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Some Angels Falling
High above Paris, France, two X-Men jets dive toward the ground before climbing back into the sky diagonally, moving in opposite angles. The trails they leave behind form a giant “X”, framed against the darkening sky. As his jet climbs higher, Scott telepathically hears a voice ask who the hell this “Darkstar” was anyway? Snapping back, Scott tells Emma to be quiet. He has to concentrate or the next funeral will be his.
Gathered over the grave of the fallen Darkstar, a group of mourners listens to the eulogy spoken by Professor Xavier. Calling Darkstar their sister, Xavier tells the group that she died protecting the lives of others. She laid down her life for the Dream. Eyes filled with tears and stammering, Xavier tells the group that he would like them all to join him in a telepathic experience. Telling them to close their eyes, Xavier informs them that they will taste the life of Laynia Petrovna and will understand what they have lost today.
On a cliff, overlooking the Xavier Institute in Westchester, New York, Archangel addressees a group of students. Continuing his lesson to the group of would-be fliers, Archangel tells them that whether they have feathers, skin, vanes or just powerful levitational gifts, flying is really all about confidence and concentration. Here at the Xavier Institute, he tells them, they value cooperation, so look out for your classmates.
Exhaling in a “raspberry”, Angel informs her instructor that she will fly any damn way she chooses. Who says, she ask Archangel, that he knows what’s best for her? Rising to her feet, she tells him that if she had her way, she’d have her wings cut off by a top Beverly Hills surgeon. She would rather be a normal than a freak like the rest. Turning to the Beak, another student, Archangel asks how about him? Looking dejected, the Beak replies that he is hoping to go into space to help with the relief work, but he has no wings to reach the spaceship. Dismissing the student’s pessimism, Archangel, addressing him by his name of Barnell, tells him that he looks fit enough. He just needs to let go and relax.
Jumping from the cliff, Archangel instructs the group to follow him. As he soars away on his wings, Archangel reminds them to sail on the peaks and troughs. If they make it to the Shi’ar flagship, they can consider today’s lesson well earned. Watching the other students taking to the air, Angel remains with the Beak. Finishing the last of her bottled beer, Angel mocks them all, saying that they are all trying to be famous super-heroes like the teacher. Instead, she says, all they need is money and smugness.
Taking out a new bottle, Angel offers it to the Beak, telling him that they will go kick the Angel’s tail into space. Eyes downcast, the Beak reminds Angel that the teacher’s name is Archangel. Telling her to keep her beer and cigarettes, he informs her that he’s straight-edge hardcore. His body is a temple. Turning the freshly opened beer up to her mouth, Angel agrees, but then adds that that his body is like a temple to Satan. When she asks him if he really wants to go with them into space, the Beak asks in turn what is there for him here? Maybe out there with the space aliens, he says, a guy like him could seem normal.
Watching the Shi’ar spacecraft loom in the evening sky, Angel tells Barnell to dream on. There’s nothing normal about this stupid place, least of all, she adds, him. Still eyeing the ground, rather than the sky, Barnell asks Angel why, if she hates the Xavier School so badly, she doesn’t fly away? She, at least, can fly to join them. Taking another draught, Angel scoffs, saying ‘like she wants to. She’s hanging, she tells the Beak, with him because he makes her realize there’re worse things to be than her. Agreeing in a mocking tone, Barnell replies that this is normal for him, to be a joke.
Beginning to enjoy a bit of intoxication, Angel agrees. Keeping the morbid humor going, the Beak gives out a loud chicken “buh-kaww”. Yelling out “Kennntucky!” Angel takes to the sky. Pretending to be Barnell, she asks aloud where Miss Frost is, so she can pretend not to be looking down her bra. Flapping his own wings, the Beak tells Angel to “buck you” and takes to the sky, for all of half a second before falling. On the spaceship, Archangel congratulates all of the students and reminds on, Skywalker, to keep his arms tucked in when he wants to go faster. Taking a moment to review the class, the teacher asks if they have lost anyone on the way up.
Far below, Angel stands over the Beak, telling him that it is official; he a disgrace to the school. Drawing attention to his throat, the Beak informs Angel that there was once a neck there, which is now broken in about a million pieces. Vowing to never, ever try to fly again, Barnell asks himself how stupid he was to think this? For him, he adds, there is now only the circus. Sitting next to Barnell, Angel gives a sound of disappointment. Telling him that she bets she knows how to get him into orbit, Angel grabs Barnell’s face and, much to his surprise, gives him a passionate kiss.
Inside the institute, the Beast peruses the library for a book. Speaking to the nearby Emma Frost, who is sitting at a desk, reading a magazine, the Beast asks if she is in agreement with Scott on this particular issue? She thinks that he’s being deliberately provocative? Not even looking up from her magazine, which sports a picture of the Beast on the cover next to a caption reading “I’m as Gay as it Gets”, Emma informs the Beast that she’s one of the world’s most renowned and prurient telepathic talents and she knows for sure that he’s never had any kind of physical relationship with another man. Further, she says, she even knows that he made hoax phone calls to super-heroes’ headquarters when he was younger. Always something of a practical joker, hmmm?
Raising up her cigarette holder and examining another page through her reading glasses, she points out that the Institute’s already being portrayed as some Boho experiment in mutant sociology. These outrageous statements he’s been making do nothing but fan the flames of controversy. Defending himself, the Beast replies that he’s doing this to challenge preconceived notions about language, gender and species. To this, he adds, he’s also learning to play the drums. Excusing himself, the Beast informs Emma that he has a medical class in five minutes. Before leaving, however, he tells Emma not to mess with Scott and Jean’s marriage. It’s undignified. To this, he adds that Jean will kill her.
Piloting an X-plane over France, Cyclops asks Wolverine how was Madripoor? Kill anyone? A couple of bad guys, Logan answers. Changing the subject, Logan points out to Scott that this was the first time he and Jeannie have been together for weeks. The two of them should talk more often. Still staring at his controls, Scott coldly repeats his question of how Madripoor was. A quarter of the world away, sitting in the Cerebra chair, the helmet lowered upon her head, Emma Frost listens in on their conversation. Finally answering Logan’s question, Scott tells Logan that he was in the air most of the time. They didn’t get a chance to talk. Focusing on the wild blue outside, Logan euphemistically tells Scott that all he’s saying is that a man’s gotta mow his own lawn.
