile band of mutants. By the time he was sixty years old, he was alone yet again. It was on that day that he conceived the idea of placing himself into suspended animation, emerging once each decade to monitor the progress of the world, and to seek new mutants he could enlist into his cause. This, Tobias has done with success, until the most recent occasion when they learned of the X-Men’s existence, and also of the existence of Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
(present)
Bobby can’t believe that Tobias’ response to all this was to kidnap Lorna. He still needs to hear something that will make him trust their captor. Beast agrees with Bobby, and tells Tobias that his actions don’t inspire a great deal of faith. Tobias believes that the X-Men’s lack of trust is because of Charles Xavier’s influence. He believes Xavier taught his students to be fearful and suspicious of any mutants who don’t agree with his “narrow precepts.” Iceman reminds Tobias that talking bad about the Professor isn’t going to win him any Brownie Points either.
Tobias doesn’t really care if the X-Men trust him or not. He informs them that the time has come that he and his fellow mutants return to hibernation. He promises that this place will provide food and shelter, and that the X-Men’s powers will keep them from harm. He waves the X-Men farewell, and vanishes.
Iceman wonders where Tobias went, but Beast states that Tobias was never really there. The thing they just saw was some kind of mental projection. Scott asks Jean if she can trace the source of the projection. Beast agrees that would indeed help them to decide which direction to go into, should they succeed into escaping from this place.
At their base, the Messenger has returned to this followers, all of whom are dressed in their hibernation suits. Tad notices that Tobias didn’t have any luck. Tobias confirms that, claiming that the X-Men’s minds are armored against any who aren’t themselves. Craig asks if that means they’ll have to go back into the tubes, and wait another ten years for the world to get smarter. Tobias states that they don’t seem to have much choice. He’s confident that the day the war between humans and mutants begins is approaching fast. And once that war is over, and mutants have prevailed they must be there to lend sound minds and counsel to what will surely be a long and difficult task of rebuilding the world.
Gene is glad that at least they’ve recruited two more people into their cause: Lorna Dane and Havok. Lucy doesn’t entirely agree with the idea that they’ve “recruited” the two. Or, she mocks, was she the only one who could hear Lorna scream when the put her into the cylinder? Tobias claims that Lorna was just screaming because she feared the unknown. He explains that, in the next ten years, as the teaching circuits feed information into her mind, Lorna will see validity of their purpose. She and the others alike will see it, assuming the Angel hasn’t been completely indoctrinated by Xavier.
Meanwhile, Scott is still attempting to use his blasts to escape from the room they are in. When Jean asks if he’s having any luck, Scott thinks so, as he thinks he has already opened a small crack into the floor. He jokes that he could surely use a crowbar right now! Iceman gets an idea. He reminds them that ice expands as it freezes, so he fires some of his ice powers at the panel that Scott fired upon, and Beast happily states that Bobby’s ice is forcing back the edges of the opening Scott made! Scott fires one last beam on the floor, and a tunnel opening is made!
Beast jumps down first and finds some kind of long tunnel, which seems to go on for miles in both directions. Hank believes that this is further evidence that they are somewhere underground. He explains that a structure of this size could not have been built on the surface. At least, the tunnel couldn’t have remained a secret were it build on the surface! The walls appear to be a combination of native rock and the same mysterious metal of the floor above. The other X-Men jump into the tunnel as well. Jean thinks that this is fantastic and wonders who could have carved out such structures.
Iceman wonders if it couldn’t have been their old “pal,” the Mole Man, since he has a fondness of tunnels. Hank agrees with that, but the tunnel is so far beyond the scope of modern technology, it’s unlikely even the Mole Man could have handled such a big job. Scott asks Jean if she’s reading anything, but Jean replies that she isn’t. She believes that the Messenger’s dead zone must extend for miles around the jungle chamber. Hank believes that means the X-Men should observe a heightened protocol of safety for themselves. Scott agrees with that, and mentions that Tobias must have known they wouldn’t just sit in the box he put them in.
Jean notices that Bobby’s a bit quiet and asks if he’s okay. Hesitant, Bobby admits that he isn’t sure about that, because he’s having trouble staying iced up! Hank believes that’s due to the lack of humidity. There’s almost no moisture in the air down the tunnel, so there’s nothing for Bobby to freeze but his own bodily fluids. Scott tells Bobby that he better turns back into his human form, because he doesn’t want to risk of complete dehydration. Bobby agrees with that and de-ices, and notices how hot it suddenly becomes without his ice powers on.
Hank further explains that temperature increases with distance, which means they must be miles underground! Jean has noticed that there’s enough movement into the air to keep it from being completely unbearable. Scott believes that there must be some kind of gigantic ventilation system at work. Bobby jokes that he would hate to be the one paying Messenger’s electricity bill, if that’s the case.
Scott finds a room which seems to be a vertical shaft. Amazed by the humongous size of the shaft, the X-Men can also feel breezes, which are being pulled up from far below! As they explore the shaft, Beast believes that the enclosed central-core will most likely contain vertical mass relocation units. Bobby asks Hank if by that, he means elevators. Scott orders the team, in that case, they’ll go to said elevators. He does warn the team to move slowly and easy. Jean wonders what makes the air move. Beast notices a gigantic fan, joking that’s the answer to Jean’s question. Bobby thinks it’s lucky the device isn’t turning too fast, because they would be in serious trouble if it were the case.
But suddenly, the fan does start to move faster! The X-Men hold on to the catwalk they were walking on, and Hank believes that the fan must be some kind of cycle, which conserves energy by not running at full power constantly. Bobby mocks that it happens to be just their luck to walk into it just as fast as the cycle begins. Scott orders the team to keep moving, as they are past the halfway point to the center.
The X-Men crawl toward the center but, once there, Bobby mentions that he can’t find a door to go through! Scott is determined that there must be something, because it makes no sense to make a catwalk toward a dead end. Beast adds that they can only assume they are running on a catwalk. They may have allowed themselves one too many assumptions. The suction is getting stronger by the second, and its force increases geometrically! Scott asks Jean if her telekinesis can’t hold the team down. She is already working on that, and states that’s the only reason why they haven’t been sucked up already! But Jean doesn’t know how much longer she can do this.
Meanwhile…
At the room where Tobias’ stasis tanks are being held in, one person gets out of hibernation tube.
Elsewhere…
The suction of the fan has listed the X-Men off of the feet. However, Beast has held onto the walkway, with him holding into Cyclops. In turn, Cyclops holds onto Jean, with Iceman grasping her. Unfortunately, against the suction, Jean shouts to Scott that she can’t hold on anymore!
As Beast continues holding onto the catwalk, he asks Scott if he can’t blast the central mechanism with his eyebeams. Scott explains that he can’t, because he can’t operate the control studs on the sides of his visor in this state, or the secondary systems in his gloves. Bobby asks Jean if she can’t open Scott’s visor with her telekinesis. Jean can, but not without losing the little she’s able to contribute to them all resisting the suction. Hank believes they’ve only got one choice then: he lets go of the catwalk!