Screeching like an agitated cat at the comment, Emma tells Scott not to listen to Logan. As Logan’s words begin to fade into background noise, Emma’s words/thoughts become clearer. Instructing the X-Man to relax, Emma tells Scott that he is with her now. She is looking through his eye. As she sees the yellow world through Scott’s visor, he tells her that the light turns yellow in the Ruby Quartz shield. Telling him that she knew that, she informs him that she was trying to get him in the mood and to stop being so literal. Transforming the X-plane into a 4-prop cargo plane, at least in his mind, Emma tells Scott to fly with her.
Standing just inside the open door of the plane, Emma draws Scott‘s attention to the land below. She tells him that it’s South Provence. She summered there in those long hot days following the incident, which left her ghastly finishing school in flames and her headmistress penniless. Lowering the dive-goggles over her eyes, Emma adds that at least that’s her memory of it. Referring to the environmental feel of the mental world they are currently in, she points out that she is adding his memories of wind and air pressure to make it more convincing. Isn’t she clever, she asks?
Explaining further, Emma tells Scott that it’s just long-range super-telepathy, made possible by the lovely Cerebra machine. To this she adds that she’s quite drunk on the sensation of ten times the prying power, before jumping out of the plane. Watching Emma fall through the telepathic illusion, Scott tells Emma that he needs a little marriage guidance, that’s all. Continuing her descent, Emma tells Scott that that is exactly what they’re going to do. Trust her. Strapping on his own parachute, Scott retorts that he’s heard that one before. Why can’t she just be straight with him? Jumping from the plane, Scott asks why can’t everyone just be straight with him? As he catches up to her, Emma replies that it’s because they live in a bendy world. Asking him to let go, she tells him to tell her all his troubles.
Pulling on his parachute’s cord, Scott is surprised when, instead of a silken parachute, costumes fly out. As he calls out weakly to Emma, Scott’ original X-Men uniform appears, followed his uniform as a member of the X-Men Blue team. Phoenix’s Hellfire Club attire, followed by Marvel Girl’s graduation costume next appears. Seeing all of this with growing anxiety, Scott tells Emma that this isn’t funny. Is it supposed to be symbolic, he asks? Feeling more and more the all-too real sensation of gravity and falling, Scott tells Emma to stop this. As the panicking X-Man passes Emma in her descent, she tells him to save his breath for impact. Eyeing the tent below and the people surrounding it, Emma suggests to Scott that they aim for her cousin Jocasta. The scene below is a memory of her wedding and she always wanted to ruin it.
As the two mutants impact, they land not on the wedding celebration, but on a giant pile of pillows, which gently breaks their fall. Immediately, the pile of pillows changes to a bed, surrounded by candles. Now dressed in jeans and a halter-top, Emma asks Scott how did they end up there? Taking stock of their surroundings, she judges them as being terribly meaningful. Replying softly, Scott tells her that he only wanted to talk.
Jerking himself back into the real world, Scott startles Logan. Telling Scott that he’s daydreaming, Logan tells his teammate to get some rest. He’ll bring them down. Thanking his teammate in turn, Scott quickly returns to the bedroom scene with Emma. Whispering gently, she tells him to take Logan’s advice. His left brain can handle him yapping away like a dog. His right brain needs all the help it can get. Which is where she, she tells him, the X-Men’s only qualified sex therapist, comes to the rescue.
Still clad in his uniform, Scott reclines against a pillow. He tells her that he doesn’t feel safe there, wherever there is… It’s like everyone’s watching him and he’s doing something wrong. Soothing his fears, Emma tells Scott that they’re swapping thoughts, that’s all. Telepaths do it all the time. How, she asks him, does he think Jean and Professor while away the long hours abroad together? Coldly telling her that he doesn’t need this, Scott asks Emma what does she know about he or Jean or any of them? Rather a lot, as a matter of fact, she replies. Jean, she says, is a human furnace of violent emotions. It can be quite horrific to experience. When Scott replies that he knows she has a temper, Emma reminds him that Jean once almost erased half her brain! She was left drooling and incontinent for a month! Now, Emma says, she would think very carefully before crossing swords with Jean, believe her.
When Scott replies that Jean has never been that way with him, Emma replies that they have all seen her worst and survived. However, no one really knows what passion Scott Summers struggles to repress. Jean, Emma tells Scott, is afraid of him. Dismissing the statement, Scott replies that he would never hurt Jean, no matter what. She, he thinks, knows that too. Emma replies that while he thinks she knows, he’s never really told her. Why is that, Emma asks? What’s the big optic-blast that he’s holding back this time? Afraid he’ll blow Jean to smithereens if he tells her that he doesn’t love her anymore?
Stammering at the accusation, Scott replies that he’ll always love Jean… it’s just that they’ve both changed so much. Everything’s changed. He used to think he was special. He tried to be a good husband, but underneath all the lies and the acting, he’s just like everyone else. Asking him to spare her the bloody obvious, she states that he was possessed for five minutes by an evil spirit. He was shown the dark corners of his soul that he never knew he had, blah-blah-blah. But when do we reach the scandal, she asks him, the real dirt, in its most pure, concentrated and embarrassing little nuggets. Asking Emma to give him a break, he tells her this is hard enough.
Reaching into a closet, Emma pulls out a travel bag. As she opens it up, she innocently mocks that the perfect marriage of the world’s most beloved mutant heroes has fallen into ruin. Where? How? Why and when did it all go wrong? Changing into the clothes from bag, Emma thinks aloud that there’s only one way to find out… they’ll play a little game of super-heroes and heroines. Finished dressing, Emma displays her Dark Phoenix costume and suggests that he be Scott and she be Jean. As the Phoenix-clad Emma crawls toward Scott on the bed, he asks her if this is still telepathic therapy, or are they having some kind of weird affair now?
Aboard the Shi’ar cruiser, Archangel leads his students on a tour. The ship, he informs them, leaves at dawn to rendezvous with the surviving vessels of Lilandra’s Imperial Armada on the dark side of the Moon. Making light of the situation, he then adds that he knows it sounds like the concept album from hell, but it’s true. If you are part of the relief team, he continues, they’ll have a couple of weeks in near-Earth space before the Armada heads back to the Shi’ar homeworld, which is where most of the devastation occurred. That leaves the rest, he tells them, with precisely five hours to help where they can and get some sightseeing time. With this, Archangel dismisses the class.
Before he can say any further parting words, one student points out something overhead. Pointing to Angel carrying the Beak, the student asks his instructor if it is Teamwork 101 or Dumb and Dumber? Carried aloft by the airborne Angel, the Beak announces their entrance by repeatedly yelling, incoming! Dropped from the still aloft Angel, Barnell falls to the floor and tumbles, spilling the contents of his knapsack. As he helps the Beak return the contents into the bag, Archangel congratulates him and then asks if he is sure that he has enough in there for a whole year in space? Addressing the just-landing Angel, Archangel congratulates her on her impressive work. Gold Feather commendation.
His task finished, the Beak stands upright and informs his instructor that he has to tell him something. There is no way, he says, that he can go to the cosmos after all. Rambling on, the Beak informs Archangel that something has happened to him! Something he can hardly explain! His face stony with the obviousness of the situation, Archangel asks if it is a girl, right? Still caught up in his emotional outburst, the Beak replies that there was, like, a rainbow in her wings! He has to stay there now. No girl has ever kissed him before… Trailing off for a moment, the Beak shouts in exclamatory glee that she kissed him!
Smirking broadly, Angel turns to the other students who begin to shell out money. Calling her a disgusting skank, one student hands her twenty dollars. Another student, not previously in the deal, asks the others if they actually bet her that she wouldn’t kiss the Beak? A third replies coldly that Angel would kiss a rat with AIDS. Accepting the money with satisfaction, Angel replies that ‘where angels fear to tread’ just ain’t been invented yet. Looking out of the ship’s window, into the night sky above, the Beak tells the universe hello and informs it that this is the greatest day of his life.
Sitting on the bed in her telepathically constructed room, Emma, still clad in her Dark Phoenix costume, continues her role-playing session. Getting into the character, she tells Scott that she is power and song and life incarnate… but the truth of the matter is, no matter how hard she tries, she can’t keep playing with fire. Turning the ball over to her “darling,” she asks what about him? Getting into his own character, Scott begins to remove his jacket. Addressing Emma as Jean, Scott tells her “sure, why not?”


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Ambient Magnetic Fields
On a pile of debris overlooking Hammer Bay, three individuals look down upon the ruins of the former capital of Genosha. The skeletal remains of the city’s structures lie like sun-bleaches bones, having baked in the mid-morning sun. In the center of the bay city sits the now defunct Mega-Sentinel that caused the destruction, eternally admiring it’s handiwork. Overlooking this indescribable devastation, Quicksilver tells his two compatriots that he can remember when it was all fields, spires and monorails. This, he tells them, is where Magneto died.
Through her environmental suit, which like the others’ protects her from their toxic surroundings, Sabra apologizes to Quicksilver, but tells him that it’s good riddance. Magneto, she tells him, was a master-race lunatic who coerced the entire Genoshan mutant population into a war with humanity and brought this on himself. As Thunderbird begins to object to Sabra’s words, Quicksilver speaks up. Plainly, he states that while Magneto was his father, otherwise, she is right. Turning to the other two, Quicksilver informs them that he will meet them both back at the dome. He’s impatient o rendezvous with Professor X and get the hell out of this godforsaken graveyard.
Sabra begins to apologize but, in a flash, Quicksilver is gone. Watching the blur that is Quicksilver traverse the once proud city, Sabra wishes aloud that she had just stayed in Paris with X-Corp. This, she tells Thunderbird, has been the worst weekend of her life. She keeps saying the wrong things and Quicksilver is so uptight all the time… Fumbling over the embarrassment, she asks Thunderbird if she is right in thinking that his name is Neal. Thunderbird replies that it is, but suggests that she call him Thunderbird. Sometimes code-names are easier.
Sprinting through the rubble of the city at super-speed, his surrounding practically a blur, Quicksilver abruptly stops, having seen something. Arriving at the object that caught his attention, he finds a man clad in a red outfit with purple trunks and boots, curled in a fetal position. Asking the man if he knows him, the man begins to ramble incoherently. Untouchable, he stammers, he is supposed to be untouchable. Looking up with eyes that seem to see things not truly there, the man tells Quicksilver that they came right through. They came right through his forcefield. Ghosts… millions of ghosts all buzzing… millions of voices… talking in him… following her.
Not far away, a gigantic gray dome rises out of the ruins of the city, adorned with a simple “X”, the trademark sigil of the X-Men. It is the only structure standing. Descending out of the X-Plane that has landed nearby, Xavier and Phoenix, both clad in environmental suits, take in their surroundings. Referring to the report of the recent discovery, Xavier rhetorically asks Jean about ghosts. Citing that sixteen millions mutants died there in one day, he wonders if it is any wonder there are ghost stories. Taking a moment to take note of the dormant Mega-Sentinel some distance away, Jean follows the Professor into the dome, through an open hatchway.
Taking in her own surroundings within the dome, Storm informs the others, Sabra, Thunderbird and Quicksilver, that if any of them wants to score Brownie points, Charles Xavier particularly loves Japanese green tea. Chiding Storm in return, Thunderbird replies that she speaks like a prize pupil. Noting the arriving Xavier, Quicksilver jokingly tells the others to try to look busy.
Greeting the group, Xavier informs them that Jean and he have begun to wonder if the decision to stop their on their way to India was a wise one after all. The word, Sabra replies, is “grim as hell.” The ice now broken on their tense situation, the four warmly greet Jean and the Professor. Telling Sabra that he is glad to see that she made it, the Professor tells them all that he thinks they all have to see Genosha for themselves, at least once. Changing the subject, Xavier states that they heard something happened just before they arrived: Unus, the Untouchable Man?
Still panicked, Unus yells excitedly that they were ghosts and asks to be told what else they could be. Talking to both Xavier and Jean, Unus asks them to tell him what else can go through walls and skin and bone. Referring to the deceased lord of Genosha, Magneto, Unus tells the two X-Men that he kept the magnetic fields alive! Leaning forward in her chair, Jean, calling Unus by his name, Angelo, tells him to calm down. Addressing the Professor, she asks him if he can see what Unus is seeing? These weird shapes…
Finishing Jean’s thoughts, Xavier replies that the shapes are passing through Unus’ forcefield. Physically touching the forcefield with his hand, the Professor tells him that it is all right. His protective shield is intact. As Xavier tries to get him to listen to Jean, Unus continues his ramblings. He tells them that there are so many millions of voices of the dead and running at the head of the procession is a girl with hair like the sea… as green as the sea. Taken aback at the statement, Xavier asks Unus if he means Polaris.