The X-Men let go of each other, and Scott fires his optic blast on the fan. The beam hits its target, but the plan fails! They are still being sucked up! Jean doesn’t give up hope yet, as she spots some kind of steel mesh above them, which is closing in front of the fan blades. Beast gets an idea. He explains that it only makes sense there would be some kind of device like this to prevent detritus from being sucked in and possibly damaging the fan.
Whatever its purpose, Jean is thankful for small mercies. Scott says to Jean that Kraven really pushed Hank to the edge, and it looked like Hank might be afraid to really cut loose. Jean agrees with that. Beast notices that the blasts Scott fired are really working, as he can already see the gap opening into a sizeable chamber beyond. Bobby concludes that all they need now is for the fan to turn off.
Suddenly, a crashing sound is heard. Bobby panics, believing that Scott’s beams did more damage than they thought: the fan is jammed! The X-Men fall down, and Scott tells Jean to form a telekinetic bubble around them. Jean does so, but reminds everyone that her T.K. isn’t strong enough to support all of their weight.
As the bubble bounces down, Scott adds that Jean’s powers don’t have to be that strong, as long as she can keep them all together and cushion them against random impact. As they continue to fall down, Scott points out to his teammates that they are approaching the end of the ventilator shaft. Hank sees that too, but he doesn’t see the bottom. They continue to fall into a subterranean vault, which seems to be a natural formation. “The vault is so huge you could fit a whole city in it!” one exclaims.
Jean’s bubble starts to break up, and she warns that impact will happen in about ten seconds. Scott warns Jean to make her force field as big and soft as possible. The bubble crashes, and everyone besides Beast are rendered unconscious. Hank believes he’s still up because he’s a little more resilient than the others.
A voice promises Beast that he’ll soon join his teammates, and the X-Man then receives an electrical shock coming from a staff, which knocks him out as well! The Mole Man reveals himself, and shouts at the X-Men that they’ve entered his domain. And here, it’s his will that rules. And it is his will that none of the X-Men will make it out of this place alive!
Elsewhere, at Tobias’ lab…
Lucy is out of her stasis tank and releases Angel from his as well. Warren wants to know where he is, but Lucy claims there’s no time for explanations. They’ve got to get away from there. Warren tells the lady not to be so fast, because the fog is already lifting off his brain. He remembers that Lucy has something to do with the people that kidnapped Lorna. Lucy admits that, but tells Warren that he’ll have to trust her because she’s the only one who can help him escape.
Lucy wants to leave, but Warren holds her back because he sees Lorna and Havok in their stasis tanks. He defends that he won’t leave without the two of them, or without any of the other X-Men either. Lucy explains to Warren that his other teammates aren’t in this room, and she can’t open those tanks without killing Lorna and Alex. But, Lucy cries, none of that matters! She wants Angel to come with her and he’ll help her take the life back that Tobias and his people stole from her!


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Worlds Within Worlds
Atlantis, Namor’s palace…
Magneto explains to Namor that neither he nor Namor are truly human – that’s why neither of them will ever be trusted by the world above. He suggests that they join forces. With Namor’s great power combined with his, nobody would be able to stop them.
To this, Namor replies that, seeing their past encounters, he has little reason to trust Magneto. In any case, Namor realizes that Magneto hints at war, while he has always striven for peace. Yet, Namor must confess, there is a greater truth in what Magneto says. Greater, perhaps, than the mistrust Namor feels for him. Magneto suggests that, in that case, Namor thinks long and deep about what he just said.
Dunfee…
Teri, entering the Professor’s room and holding some cups of fresh coffee, asks him if something is wrong. Hesitant, Xavier admits that he prays that isn’t the case. But he still isn’t able to make telepathic contact with the X-Men and, now, there seems to be something else wrong too. Teri smiles that now, Charles sounds like Obi-Wan when he said, “I sense a great disturbance in the Force.”
Charles wishes that this were something as frivolous as that. But, he fears that isn’t the case. He senses at the very heart of this the mind of his greatest foe. Perhaps, he is even the greatest foe of all mankind. Xavier believes that the next few days may number among the darkest the world has ever seen!
Elsewhere, underground…
The apparently unconscious X-Men are being carried by a host of subterraneans, who make their way over a bridge of rock and across a field of molten lava. In actuality still conscious, though playing possum, Jean telepathically calls out to Scott. She warns him not to react too quickly, as she senses that he’s close to full consciousness. She knows that he can receive her telepathy.
Scott telepathically replies via their rapport that he can “hear” Jean, but wonders where they are. Jean explains that they are being carried by a small horde of subterraneans, if the mental impressions she is getting are correct. And where there are subterraneans… Either Tyrannus or the Mole Man is not likely to be far away, Scott finishes.
Reaching their destination, the subteranneans drop the captured X-Men in Mole Man’s throne room. Sensing that the X-Men are awake, the Mole Man rises from the throne. As the mutants rise to their feet, the Mole Man declares that’s a good thing they still live – because he didn’t want his enemies to die without knowing who’s responsible for their deaths. Scott admits that he always knew Mole Man had a big ego, but promises that any “defeat” they may have coming won’t be because of him. He corrects that they were all knocked out by a fall from more than a mile above. Jean adds that only her telekinetic force field bubble saved the team from being killed.
Mole Man calls the X-Men liars, and hits Cyclops’ side with his staff! The Mole Man knows that Beast lies unconscious because of him – and the others will soon join him. Scott warns his teammates to watch out, but Mole Man still manages to strike both Jean and Bobby. The Mole Man promises that the X-Men can’t escape him. Though he is nearly blind, his long years in this subterranean realm have no heightened senses that he can anticipate the X-Men’s least movement even before they make it!
Cyclops tries to blast the Mole Man with his eyebeams, but misses as the Mole Man leaps away from it. The Mole Man claims that, even though Cyclops’ beams move at the speed of light, he can sense the minute movements of Scott’s muscles before they strike. He then uses his staff and hits Scott in his face.
Nearby, Jean explains to the Mole Man that her powers don’t require her to move, and wonders if the villain can dodge her telekinesis. In illustration, she uses her powers to lift the Mole Man up, much to his surprise. The Mole Man compliments Jean, admitting that he is helpless against her telekinesis.  But he wonders what kind of resistance she has to the mind-numbing glare of the valley of diamonds behind her? Pressing a nearby button with his staff, a secret door opens, revealing a large chasm of gigantic luminous crystals.
Jean starts to feel the diamond’s influence, as the diamonds feel like daggers through her brain! Scott, getting up, warns Jean to hold on. His eyebeams are useless now, but… There is no “but,” the Mole Man announces. This is his kingdom and all games are played by his rules.
Speaking up, Iceman jokes that, in that case, they’ll just have to cheat. Gliding on his ice-slide, Bobby uses his powers to create an ice wall between the group and the valley, immediately eliminating the diamonds’ glare. Iceman explains that he couldn’t help but notice all the water in this chamber, which was more than enough humidity for him to ice up again.