Standing with Storm, Xavier joins her in gazing out of a window, at the desolation outside. Speaking his mind, he tells her that he keeps thinking what they are doing there. What good can they bring out of this horror? Turning to her former teacher, Storm replies that she arrived only three days ago. She has seen nothing but charred bones and the ashes of children. So far, she can only bring grief and pity. But something survived, the Professor counters. Everyone seems to think so. Unus, he points out, saw something.
Eyeing the floating spectral blobs outside, Storm asks Xavier if he believes in ghosts. Replying with a simple no, the Professor then adds that sometimes, he wishes he could. Answering differently, Storm tells the Professor that she thinks she does believe. Ghosts, she says, come in many forms. Taken a little by surprise, Xavier responds by asking that the two of them don’t get to talk often enough, do they?
Sitting around the dome’s conference table, Xavier tells the group that they only know one green-haired woman. Lorna Dane, he continues, would be able to generate the kind of magnetic field anomalies they have been recording. Playing the part of the cynic, Thunderbird counters by pointing out that they don’t know what they are. With respect, he adds, the previous X-Corporation relief team reported strange visual manifestations; figures that were seen, voices heard. His point having been made, Thunderbird offers the Professor some green tea.
Countering Thunderbird’s argument, Xavier points out that Unus wasn’t alone. They know that now. Addressing the rest of the group, the Professor informs them that Jean and he have become aware of several living mutant minds here on the island. Stepping in, Jean says that the minds are there for reasons they don’t understand. Which is why, she continues, she is suggesting a search party before it gets too murky to see… Stopping in mid-sentence, Jean draws the group’s attention to several luminous forms outside and asks what it is.
Eyeing the light source, the Professor tells the group that if Polaris is causing the magnetic displays, then she needs their help. The radiation levels outside are toxic and she couldn’t survive for more than a few hours. Chiming in now, Quicksilver informs Xavier that the X-Men are not the only mutants to have come there. There are people, he says, who think that his father survived the Sentinel attacks. Replying that he knows, Xavier tells Quicksilver that he’s seen the T-shirts. When asked by the Professor what he thinks, Quicksilver replies that he thinks that his father’s greatest trick is to be more dangerous dead than he ever was alive.
As the X-Men’s all-terrain vehicle climbs over the city’s rubble, Quicksilver informs the team that the area they are in used to be Magda Square. The Mega-Sentinel attacks, he then asks, were concentrated there on the Parliament buildings, right? Citing that this is where Magneto died, Storm asks if Polaris would not come there? After the Professor states that he senses something, a strange, troubling presence, Jean replies that it’s not a human or mutant mind, whatever it is. Noticing Xavier’s preoccupation, Storm tells the Professor that he looks like he has something on his mind. Replying that he does, Xavier tells her that he keeps glancing in the rear-view mirror. He doesn’t know if he’s imagining it or not, but it appears that there’s a face appearing on the huge, standing Mega-Sentinel machine…
Inside the helmets of the three-faced Mega-Sentinel, three mutants, hard at work, pause to regard their new guests. Reluctantly admitting that it had to happen, the Toad remarks that they were minding their own business, trying to pay their respects in their own way, and who turns up, but the mutant police. What happened, asks a claw-handed mutant, Unus show up drunk somewhere and turn them all in for beer money?
Replying that they are not the police, Xavier informs the three that they are not there to fight any of them, especially not there. This place, he tells them, has seen enough fighting. Wouldn’t they say so? Retorting that he is correct, the Toad tells the Professor to clear off while he still has the legs to trot with. Rising in a provocative stance, the third mutant squawks loudly, calling the X-Men “species traitors” and “human collaborators.” Jumping into the X-Men’s collective faces, the Toad asks Xavier, what now?
Flanked by his X-Men, the Professor tells the Toad to stand easy. They are only searching for one of their people, a mutant: Lorna Dane, Polaris. Informing the Toad that they think she is in danger, Xavier asks him if he thinks whether Magneto would want him to help them protect her. Now clinging to the side of the wall like his namesake, the Toad asks Xavier if he knows what Magneto had really wanted. All Magneto ever wanted, the Toad tells Xavier, was for him to admit that human beings were murderous scum. He only ever wanted Xavier to admit he was right.
Turning the conversation back to Xavier’s subject, the Toad tells the X-Men that he and his two colleagues, Shocker and Toad-in-Waiting (as he calls the teenage tosser) have all seen things… heard voices. Magneto, he tells the group, won’t let Genosha and Polaris die… not like they think. Speaking up, Shocker agrees, telling the group that he was outside, picking up scrap for the Memorial, when he saw the junk moving in patterns and rows all around her. She was gathering the dead, he informs them.
Putting together their surroundings with Shocker’s words, Jean begins to look around and asks what is happening here? Having finished examining the entire area in the last half-second with his speed, Quicksilver asks the three squatters bluntly if they have been building some kind of insane monument to his father?
Outside the Mega-Sentinel, whose middle helmet has indeed begun to bear the resemblance of Magneto, the X-Men take stock of their situation. Remarking that Quicksilver seemed quite eager to help in the construction work, Sabra then notes that these are strange times. The super-hero and the super-terrorist now work together to make art.
Calling the attention of the rest of the group, Storm informs them that the ghosts are back. Trying to fathom the floating, luminous, amorphous shapes, Storm rhetorically asks what they are. Voices, Jean replies, like repeated thoughts, all broken up. Fractured radio echoes. It’s not just one person, she continues, it’s crowds. Pointing in the direction her senses are telling her, Jean leads the group back into the ATV. The last to enter the vehicle, Storm asks Jean if she can see where the air is bending? The ghosts are all around them, sweeping in the same direction!
Arriving at Jean’s destination, the group finds Polaris, still alive. As she floats in a trance, numerous amorphous ghosts and various metallic fragments revolve around her, like the winds of a tornado. Exclaiming to the others that it is Lorna down there, Jean informs the team that they are inside her, millions. As they exit the vehicle and approach, Jean begins to hear their thoughts more clearly. One voice exclaims that, there is a big light outside and they have to see… Another wonders, what that noise was? A third thinks that they heard President Magneto speaking. The noise is… A fourth exclaims that they think they are blind. Yet another cries for their momma. One more says that they are like Sentinels. Bigger than any Sentinels ever…
Standing next to Jean, Thunderbird tries in vain to move forward. Exclaiming to the others that Polaris is acting like a magnetic pole, he tells them that she is repelling them. Concentrating intently, flames dancing in her hair within her helmet, Jean tells Thunderbird that she will need his help in a second. Right now, she says, she needs to concentrate on moving the corrosive sludge away from Lorna. On cue, the metallic debris orbiting Lorna is washed away in waves of Jean’s telekinetic tide. Her eyes glowing from the energy output, Jean tells the others that Polaris’ entire nervous system is overloaded. She’s carrying millions of magnetic patterns, the recordings of the last moments of Genosha. Addressing the Professor, Jean asks him what is going on in her mind?
Calling out of Storm, Xavier orders her to swoop down into Jean’s telekinetic whirlpool and rescue Lorna. As she rises back into the sky after grabbing Polaris, Storm alerts that she is safe; naked, safe and more than mildly deranged. Moving to the next phase, Jean tells Thunderbird that as he is the only X-Man completely immune to radiation poisoning, she wants him to find what Polaris was trying to get at under the surface.
Kneeling over the spot Polaris was hovering over moments ago, Thunderbird ignites his hands with his plasma powers. Citing that this is where the magnetic activity is the strongest, where the source is, Thunderbird begins to melt the ground with his plasma. As the ground liquefies, boiling at his touch, Thunderbird comments that it feels as if his dental fillings are coming lose from his skull. Suddenly feeling something, something he cannot identify, Thunderbird lifts the object out of his pool of slag. Examining a dark, black, rectangular box, he asks aloud if anyone can tell him what an aircraft flight recorder would look like.
Nearby, as Storm deposits her near the others, Polaris begins to lash out at the Professor. Still hearing the thoughts broadcasting from Polaris, Xavier exclaims that her consciousness is bursting open. As her magnetic powers reach out, attracting more metallic debris, the Professor calls to Jean and Storm for help. As the three gather around Polaris, they form the epicenter of a funnel of swirling debris, orbiting them. Comparing their task to an exorcism, Jean exclaims that they have to purge these forces from Lorna. Finally putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together, Xavier realizes the truth; Magneto put himself into the recorder. He recorded everyone! Nearby, as he brings the black box to the group, Thunderbird informs them that even he can hear the voices, millions of them.
Crying out in a combination of pain, grief and madness, Polaris exclaims that she has to boost the signal. Calling out “daddy,” she extends her arm to the face of the Mega-Sentinel. As the last words of the Genoshan dead continue to broadcast about her, Quicksilver speeds across the Sentinel’s face, adjusting metal plates and reshaping it into the image of his late father Magneto. Repeating that she loves him, over and over again, Polaris reaches out for the statue. As the face continues to coalesce, a voice begins to boom over the wasteland of the ruined city.
This is the voice, it says. This is the voice of Magneto. From within the head cavity of the Mega-Sentinel, Toad, Shocker and Toad-in-Waiting look up, attentive to the words of their fallen leader. This is the voice of the Genoshan Nation. Her dementia subsided, Polaris listens in rapture. It is a strange thing, to die in the darkness. Aghast at the events before her, Sabra asks aloud what is happening. Still holding the black box, Thunderbird replies that in the last moments of his life, he recorded everything. These are the last words of Magneto as he lay dying in the ruins. Professor Xavier, displaying no emotion whatsoever, listens on. It’s a strange thing to die. I was Magneto, the master of magnetic forces. Now I will be a voice in the darkness, echoing forever.
The Mega-Sentinel, still being transformed, begins to take a final shape. Bearing little likeness to the monstrosity that murdered so many, the giant robot now appears in shape, form and attire of the former ruler of Genosha. Once, I was a mortal man. Now I am becoming a memory, immortal. They must have thought they could silence us forever. Instead we have become magnetic. Unstoppable. During these last sentences, the giant monument rises out of the debris, now about twice as high as before. In tears, Polaris looks up at the statue she has just helped to create and calls out. She calls out to her dad, remarking that he saved them all on tape.
Do you understand? the voice asks. Our voices will be broadcast around the world… into space. At the speed of light. At the speed of radio. Our voices traveling without end though the depth of time and space. Beyond this life. And far, far… beyond this death.


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

[Assistant]
Dust
Standing in a snowstorm in the mountains of Afghanistan, Wolverine stands over a dozen dead soldiers, all of whom he has just killed. His bloodstained claws still unsheathed, Wolverine snarls at the only soldier still alive. Eyeing the Rapmund 429 pistol the young man is holding, Wolverine asks him what does it take to get them to listen to reason? Here he is, trying his best to honor the strict pacifist principles of the Xavier Institute, and here is a bunch of slave traders, filling him full of lead. Informing the young man that he can’t kill him, Wolverine tells him that if he gets stung by one more stupid bullet, he’s going to lose his hand, okay? Drop the gun, Wolverine tells him. After the soldier drops his weapon, Wolverine turns his back, calling him a wise man. As Wolverine walks away, he tells the soldier to tell the reinforcements he called to turn back. He’s feeling mean.
As the X-Man is leaving, the soldier picks his pistol back up and fires. The bullet grazes Wolverine’s jaw, as he turns at the sound of the gunshot. In a flash as swift as the wind, the soldier’s gun, as well as the hand attached to it, separates from the soldier’s body, falling to the ground. Looming over the shocked soldier, Wolverine shows his claws and asks him what was he thinking? “That guy doesn’t look like a deranged human killing machine with a hair trigger fuse?” Stammering and unable to form a single word, the soldier sits in near silence as Wolverine turns to leave again. Walking away, he tells the soldier to quit while he can still hold hands with his sweetheart.
Standing on a hill, Wolverine views the simple encampment, now in flames, that was once the headquarters of the slavers. Sniffing something in the air, Wolverine strolls down the hill to the compound. Entering one of the tents, the X-Man finds the decomposed remains of half a dozen people. Standing among the corpses and holding an unconscious woman clad in a burka, Wolverine finds a man, clad in a white trench coat with a costume and cowl to watch. Asked by Wolverine if he knows him, the man introduces himself as Fantomex, Europe’s most wanted super-thief, who is thieving as usual. Informing the X-Man that his Professor X and Miss Jean Grey ran into him recently on their way east, Fantomex suggests that perhaps it is they whom he smells on him.
After placing the woman upon the ground, Fantomex holds up a ledger to Wolverine, telling him that it contains the names and addresses of some of the richest people on the planet. The trade in mutant slaves, he informs Wolverine, joins the lowest with the highest. Can he imagine, he asks, what they’ll pay to keep their names out of the press? Horrified at Fantomex’s statement, Wolverine replies in surprise that he can think about money while women and kids are treated like furniture. Unapologetic, Fantomex retorts that he is only human. He is nothing like Wolverine’s “X-Men”.