Still not conceding defeat, the Mole Man declares that, when one course of action is blocked, he turns immediately to another. He pulls on a red robe hanging nearby, and the some panels in the floor start to open up! The Mole Man has summoned another of his underground monsters, a gigantic, green creature, which is ready to attack! As Cyclops opens his beams at the monster, Jean tells the others that the monster is too big for her TK, and too mindless for her telepathy. Bobby believes that there is something he can do about this situation. He fires a lot of ice at the monster, but Jean warns Bobby to try not to harm the monster too much, explaining that it’s just like a big dog, obeying whatever its master commands.
Mole Man, standing in front of more monsters he summoned, snipes that he would be impressed by Marvel Girl’s compassion, where it not so misplaced. The monster the X-Men are fighting now isn’t the only creature at his command, and the Mole Man wonders if Jean will show the same, sweet consideration toward his new companions.
Elsewhere…
Flying high above the city and holding Lucy in his arms, Warren wants to hear again why they are doing this, instead of helping his friends out. Lucy reminds Warren that he already told her about it: she can’t free Lorna Dane or Havok from the hibernation cylinders without killing them. Angel finds that hard to believe, since Lucy was able to free him, after her boss, Tobias Messenger, put him in deep freeze.  Lucy reveals that’s because she rigged Warren’s cylinder before he went into it. She also corrects that Messenger isn’t her “boss.” He’s a man with a mission, and that mission has blinded him to the needs of others.
They find the X-Men’s plane again, and both step into it with Warren taking charge of the controls. Warren asks Lucy if, by the needs of others, she means people like herself. Lucy states that she isn’t the first member of the Promise to leave. But she is the first to want out, because Messenger’s crazy dream destroyed her life. Warren activates the plane and steers it up in the sky, telling Lucy to sit back and relax for now, admitting that he isn’t as good in steering this plane as Cyclops is. But, he can have Lucy home in Philadelphia in no time.
Underground…
Beast quietly wakes up and wonders where he is. As he rises, he watches his teammates battling Mole Man and his monsters. Beast jokes that he’s glad that, when he fainted, his vision of the Mole Man wasn’t a delusion. He suddenly jumps on Mole Man’s back and takes his staff out of his hands! He then jumps towards Scott, who is glad to see his old friend again, telling him that he can fight any monster he wants to.
As he watches Beast playfully fighting all of the monsters, Scott is glad that Hank seems to be okay again, because when they woke up in Messenger’s jungle, Scott noticed how out of character Hank was when he was being attacked by that giant beetle. He was worried Hank was still thinking about Kraven, but that apparently wasn’t the case. Scott spots Jean in danger, and uses his eyebeams to protect her from one of the monsters.
Philadelphia…
Warren can see the place Lucy wants to go from the plane’s window, but doesn’t find a place to land. He’ll have to set the plane in autopilot to fly the ship in circles. After doing that, Warren flies himself and Lucy down to the ground. Warren asks Lucy if she’s certain there’s somebody she knows is going to be home, because it has been nearly thirty years since she saw him. Lucy explains that her older son was ten years old when she left him, and he’s buried now somewhere in a rice paddy in Vietnam. He’s been there since 1959.
They land at the house in question and see a boy playing with his cars in the garden. Startled, Lucy calls out to the boy, inquisitively calling him “Mike.” The boy corrects that his dad’s named Mike, and begins to ask who they are. However, he is stunned by the sight of Warren, recognizing him from TV, and asks if it is really him. Warren says that could be, and asks the boy if his parents are home.
Hearing the conversation, Mike – middle aged – emerges from the house and tells the two that he is the boy’s father. What do they want with… Mike’s statement trails, as he almost can’t believe it when he sees Lucy, his… mom? When she responds by saying his name, Mike demands to know what’s going on here. Warren admits that’s kind of a long story.
Mike invites the two into his home and, a while later, Lucy has told him everything that happened. She adds that she and Mike’s father were having… problems and, when Messenger came along, told her that she was a mutant and that she could help save the world, she went along with him. Mike is angry with Lucy for deserting him and his brother. Lucy claims that it wasn’t like that, and that Mike has to understand her motives. She admits that she was just an ignorant housewife with no real education or goals. She didn’t even completely understood what Messenger wanted.
When Tobias said that he and his people put themselves into suspended animation and only emerged for a week every decade, somehow, she got confused. She didn’t understand what “suspended animation” was all about. At first, she thought she would only be gone for a week! Mike, still amazed, says that happened thirty years ago. He says that, even if he believes Lucy’s crazy story, she has had a couple of chances to come back. Lucy defends that she tried that the first time. But ten years had passed. Tommy was dead in Vietnam, Mike’s father had her declared legally dead. So, she went back to Messenger and the Promise. And the teaching circuitry in the hibernation cylinders continued to drip knowledge into her mind.
Angel adds that, this time, Lucy realized that Messenger was wrong, and that she helped him escape from his clutches. Mike angrily tells Warren that he’s already got enough to deal with without him adding two cents worth. It’s bad enough to find out that his own mother is another mutie. Warren tries to calm Mike down, but he ignores that. He wonders what Lucy and Angel thought was going to happen here: a joyous family reunion?!? Until twenty minutes ago, he thought that his mother was dead. Now, a freak turns up on his doorstep, with another freak claiming that she is his mother?!? He can’t just roll over and accept that.
Lucy tries to calm Mike down, telling him she can understand he’s angry. However, Mike doesn’t think so. She can’t begin to guess what it’s been like, to grow up without a mother, with a father who even refused to talk about her. Lucy tells Mike to tell her what she can do to make it up to him. Mike claims that there isn’t anything she can do. He means… look at her! His mother is even younger than he is now, and can’t think of her as his mom.
Lucy starts to cry, and Warren tries to tell her it’s best that they go. He picks her up, and flies away from Mike’s home, with his son waving at them. Warren feels sorry for Lucy, as that could have gone a lot better for her. Lucy isn’t sure about that. She wonders if she had any right to expect anything more than this. Maybe she’s no smarter than the dumb housewife who didn’t understand Messenger all those years ago. She can’t believe she honestly thought she could just like that return to the bosom of her family.
As they make it back to the X-plane, Lucy asks Warren if he’s okay. At the plane, Warren goes to sit in a chair and admits to Lucy that he isn’t. He explains to her that, a couple of days ago, he lost his mother too. He has been busy since, and hasn’t allowed himself time to think about this. Lucy apologizes, as she had no idea about this. Hesitant, Warren claims that he’s okay. He spent so much time away from home as a kid, with the boarding school and the X-Men, he guesses that he was never that close to either of his parents. He mocks himself, calling him a poor little rich boy.
He activates the plane again, and wants Lucy to tell him something now. He wants to know how she was able to talk him into this little junket when his friends need help. A bit ashamed, Lucy admits that’s what her mutant power does: when she makes something a little more than a suggestion. Warren noticed that Lucy didn’t use her powers on her son, and asks why. Lucy admits that it just somehow felt… wrong. Even as Mike was rejecting her, she had to let him think for himself.