Placing the ledger in an inside pocket of his coat, Fantomex wonders aloud to Wolverine how much money he would pay to learn the secrets of the Weapon Plus program… and his own lost past. As Weapon X, Fantomex tells Wolverine, he spent the best years of his life being tortured in the project laboratories, did he not… James?
Confused at the name, Wolverine asks Fantomex what he is talking about. Finally recalling the name, Wolverine tells Fantomex he is Weapon Thirteen, Ex-One-One-One, the latest state-of-the-art supersoldier, right? Replying evasively, Fantomex tells Wolverine that he will be hearing a lot more about that soon enough. In the meantime, Fantomex says, changing the subject, he didn’t kill these slave traders. Pointing to the still unconscious burka-clad woman, Fantomex tells Wolverine that the girl did. They tried to remove her burka and… something happened. The flesh was stripped from their bones.
Raising his arms, Fantomex quickly becomes engulfed in a concealing mist. Disappearing from sight, he informs Wolverine that he counts thirteen armed and inquisitive mercenaries heading this way. To this, he tells the X-Man he is sure he can talk some sense into them. As the mercenaries enter through the tent’s flap, Wolverine pops his claws and mockingly tells the departed Fantomex that he bets.
Several thousand feet above the surface of the Earth, a man on flight 1212 of Air India brandishes his pistol while holding tightly a woman he has taken hostage. Addressing the whole airplane, he tells them that in the name of the liberation of Kashmir, this aircraft is now a weapon in a righteous cause! Along with his two accomplices, the gunman makes his way to the cockpit of the aircraft. Mocking airport security, their x-rays and passports, he tells the passengers to stay in their seats and the captain to turn towards New Delhi. As he makes his way toward the cockpit, the gunman hears a voice of a man excusing himself. Turning to the man who has spoken, the gunman sees a middle-aged, bald man, sitting next to a young flame-red haired woman. Utterly calm in demeanor, the man rhetorically asks the gunman if those are wax guns, aren’t they?
Still holding the pistol to his hostage’s head, the gunman informs the passenger that he will kill the woman and then he will kill him. As the red-haired woman next to him returns to her book, the bald man tells the gunman that he will not. Now pointing the pistol at the passenger, the gunman tells him to shut up. Suddenly realizing something, the hijacker stammers the recognition that the passenger is speaking Pakistani. The rage subsiding in his demeanor, the would-be hijacker asks the man weakly what should they do instead?
His blue eyes transfixed on the gunman, peering into his mind as much as examining his features, the bald man suggests to all the gunmen if it wouldn’t be much better for everyone if they all turned around and walked back to their seats. They could just stay there until they land in Mumbai. As the former hijackers return to their seats as instructed, the man suggests to one of them, Mohammed, that disarming the bomb in his bowel might be a good idea too. Jean, he informs the man, could do that for him. She’s a telekinetic.
The crisis averted, the bald man turns to Jean and tells her that he’d just been reading about these so-called “dirty bombs”… To the rest of the silent passengers’ surprise, the three former-hijackers return to their seats and buckle themselves back in. Back at his own seat, the bald man picks back up the French news magazine he was reading moments ago. The cover of the magazine sports the man’s image, next to a caption identifying him as “Le Professeur X”. Returning his attention to the magazine, the Professor tells Jean that the world seems to get more dangerous every day.
At the Mumbai Airport, a crowd gathers around the bottom of the staircase, where the disembarking passengers are descending. Among them are a dozen Indian law-enforcement officials. Descending the staircase, Xavier is flanked by the former hijacker who had accosted him earlier. The gunman and his two accomplices, have their hands clasped behind their head in the surrender position. His arm on the former gunman’s shoulder, Xavier introduces him as Mohammed to the crowd below. He tells them that an hour ago, Mohammed was convinced that territorial injustices allegedly perpetrated by one tribe against another justified turning an aircraft into an atomic weapon and killing thousands of innocent people. They, Xavier continues, have had a talk since then…
After Xavier informs the crowd that he explained some of the destructive inconsistencies and contradictions in Mohammed’s thinking, Mohammed tearfully agrees. He tells the crowd that he doesn’t know what he’s been doing with his life. Taking the three hijackers into custody, the head official thanks Xavier, telling him that they are in his debt. Addressing the official by his name, Tajinder, Xavier informs him that he is a telepath and he can absolutely assure him that none of the men will never again use violence in the service of abstract ideas. Just as, Xavier continues, staring intently on Tajinder’s eyes, that he can assure them that they will not be brutalized in his custody.
Hearing someone calling out to him, the Professor turns to see the approaching Proudstar, Feral and Thornn, running at full speed. As Proudstar yells to the Professor to look out, far away, an unseen gunman centers Xavier in his rifle’s scope. Calling Xavier a monster, the sniper commands that he die, and squeezes the trigger. As the deadly projectile whizzes past her, Phoenix, already using her powers to sense the intricate world around her, telekinetically grabs it with a mentally constructed talon of fire.
Still scant moments from the warning, Xavier scarcely begins to grasp what his former student has done before being tackled to the ground by Proudstar. Identifying James Proudstar with surprise, the Professor informs him that he thought he was dead. Replying with a bit of dry humor, Proudstar retorts that it must have been someone else. Pointing a nearby building, Proudstar asks the rest if they can hear the breathing?
Examining the projectile from her mental fire-talon, Phoenix informs the Professor that it is not an ordinary bullet. Telling him to look at it, she tells him that she doesn’t even think it’s from this planet. It has a really weird molecular ringtone. More interested in immediate action than questions, Proudstar, Feral and Thornn leap through the window into the room of the sniper. Grabbing the sniper, completely covered in a hood and robes, Feral tells the others to help her, so they can see who’s underneath. Examining the sniper’s weapon, Thornn calls Feral a treacherous cow and tells her to help herself. Asking his teammates please, to have some dignity, Proudstar removes the hood, revealing Shi’ar Empress Lilandra, adorned in her battle armor. Her eyes red with rage, Lilandra struggles against her captors and screams the name of Cassandra.
Having left the airport on foot, Professor Xavier stands in horror. Looking on in dumbfounding shock, he realizes that his would-be assassin is Lilandra. Worse, she thinks he is Cassandra Nova. Trying to get the Professor’s attention, Phoenix points out an approaching car that, she says, has exactly the same molecular tone from the bullet. It’s not from here, she tells him. Still concentrating on the revelation of Lilandra, the Professor examines her unconscious form, which Proudstar holds in his arms.