Warren defends that’s what he’ll be doing now. Now that he knows what Lucy’s powers are, he’s pretty sure he can resist them. So from now on, it’s going to be his “suggestions” that are going to run the show. And first thing on their things to do list is finding and freeing the rest of the X-Men. With full speed, Warren flies the plane back to Messenger’s headquarters!
Dunfee…
Teri enters Charles’ room, interrupting his thoughts. He reminds her that he asked not to be disturbed while he continues his search for his X-Men, but Teri replies that she knows… but she thinks there’s something Charles needs to see on the TV, and turns it on. The news anchor of Channel 7 explains that, in moments, they will be going live to the White House, where the president will have a statement. But now, he continues, they have established a link with the Fantastic Four… and Doctor Reed Richards.
Appearing on screen, Reed explains that he can’t take much time, but admits that it is vital that the people of the world know of the dire peril now confronting them! The first thing the world needs to know is that, a few short hours ago, Reed and his partners came under attack from a mysterious magnetic wave. The instruments in their headquarters tracked the wave back to its origin: the undersea kingdom of Atlantis! Unfortunately, before they could determine why Prince Namor seemed to have broken his uneasy truce with the surface world, one of Reed’s partners launched a missile attack toward the center of the magnetic pulses.
At the Baxter Building, a guilt-ridden Ben mocks that he didn’t have a choice, because Reed didn’t let him fight the Sub-Mariner in person. Crystal still believes that Ben’s actions were ill-advised, but Johnny defends that they don’t even know for sure if that missile hit Namor’s home. Reed further explains that, even now an armada of Atlantean warships is moving up to the east coast toward Manhattan.
Teri is a bit scared about another war with Atlantis. She knows that Mr. Fantastic found a way to stop Namor before, but isn’t certain he can do it again. Charles wonders about the “magnetic forces” Reed mentioned. He lets his “ghostly form” out of his body, explaining to Teri that it’s merely his astral self. By this means he’s able to leave the confines of his body and travel to any point of the world!
A few moments later, Xavier’s astral form arrives at the Atlantic Ocean and it travels beneath the waves in search. There, below the surface, Xavier spots an Atlantean fleet of warships. The fleet is far greater than the one Namor launched against humanity before – and, within the largest flagship, Xavier feels the psychic signature which confirms his worst fears. He steps into it, and recognizes… Magneto!
Magneto, taking care of his ship’s controls, thinks to himself that his plan is unfolding perfectly. His magnetic assault goaded the Fantastic Four into premature action and, now, Namor’s own impulsive nature will complete the plot. Magneto suddenly notices that he is not alone, and is quite taken aback when he sees Xavier. It cannot be! He is dead! To this, Xavier replies that reports about his demise were somewhat exaggerated. It was another person died in his place.
Magneto supposes aloud that Xavier brought the X-Men along with him to join him in this battle. Cautiously, Xavier replies that the X-Men are… close at hand. He wants Magneto to surrender now, before more blood is spilled because of his insane hatred. Magneto doesn’t think he’s insane. He asks Xavier if it’s insane to think humanity would deal any less severely with mutantkind, given the chance? In any case, he asks Xavier to listen as the klaxons sound the trumpet call to war: the die is cast! The final hour of humanity’s dominion is upon us!
Above, at the New York harbor, the Atlantean warships begin to rise from the sea and take flight. Citizens of New York look on in panic.


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Let Loose The Dogs Of War!
Aboard the great flagship of the royal fleet of Atlantis…
Magneto spots the Invisible Woman approaching in her air ship, and declares it a stroke of luck. He has found himself the perfect hostage! He plans on bringing Sue toward him with a sudden magnetic attack and, after that, even the Fantastic Four will be compelled to do his bidding!
Xavier, standing behind the villain in his astral form, tells Magneto that he can’t hope to win. Magneto, smiling sarcastically, mocks that he already won! It is merely a matter of time before he claims his victory. Xavier disagrees. Though Magneto has tricked both the Fantastic Four and Namor into fighting each other, he believes it’s only a matter of time before everyone realizes the treachery. Magneto laughs at that remark, explaining that, though Namor and the FF feign a troubled friendship, he believes the long-standing animosity between them both is well known. Each side is prepared to think the worst of another, which is why his scheme has been so easy to set in motion.
Magneto fires his attack on Sue’s ship, and it immediately begins to feel the consequences. Sue panics when she sees all the metal parts of her ship falling apart, flying around in the cockpit! She loses control over the ship, which starts to crash into the sea! Sue decides to use her invisible forcefield in the hopes it protects her from the crash, but suddenly, the ship begins to slow down?! It seems to be floating, as if the ship has a will of its own.
This is Magneto’s doing, who used his powers to bring the ship down safely. Now, he uses hand gestures to bring the ship closer to him. Xavier tries to explain to Magneto that he sows the seed of his own undoing. He believes that, though Sue is often in the shadow of her male partners, it is within her potential to become the most powerful member of the Fantastic Four! Magneto refuses to let Xavier talk to him about “potential”, because his plan worked: the wife of Mr. Fantastic is now his captive.
Xavier calls Magneto a fool, stating that Magneto threatens the one person whose endangerment will make both Reed and Namor redouble their efforts against him. Magneto is well aware of both Richards’ and Namor’s affection toward Sue, but admits that his plan is not yet done unfolding. There is another part, which will make the Sub-Mariner unable to defy him.
Manhattan, the headquarters of the Promise…
Angel stands in front of the hibernation cylinders of Havok and Lorna, and tells Lucy there must be something she can do to get them out. He remembers that Lucy was able to get him out of his cyclinder her boss stuck him into before the year limit was up, and now she’s got to do the same thing to his teammates. Lucy reminds Warren that she already explained to him she could only free him because she rigged his pod. But if she opens any of these pods now, the occupants will die.
Warren refuses to accept that. There must be something they can do. Suddenly, Xavier’s astral form appears in front of Warren! Warren is ever glad to “see” the Professor, admitting they’ve got a situation on their hands. Xavier already knows that, explaining to Warren that Magneto has tricked the Sub-Mariner into launching an all-out war against the surface world. He has been trying without success to contact both Warren and the other X-Men, but since he now finally managed to reach Warren, he tells him that his and the other X-Men’s help is needed in this battle.
Angel mentions that he doesn’t know where the rest of the team is, but explains to Xavier that the nutcase Tobias Messenger has got Lorna and Havok corked in hibernation tubes, set not to wake them up in ten years! Xavier remembers the name “Messenger.” He reveals that, in the years before he formed the X-Men, he heard it more than once as he traveled the world in search of mutants like Warren. Warren interrupts that Messenger has his own little club of mutants now, and that they call themselves the Promise, a group Lucy is part of.
Lucy Robinson introduces herself to Xavier, adding that Messenger recruited her thirty years ago. Angel mentions that Lucy has become a wee bit disenchanted with Messenger and his plans, so she helped him escape. Xavier can see in both Lucy and Warren’s minds that Lucy is unable to do the same for Lorna and Havok. However, Xavier also reads that Lucy is mistaken! There is a way to free Lorna and Alex, but they’ll have to listen carefully about what to do.