Still holding the Professor’s ex-lover, Proudstar apologizes about this introduction to the Mumbai branch of the worldwide X-Corporation. They were going to all dress in their new costumes and sing the national anthem for a laugh. Handing Lilandra over to the Professor, he tells him that he thinks she is an alien and then asks him if he has any idea why she would want to assassinate him? Cradling Lilandra’s head in his hands, the Professor tells Proudstar that her mind is sick. She thought he was someone else… someone who hurt her badly. His face contorted in grief, Xavier asks her to forgive him. Standing in the back of the group, confused, Thornn asks the rest who the woman is. She missed that bit. Responding snidely, Feral calls her stupid and asks if she doesn’t read? She’s a space empress.
Stepping from the car that Phoenix had been studying moments before, three elderly men with beards, all exact in appearance, call to the Professor. Informing Xavier that the heavens are in turmoil, they tell him he must come with them. Judgment, one tells him, must fall on the planet Earth. Turning to the members of the Mumbai X-Corporation, Xavier informs them, with halting speech, that Lilandra is a woman from another world. She is his wife and consort. Jean, he tells them, will explain. Referring to the now four doppelgangers, Xavier tells the group that he’d better go with them.
Deep in the Mumbai X-Corp HQ, Wolverine sleeps soundly. Regarding the snoring X-Man, Sunfire tells the rest of the team that he was there when he returned from his mission in Russia and couldn’t be waked. Laying her jacket on a chair, Phoenix tells Sunfire that he’d better just leave him. He does that, she informs the group. His healing factor takes a lot out of him. Eyeing the sleeping man, Thornn asks the rest if it is indeed Wolverine. Sarcastically, Feral replies that one can tell by the stink of his jacket.
Looking around the room, Phoenix asks if Wolverine wasn’t supposed to have someone with him. Replying that he did, Thornn informs Phoenix that Wolverine left a message to say he was on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border rescuing some mutant refugee, but they had all headed out to meet her and the Professor. Changing the subject abruptly, Thornn points out that the Professor’s wife is a pretty good shot.
Blowing dust off of a Cerebra helmet, Feral apologizes for the place, calling it a disgusting mess. She tells Phoenix that she would clean it herself, but it seems so demeaning for a so-called super hero. Lowering her voice to a whisper, she adds that the Hindu Times called her a super hero last week. As Phoenix steps into the Cerebra chamber, preparing to don the matching helmet, Thornn comments to her that it is weird how they really love their old outfits here. Asia, she tells her, goes crazy for all the tight, spangly Bollywood costumes everybody else hates.
After replying that she noticed, Phoenix asks Feral what exactly she said was wrong with their Cerebra link? Shrugging her shoulders in frustration, Feral remarks that the main problem is that they have no telepaths worth half a damn in the X-Corporation Mumbai. That’s the bottom line. Asking her to take a look at them, Thornn tells Phoenix that they can’t even figure out the controls for the DVD! What chance do they have of starting up a sci-fi machine? Donning the Cerebra helmet, Phoenix tells Thornn her point is taken. It’s not all that difficult, she tells them, you just think into it and it finds mutants for you. Telepathically activating the machine, Phoenix tells the two that maybe she can kick-start their Cerebra… and track down the missing mutant.
As Phoenix begins her search, the rest of the group begins theirs, combing the X-Corp building. Remarking to the immobile Sunfire, his hands planted squarely on his hips, Feral tells him to not just stand there and tell everyone he’s using his special nuclear powers to do all the work. Sounding a little hurt, Sunfire begins to defend himself, informing her that he is using his special nuclear powers… Proudstar, receiving an update from the HQ’s sensors, informs the rest that the place is scanning free of all intruders. Digesting this information, Thornn remarks that the mystery mutant could be anywhere by now. If she even exists. Examining the still slumbering Wolverine, Feral suggests perhaps he ate her for lunch. Suddenly making a startling revelation, Feral informs the group that it is he! All of this dust, she tells the group, is coming off of Wolverine.
As the group gathers around the unconscious X-Man, Proudstar warns Feral to not touch him! Wolverine might wake up and kill her! Trying to warn Feral as well of her actions, Sunfire asks her if she is insane? He’s a samurai! Samurai? Feral asks. But he was on a search and rescue mission, she asks. Who did he rescue?
Smiling from beneath the Cerebra helmet, Phoenix sounds a triumphant “gotcha.” The missing mutant, she tells the group, is right there in the room with them after all. Asking Phoenix, who is emerging from the Cerebra chamber, if she is sure, Proudstar tells her that his senses are working overtime and there’s still only six of them there. Examining the dust, which covers sections of the floor, Phoenix tells the Proudstar that she’s not strictly biological right now. Are you, she asks the dust?
Crouching down and playing with her hair as she smiles, Phoenix tells Sooraya hello. It’s okay, she tells the dust. She is Jean. Jean Grey-Summers, and she is safe there. As the dust begins to rise into the air of its own accord, Phoenix tells it that they are the X-Men. They got her out of the camp. She is safe. As the dust now begins to coalesce into a single, cloudy mass, Phoenix tells her that she knows she is hungry. She can now turn back to human form now.
From among the dust cloud, bones begin to form, which quickly connect into a skeleton. Finishing the transformation, the skeleton becomes a woman, dressed from head to toe in a black burka, leaving only her green eyes visible. Speaking only a single word, she mutters “Turaab,” followed by a more emphatic “Turaab!” Not moving an inch in his nearby bunk, the now-conscious Wolverine informs the rest that it means “dust.” It, he tells them, is all she says. Now will everybody shut up? He’s trying to sleep. Saying hi, Phoenix tells Sooraya it’s okay. They’re friends. Everything’s going to be okay.
From behind the wheel of the Earth vehicle called a “car,” an elderly Shi’ar man, no longer disguised as human, tells Professor Xavier that they are there. It is time to say goodbye. The Empress Lilandra, he tells him, must be returned to her people. A little confused, Xavier asks Araki what’s going to happen here? After pointing out that he is Araki 6, the elderly Shi’ar adds that he’s only a messenger of the Empire.
Emerging from the vehicle, Araki regards the giant Shi’ar vessel, which has landed before them, and the Institute students emerging from it. Informing Xavier that they are returning his people to him, Araki adds that, for their own protection during this time, the Empire can afford no further contact with the mutant race. Stammering slightly, Xavier asks Lilandra what is happening. Looking deeply into the eyes of her former consort, with eyes that once again reflect sanity, Lilandra tells Xavier that he thinks he knows everything. He thinks it can all be set right with words and hopes. His words bordering on desperation, Xavier tells Lilandra that Cassandra Nova can do no more harm. He knows what she did disguised as he, but… her mind will heal… the Empire will prevail.