Meanwhile, underground…
Beast fears that, with summoning his creatures, the Mole Man has the X-Men outnumbered. Cyclops, firing his eyebeams against the monsters, fears that Hank may be right about that. Mole Man seems to have an inexhaustible supply of these underground monsters. Jean, lifting herself telekinetically up into the air, explains that her powers are no use against these creatures, and that their minds are just too alien for her telepathy to work on. Iceman, gliding on his iceslide, adds that these little yellow followers of the Mole Man don’t seem to be the least bothered by his ice powers.
Mole Man reveals that’s only natural, because his subterraneans are bred to withstand all extremes of temperature. He’s confident that the X-Men won’t defeat him this time. With that earlier battle mentioned, Beast is interested in finding out how the Mole Man remembers their earlier battle, because he thought they left Mole Man and Tyrannus in a somewhat befuddled state. Mole Man angrily shouts that the X-Men stripped him of his memory using the same underground mists he had used on them. But what none of them knew or guessed was that the effect would be but temporarily. Within a few days shreds of memory began to return to him, leaving him all the more hungry for vengeance!
Cyclops notices Mole Man running up some stairs, inching to reach an instrument panel. Without knowing what it does, Scott doesn’t want to risk blowing it up. Iceman thinks he can take a less destructive approach. As Mole Man places his hand on the panel, Bobby freezes the villain’s hand! But, Mole Man declares, Iceman’s actions came a moment too late, as his fingertips were already in contact with the button he was reaching for!
The floor begins to turn upside down, and the X-Men fall down. A deafening noise is heard, causing pain to Scott, Jean, Hank and Bobby’s ears. They all then fall down into a pit, revealed by the collapsing floor, and are once again unconscious. Mole Man laughs, saying that the X-Men have apparently not realized all the hidden wonders of the underground that are his to command. The pit they fell into is a natural echo chamber, which can amplify the slightest sound, until it becomes as devastating as a physical blow.
Mole Man orders his subteranneans to move into utter silence into the pit and bring the X-Men in another chamber. And there, this foolish game will be brought to its final, inevitable conclusion!
Dunfee…
Ashley tries to find her mom, wanting to know why she didn’t wake her up. She finds her mom in Xavier’s room, who stares quietly in front of him. Ashley asks what’s going on. Teri lies that Xavier is just meditating, and that it’s just a… zen experience. Teri tells Ashley that she’ll have to drive her to school now, because she missed the bus thanks to her. Teri guesses it’s okay to leave Charles like this.
Once outside, Ashley wants to know if her mom’s certain she can’t tell anyone about the Professor staying at their home. She means, it’s kind of cool to have a famous man around, even if she can’t remember why. Teri remembers that Charles put some kind of mental block in Ashley’s mind. It prevents her from using her mutant power and that it’s blanked out her memory of the last couple of days. Ashley has no recollection of the Sentinel attacking her. In the car, Ashley asked her mom if she heard what she said. Teri apologizes for being distracted. Ashley wants to know when Xavier will be leaving. Teri starts the car and drives away, hoping that Charles won’t leave anytime soon.
Manhattan…
The Professor, in his astral form, asks Angel and Lucy if they are ready. Angel believes so. Lucy can’t help but to repeat her caution, as she doesn’t feel comfortable with this plan. Xavier believes that, if the workings of these pods he reads in Mrs. Robinson are correct, the procedure should be more or less uneventful. The acceleration of the internal chronometer will merely cause the pod containing Havok to register the passing of ten years in as many minutes. Lucy supposes that should work.
Warren notices the plan seems to work indeed, as the readouts on the computers nearby him show Havok’s pod thinking more than six months have passed already, but his bio-states are able… Warren suddenly stops talking. Xavier wants to know what’s wrong. Alex’ pods suddenly starts to glow, and Warren explains something happened they didn’t figure in. Messenger removed Havok’s uniform to put him into a hibernation suit instead and, without the circuitry in that uniform controlling the flow of energy through Alex’ body, the illusion of accelerated time is causing that energy to build to critical levels! Xavier warns both Angel and Lucy to seek cover, while he shall attempt to use his telepathy to calm Alex’ unconscious mind before something bad happens.
But, Xavier’s plan comes too late, as Havok’s power causes the entire building to explode!
Luckily, Warren and Lucy survived the blast. Crawling out of the rubble, Warren remarks that Havok’s power is just the same as Cyclops’, only unfocused. One sometimes forget how destructive Alex’ power can be. Lucy notices something moving over to them. It’s Alex! Alex, with his hibernation suit shredded, asks what just happened. The last thing he remembers is that they were fighting some monsters. Angel explains to Warren that was just some kind of illusion, and that they were tricked into fighting each other. And Alex was fighting his brother, Scott.
Alex panics a bit, and wants to know if Scott is safe. Xavier admits that they don’t know the current location of the other X-Men. And, Warren adds, finding out both those bits of information should be number one on their to-do list! Alex asks about Lorna. Lucy finds Lorna in her pod, but it looks like her pod was damaged by the blast. She reads on a handout that Lorna’s bio-stat readings are dropping… and fast!
Havok rushes over to his girlfriend, fearing that she’s dying. He shouts that she has to be taken out of that pod. Warren holds Alex back, warning him to stay cool, reminding him that they don’t want another explosion. Xavier asks Lucy if, since she was able to return Angel’s uniform to him, she can retrieve Havok’s uniform as well. Lucy opens a locker and takes Alex suit out of it. She suggests that if the suit really helps Alex to control his powers, he better wears it. Xavier can only agree with that, and asks what can be done to help Lorna.
Lucy checks some of the computers, noticing that everything has been messed up by the explosion. All the pods are in states of extreme flux. She thinks she can stabilize them, but that could take several hours. Xavier believes they don’t have that much time, and reminds Angel and Havok that they’ve got to travel to New York and deal with Magneto. When Havok refuses to go anywhere without Lorna, Angel tries to talk some sense into him, but Xavier interrupts. Xavier claims that there is no room for debate here. Hesitant, Angel interrupts that maybe there is time as the Fantastic Four are already standing up against Magneto. He would rather find the rest of the X-Men before he goes charging off to New York.
Xavier admits that Angel may be right about that. He orders Lucy that she will instruct Angel on how he may begin searching for his teammates. But Xavier must insist that Havok accompanies him to New York, as one man might make a crucial difference in this battle. Alex still refuses to go without Lorna. Lucy tells Havok that the Professor is right, as there’s nothing he can do here. He is needed in New York. Havok realizes that now, and apologizes to the Professor for his outburst, guessing he wasn’t thinking. He suggests that they start going.
Angel believes that Lucy used her mutant powers on Alex, and… changed his mind. Lucy reminds Warren that she knows she can’t do that. She just made a… suggestion. Now, she wants to show Warren how he can start looking for the X-Men. Lucy also admits that she needs to do some things alone there.
A few moments later…
Warren flies down into some incredible deep tunnels. He wonders how a system so huge could have been build without anyone on the surface knowing about it. He thinks that if the other X-Men are down there, it could take him weeks to pick up their trail, if he ever does that at all! He suddenly notices gray dust appearing, and wonders where it comes from. As the dust moves closer to Warren, he turns into stone!
Pixie apologizes for doing this to Angel, promising that her pixie dust won’t have a permanent effect on him. But, Ikaris adds, they can’t afford to have Warren poke around down here. He uses his powers to lift Warren up, claiming that human beings are not ready to learn of the threats that lurk beneath their feet just yet. Pixie recalls that the Deviants abandoned these particular tunnels a long time ago, at least that’s what she can figure out from all the indications. She also believes that’s how Mole Man was able to make such free use of them.
The two fly deeper into the tunnels, with Ikaris continuously using his powers to let the transformed Angel follow him. He also agrees with what Pixie says. He believes that Mole Man has indeed made extensive use of Deviant technology for years. He used one of the Deviants transport systems to move the other X-Men miles from where he found them. Pixie believes that Angel would have never found his teammates without their help. But, she admits to Ikaris, she is worried about these X-Men, and the others like them.
Ikaris asks Pixie if she’s talking about mutants. He admits that mutants do seem to be appearing in greater proliferation of late. Pixie states that so many changes in short spaces of time are taking place lately. She thinks that those are some of the signs, and wonders if Ikaris is thinking what she’s thinking, that this might be linked somehow to the coming of the Fourth Host. Not even Ikaris can say something about that. But he believes they might be well advised to keep an eye on the mutants. He flies away, and leaves Angel behind on a rock hill. Pixie looks at him one last time and follows Ikaris.
New York…
Xavier reminds Havok to be careful. He thinks that although the Sub-Mariner has yet to launch open hostilities against any but the Fantastic Four, his forces have occupied large areas of Manhattan now. Hiding in an alley and looking at the Atlantean troops, Alex states that New Yorkers don’t take kindly to invaders, and that they are likely to strike out at anything that doesn’t look human to them, including a mutant like himself.
The Professor believes that they were fortunate to be able to land the strato-ship in Central Park without detection. But he informs Havok that he must make his way further South, and that they will rendezvous at Battery Park. Alex doesn’t understand what the Professor means by that but, before he can ask anything more, the Professor’s astral form vanishes! Havok doesn’t think he’s ever going to get used to that, not even if he’ll be an X-Man for a hundred years.
He thinks it’s now time to earn his salt for the week. It’s a good three miles all the way down to the South of Manhattan, and every inch of the way is going to be crawling with ticked off New Yorkers. Alex walks down the street, but quickly has to hide in another alley, as he spots Atlantean soldiers nearby. Havok tries to figure out what to do, and chooses to attack the soldiers. He fires his powers at them, and declares that nobody invades the Big Apple when he’s got something to say about it!
With all the soldiers down already, Havok thinks that maybe they aren’t so tough as they feared. An angry mob of humans see Alex, and notice that he’s a mutant. They believe that the radio reports were right and that the mutants are in league with the Sub-Mariner. Havok tries to explain that he’s part of the X-Men and only trying to help but the crowd recalls that the X-Men are wanted by the government, and start hitting him all at once! Beaten to his knees by the assault, Havok loses his concentration, causing his powers to lose control. Beginning to glow brightly, he tries to warn the people about it, but they are too far gone to stop.
Suddenly, Alex involuntarily releases a burst of power on the mob, knocking them back and unconscious! Havok gets up, calling the crowd idiots as he tried to warn them; as he didn’t want to hurt any of them. Unfortunately, more people show up and see the aftermath of the accident. They immediately believe that Havok is one of the bad guys and start to chase them. Alex realizes that the people probably won’t listen to him any more than the last crowd did. He thinks that his only hope is to get away from them, and runs away, hoping to find Professor X soon, hoping that he’s doing better than he is.
Battery Park…
Xavier’s astral form sees Magneto sitting in his throne at the park, holding Sue and Lady Dorma captive in life-size cylinders. It’s worse that Xavier feared. Magneto is in discussion with Namor, demanding to know where the Fantastic Four are and to do him homage. Namor doesn’t care about the FF. Time is running short and so is his patience, and demands that those cylinders are opened at once.
Magneto declares that there’s plenty of time for that later. First, Reed Richards must be taught his terrible folly, and orders the Atlantean troops to head toward the Baxter Building. If the Fantastic Four resist, they must be destroyed!


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Friends And Enemies
The Baxter Building…
Crystal spots danger on the Fantastic Four’s monitors. She informs Reed that he was right, and that their enemies have entered the building! Reed panics, as this is too soon. He must have more time to finish his plan. He orders Johnny to defend the roof, and Crystal has to stay on the monitors. Johnny does as told. He flames on and heads to the roof. Reed orders Ben to go to the elevator and stop the Atlantean soldiers.
Ben leaves, but thinks that the whole world has gone bananas. An attacking army… coming up by the elevator! He jokes that if the blasted thing would have been out of order, the Atlanteans would probably call of the war! Ben uses his massive arms to burst the elevator door open, not thinking there’s sense to just wait for the soldiers to attack. He starts pulling the elevator coils up, thinking he can get them much faster to him than the elevator can.
On her monitors, Crystal sees how Ben has already been hit by an Atlantean stun gun. Reed asks Crystal whether she can hold the soldiers back for long, if she uses her elemental powers. Crystal pupils turn completely yellow, and she starts using her powers, promising Reed that she won’t fail. Reed silently worries that Crystal and the others can only hold back those troops for a few seconds, while he may need a few hours to complete the weapon he’s certain will defeat Magneto.
Suddenly, Xavier’s astral form appears in front of Reed, telling his old friend that may be able to assist him. Reed is surprised to see Xavier, and asks if the X-Men have come to help fight this invasion as well. Xavier admits that the X-Men are too far away to give any kind of help. But he has made a close study of Magneto’s attack plan and believes to have discovered his weakness. However, it does depend on Reed’s genius to find a way to exploit this.
Elsewhere, underground…
The Mole Man has the X-Men all tied up against a chain, and dangles them over a pit. The villain also promises that their deaths will be only the first leading into his quest to conquer the world. That does it for Beast, and he uses his great strength to break through the chains, surprising Mole Man, as he thought the chains would be strong enough to hold ten men! Beast jokes that he’s more something of a dozen Schwarzeneggers. He jumps towards Scott and frees him. Scott compliments Hank on a fine job. As he fires an optic beam, Scott tells Hank to free Jean and Bobby, while he demolishes the balcony their enemy stands on.
Once freed, Iceman glides towards the floor and tries to freeze Mole Man up. But instead Mole Man fires a beam from his staff, and hits Bobby with it! He declares that the X-Men’s eyes are still blind to the thousand dangers of his underground kingdom. He fires a beam on the ceiling, causing the ceiling to collapse in a rain of rocks, almost like an avalanche!
With Jean freed, Beast quickly grabs his fallen friend Bobby up, who has already turned back into human form. Cyclops orders his team to go stand behind him, as his eyebeams can powder the rocks before they get anywhere near them. Beast notices that Scott’s beams aren’t enough to destroy all of the rocks, as the entire ceiling is now threatening to collapse! Scott orders his team to get out, as he’ll keep using his powers until they get out. Jean disagrees, not understand how Scott will get out if they do that.
Nearby, Angel finally wakes up. He wonders what just happened, as he remembers flying down a huge underground tunnel when he suddenly noticed a cloud of dust. But after that, he doesn’t remember a thing. He looks down, and spots the rest of his teammates, with Cyclops trying to protect them.
Scott tells Jean there’s no time to debate, as the three of them have to get out and finish the business they have with Mole Man. Jean refuses to escape at the expense of Scott’s life. Warren flies down to Scott and quickly grabs him into his arms, telling the beautiful Jean that they don’t have to do that. He tells Scott to keep firing his blast, and the others can follow him as he, Air Angel, brings them all into safety.
The Baxter Building…
Reed’s weapon is finished. But, there is no time to test it. It has to work though, or else the Earth will become a bloodbath. Xavier tells Reed that the weapon will work: he can trust him on that. He explains that Magneto is using some kind of harness to tap into the electro-magnetic fields of the Earth itself. And only in that way he can bolster his failing mutant energy. Reed adds that, if he’s done his job right, this device will finish Magneto and his threat. Ben wonders how just a gizmo can take down someone like Magneto. Reed tells Ben there’s no time to properly explain it. He, Ben and Crystal have to get to the roof, as Johnny is already warming up the Fantasti-Car. Xavier’s astral form follows the heroes as well.
The countdown has begun…
At Battery Park, Magneto has gained the unsettling word that the Fantastic Four dared to resist the Atlantean troops. One of the soldiers defends that they felled the mighty Thing with their first assault, but he recovered and his partners took down the rest of the soldiers. Magneto angrily pushes the soldier aside, wanting to deal with the FF himself. Namor points out that Magneto will get his chance, as he notices the heroes arriving.
Magneto orders the soldiers to hold their fire, thinking that his magnetic powers will stop the heroes from crashing into them. Reed corrects Magneto that they’ve got no intention of crashing into him. One of the soldiers warns Magneto about the weapon Richards is carrying with him. Magneto is unimpressed by it, wondering if he hasn’t demonstrated enough that no weapon can harm him. Calling the heroes doomed, Magneto lets them come to him.
Namor thinks that the time has come, and orders his Atlantean warriors to only once again obey him. He orders all of the soldiers to hold their fire until he says otherwise. Crystals eyes turn blank, and uses her elemental powers to let the skies turn dark, and to let lightning flash!
This is perfect. This gave Reed the split-second he needed. He stretches his body closer to Magneto and fires his weapon at him, telling the master of magnetism to do his worst. Magneto calls Reed mad, thinking that one magnetic blast will destroy his gun. Reed disagrees with that. He explains that this isn’t an ordinary weapon: it’s an electro-magnetic converter! The more energy Magneto emits, the more is directed back against him! Magneto starts to panic, feeling that the magnetic force he hurls causes him to get trapped in a magnetic cone!
Reed tells the others to free Magneto’s captives, as he cannot stop them now. Xavier, still in his astral form, mocks that Magneto is now defeated by the same ones he tried to master. But he does wonder about the Sub-Mariner, who has been betrayed by Magneto. Xavier wonders if he will call of his attack now that he know he has been duped.
Namor, with a proud Lady Dorma at his side, speaks to his soldiers that they’ve conducted themselves with honor, but the invasion is ended. Now, they will return to Atlantis. Reed and Sue share a kiss, with Sue congratulating him that he defeated Magneto without a single casualty! Reed thanks Namor for trusting them, and for buying them time. Namor claims that he has no need for gratitude, declaring that there can never be an alliance between them – not so long as the air-breathers hate and fear all that is different. He picks Dorma up in his arms and flies to his ship, leaving the Fantastic Four in their world of strife and never-ending war.
Ben thinks this is something: Namor, one of the world’s biggest scrappers, dissin’ them for being warlike. He looks at a disappointed Magneto trapped in his cone, and asks if he can clobber him a little. Reed holds Ben back, explaining that the cone is self-maintaining and will hold until the military has arrived. Ben thinks this wraps everything up, and that their job is finished now. The Fantastic Four get back into their Fantasti-Car and head home.
Xavier, watching the heroes leave, doesn’t agree with Benjamin. He fears there is but small truth in his words, and that the Sub-Mariner is right. As a mutant himself, Namor knows too well the sting of senseless prejudice. From the days of Hitler’s Reich to the world’s own current troubled times, Namor has known it to be an outcast from all the world.
Underground…
The X-Men are trapped behind some rocks, and Beast can’t find a way back in. That cave-in filled the whole chamber, with the Mole Man on the other side. Bobby doesn’t think they can just walk away from this. They’ve got to go back to kick the villain’s butt. Jean tells Bobby to calm down, as Angel has something to tell them. Warren thinks Jean read his mind just now. But she is right about what she said. He explains that Professor X sent him to find them all because there are lots of troubles topside.
Scott asks Warren how he found them in this maze of tunnels, as they’re miles from when they entered the subterranean world. Meanwhile, Beast also can’t help but notice how Bobby defended the Professor, when Messenger was talking to them. Angel thought that Bobby was still mad at Xavier. As the mutants climb their way out of the tunnels, Bobby guesses that he’s not ready to come back to the fold. But, he is thinking about it, and now realizes that Xavier didn’t want to fake his own death and had no way of knowing the Changeling would be killed by Grotesk.
Jean compliments Bobby on that way of thinking. She explains that Xavier enlisted the help of the Changeling so he could work undistracted on a defense against the alien Z’Nox. But the Professor never intended to trick his students into thinking he was dead. Beast interrupts, noticing light above them. But the way out is still blocked. Scott has a plan for that. He warns everyone to stand back, as he fires his optic beam against the rocks, creating an opening for them to get out!
The X-Men climb out and it seems they have reached the surface. Scott wonders where they are. The rocks around them are all fused, as if by a tremendous heat. Beast thinks therein lies the clue to their locale. He explains that what they saw below, and what they see there now, leads to the inevitable conclusion that they have come to the spot on which the Fantastic Four first battled the Mole Man. And this blasted landscape is torn by the nuclear blast the Mole Man himself unleashed at the end of that encounter, meaning they are now at all that remains of the once fabled Monster Island! The X-Men descend a hill, and look in front of them, only to find a red-tanned, rocky landscape with a lake in the middle.
Manhattan…
Havok has finally lost the angry crowd and hides in another alley. He was already getting afraid he would have to kill some people to make them stop chasing him. Xavier, floating above Alex, reminds the boy killing is never an option. Surprised, Havok looks up and admits he knows only the bad guys kill. Speaking of which, he wants to know what’s going on with Magneto. Xavier explains that Magneto has already been defeated by the Fantastic Four. Xavier also admits that this is the first time he has seen Magneto fall in a true defeat, and that it will be some while before they need to concern themselves about Magneto again.
Xavier tells Alex he can follow him, as he noticed the way is clear. And in any case, Xavier adds, now that he is with Alex he can use his telepathic powers to prevent further attacks. Alex agrees that may be true, but he just had his first in-your-face taste of anti-mutant hysteria – and it’s going to take him a while to forget it. He noticed that any one of those “normal, decent, upright American citizens” would have cheerfully killed him for no more reason that his genes got linked up differently than theirs. Xavier, guiding Alex to follow him, reminds the boy that is a lesson many learn. And not only mutants learn that lesson: sometimes, no more than a slight difference of faith is enough. Such is the yoke humanity, it seems, ever wear.
Later, at the remains of the Promise headquarters…
Lorna is out of her pod. She wakes up and asks for Alex. Alex is there for her, and asks the girl how she’s feeling. Lorna, having a headache, jokes that she feels like somebody rented out parts of her head to a lot of very noisy conventions! She wants to know what happened, and if it’s really ten years later. Lucy denies that. She explains that Professor X found a way to release her from hibernation ahead of schedule. She has also woken up the other members of the Promise.
When Tad asks where Messenger is, Craig replies that he’s still in his tube. Standing closer, Grace announces to the others that Tobias is dead! She goes to a computer and sees that their last read-outs on Tobias’ bio-stats show all normal. Gene thinks it’s just like Tobias… stopped living. As if he was… switched off! He asks Lucy if she noticed anything unusual, which she innocently denies.
Xavier gives his condolences to Tad, knowing that Tobias Messenger was important to the Promise. Tad thinks it’s funny – Tobias really has been important to them all. And yet, he realizes, because of the years in suspended animation, none of them have known the guy more than a few weeks, their time.
Lorna asks what the Promise is going to do now. Repair their pods and go back into suspended animation? Tad doesn’t think so. He thinks they’ve all seen Messenger’s approach doesn’t work. He thinks that for mutants to have any say in how the world threats them, they have to be out there and make it happen. Gene also doesn’t think that sleeping the years away will help. Xavier thinks that’s good, and offers the X-Men’s help if needed.
Tad doesn’t think so. He thanks the Professor for it, but he thinks they need to go their separate ways for a while. Simon thinks that’s easy for Tad to say: he doesn’t look ten years old! Grace thinks that’s no problem: Simon can come hang out with her and Craig, and that they can keep each other out of trouble. Craig agrees with that.
Xavier says that’s fine, and mentions that he left his physical body unattended too long as it is and must return to it now. He tells Havok that he can take Lorna back to the X-Men’s headquarters. He wishes the Promise good luck, and leaves.
A short while later…
When everyone is gone, Lucy is left alone at the ruined base. She looks over Tobias’ body, which is on a table in a separate room. She talks to him. Lucy guesses that this is the end, but not quite the end Tobias had in mind all those years ago. She believes that maybe he should have thought it through a little more. Maybe he should have given some consideration to the price he was asking people to give up. Whole lives were abandoned, gambling on a future Tobias only thought would happen.
Lucy thinks the future is going to be better than Tobias thought, as the world has changed a lot in the last thirty years or so. There’s still prejudice, but people are working hard to get rid of it. And maybe – maybe with someone like her out there, someone with her powers, can sort of nudge people in the right direction. And Tobias taught her how to do it. And right now, better than anyone, Tobias know how irresistible she can be when she makes a suggestion. She picks up her backpack, turns off the lights, and looks at Tobias one last time, but with a sinister look in her eyes.
Dunfee…
Teri has watched on the news that the war is over. The Fantastic Four have beaten another attack from Atlantis, but she wonders how long it will take before the Sub-Mariner gets ticked off again. Xavier’s astral form floats back into his body, and has heard what Teri thought. He believes that it is not likely to occur for some time. When Teri asks Charles if he had to do something with the FF’s victory, he admits that he was instrumental, where circumstances allowed it. He watches the news, where the Fantastic Four are being interviewed. He also mentions that now, for the present at least, his job is done here. Teri isn’t so glad about that.
The next morning…
Ashley asks the Professor if he’s really leaving. Xavier, sitting in his car, tells Ashley it’s time for him to return to his school in New York. Teri asks Charles if he’s really going to drive there all by himself and, if he needs someone to join him, she can come. Xavier smiles that his vehicle is fully equipped with hand controls and can manage quite well, but thanks her for the offer. Ashley waves Xavier goodbye, wanting to go play, mentioning she’ll maybe see him again some day.
Teri asks Charles if they will see him again someday. The Professor says of course they will. He has finished monitoring Ashley’s recovery but, in a few years, it will be time to remove the block he placed in her mind, and let Ashley’s power manifest naturally. Teri’s face turns grim, not really pleased it will take a few years before she gets to see Charles again.
Xavier gently touches her shoulder, mentioning he doesn’t need his telepathic powers to know what’s on her mind. He also admits it is not unreciprocated. And he’s deeply flattered that Teri believes herself to have such feelings for him. But time has taught him a bitter lesson, and that there is no place in his life for romance. Not any more. Not until his dream has been through to its fulfillment.
One week later, Xavier’s…
Beast and Angel, sitting in the X-Men’s plane, return back to the school. Warren admits that he’s sad to see Avia go, but she belongs in the Savage Land with her own people. Hank noticed that it seemed Avia was glad to go home again. He adds that, though she lacked the power of speech, Avia was still able to express her feelings for Warren. Warren, smiling, is certain that they’ll all see Avia again some day. He even jokes that sometimes it seems they need a second headquarters in the Savage Land, because they visit it so often.
Hank agrees with that. They walk down the hallways, and he wonders where the other X-Men are, as the mansion seems disturbingly still and silent to him. Warren opens a door, thinking the X-Men might be in there. Hank recognizes the door as the entrance of the Danger Room, and wonders why the X-Men would be in there, as no exercises were scheduled for today. Warren tells Hank to follow him inside, and as Hank does, the X-Men and Candy all loudly say…
Surprise! Hank notices a big cake saying “Happy birthday, Hank.” He is surprised by it, admitting that he had completely forgotten today was the jubilee of his genesis. With a hard breath, he blows out all of the candles. Xavier tells Hank he knows Jean would never forget a thing like that. Bobby asks Hank how it feels on the other side. While eating a slice of cake, Hank asks Bobby what he means by that.
Warren interrupts, smiling that Hank is twenty years old now! He and Scott are nipping at Hank’s heels, but Hank is the first of them to cross over from being a teenager. Hank agrees with that, but must also confess a small degree of sadness. When Candy asks why, Hank explains that, for all their time together, the press referred to the X-Men as “the strangest teens of all.” Now, that nomenclature can no longer apply.
Jean tells Hank not to worry about that too much. After all, they are not all X-Men, she jokes.
And as Cyclops uses his eyebeams to slice Jean a piece of the pie, the X-Men would all fight happily ever after!