Averting her eyes as they hold each other’s hands, Lilandra tells Xavier that, through him, ruin came to them. Always, he brings ruin. The Empire is broken, she says. She is broken. How can she allow them to see her like this? Not broken, Xavier replies to his love. Dissolved. Changed to a new form…
Purposefully interrupting Lilandra and Xavier’s personal moment, Araki 6 informs his empress that the new emergency senate has decreed the withdrawal of all Shi’Ar citizens from planet Earth during the disinfection period. Breaking away from Xavier’s embrace, Lilandra tells him that he doesn’t know anything. It’s over. Gazing at Xavier with harsh eyes, Araki tells him that the mutant species has registered toxic levels of aggression. Nature itself, Araki tells Xavier, has chosen to deal with his kind. His marriage to Empress Lilandra is hereby nullified.
As Araki leads the tear-filled Lilandra into the space ship, Xavier, finally considering Araki’s choice of words moments ago, asks what he meant by disinfection. Not looking back, Araki reaffirms his use of the word. The Phoenix has hatched, he informs the Professor. And she is merciless.


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

[Assistant]
Kid &#937
(last night)Outside an upscale club in Mutant Town, NYC four-armed mutant and famous fashion designer Jumbo Carnation waves goodbye to the club's patrons, having decided to call it a night. Walking down the street, Jumbo tries in vain to hail a cab. He eventually stops when he finds himself surrounded by five youths. Greeting the group with a hello and calling them big, primitive humans, Jumbo asks them if any of them could help him find a taxi.
Speaking to the rest of his group, one youth tells the others that he was right. This is the guy. He was on TV, all over the news. He's famous. As the group encircles Jumbo, the leader holds up a piece of paper and asks the now frightened Jumbo if he would sign it. As rain begins to fall, Jumbo accepts the paper and begins to sign it, asking if he should put kisses. Without warning, the group attacks Jumbo, trying to bring him down. After a few moments, the leader exclaims in surprise that Jumbo's skin is turning into plastic! As the group makes quick their escape, another corrects the leader; it was just the skin on the outside. Now left alone, Jumbo can barely ask "why" as he struggles to take in his final breaths.
(today)Sitting in the back of the class in the Xavier Institute with his girlfriend draped over him, Slick, obviously one of the coolest students in the school, telepathically tells the class to listen up; Jumbo Carnation is dead.
Turning around in his chair, Quentin Quire, another student in the class and obviously not as "cool," begins to ask Slick what he said. Stopping abruptly in his question, the spectacle-wearing Quentin asks Slick if he minds getting out of his head? Referring to the brain encased in a transparent sphere on his desk, Quentin tells Slick that he's trying to concentrate on making anti-gravity floats for "Martha," okay? Unmoved less by his classmate's compassionate quest than his girlfriend, whose tongue is currently in his ear, Slick replies to Quentin that at least Martha's still alive and thinking about it. Jumbo Carnation is dead, the best mutant designer to ever live. Some bunch of human retards blazed him right outside the X-Factory in Mutant Town.
Realizing now what Slick had meant, Quentin grows quiet and lowers his head. The rest of the class, as well, grows quiet. Having captured the class' attention, Slick informs the rest that he's been working on some songs as a tribute. Picking up his guitar case with one hand, while his girlfriend continues to hang on his other arm, Slick tells the class that anybody who wants to see him perform them can check out the benefit gig after lunch. His announcement made, Slick tells his girlfriend, Tattoo, that it's time to leave.
Watching Slick and Tattoo walk down the hall through a window, Quentin scoffs. Talking to his friend, Herman, another mutant student with a transparent body, save for his skeleton and internal organs, Quentin theorizes that Tattoo only likes Slick because he looks cool - not because of what he is. Turning the statement around, Herman tells Quentin what Slick is; a super-cool guy with a guitar and leather pants. As an afterthought, Herman adds that he wishes he could be like Slick. Pulling a candy bar from his pocket, Quentin eyes the quintuplet Stepford Cuckoos sisters, commenting that there's cool.
When Quentin continues to stare, quietly repeating the name Sophie, Herman asks confoundedly, which one is Sophie? They're all four the same! Emphatically correcting his friend, Quentin tells him that there are five of the Stepford Cuckoos. Walking alongside Quentin, Herman taunts his classmate, asking him how much would he bet that Slick could get Sophie to drop her pants with the power of his mutant charisma? All four of them - and Miss Frost - behind the gazebo after Open Day. Five! Repeats Quentin. Five of them!
Emerging from the school itself into the Institute's grounds, Herman tells Quentin that if he keeps shoveling those chocolate bars, there'll be five of him to match them! Telling Herman to shut up, Quentin tells him that Slick's so charismatic he has to copy whatever it says in the latest glossy magazine. He knows nothing about real style. Pulling a folded paper out of his sweater pocket, Quentin tells Herman that he has there the coolest artifact of all time. Opening the paper up, Quentin reveals a newspaper with an article titled "Mutant Menace! Are they for real?" This, Quentin tells Herman, is the front page of the Daily Bugle on the day he was born. It's from around the time the first mutant started showing in public. Transfixed over the photo of a "mutant" lording over a helpless human, Quentin asks his friend to agree with him - it is awe-inspiring.
Judging the news article on his own, another student with red skin and spikes growing from his head, appropriately named Spike, promptly declares the story pretty whack. Comparing the "mutant" in the picture with the whip to Satan or Prince Namor, Spike cheers on the mutant with a "right on!" Responding analytically, Quentin tells Spike that this is what humans thought mutants were going to do to them. Turning his attention back to Herman, Quentin tells him, by the way, that chocolate makes you smarter.
Interjecting her own opinion as she walks by, a female student wishes aloud that if it were true; she'd be two Einsteins. Informing Quentin that he has a call from home, the girl suggests that he get a mobile, and then calls him a weirdo. Calling the girl Retarda, Quentin retorts that she should get telepathy. Turning his attention back to the article, Quentin declares that this insane pop art masterpiece will go on the common room wall as soon as he's done. His point made, Quentin goes to the public phone on the side of the building and promptly learns something surprising about his mother.
Saying Jumbo Carnation's name aloud, as if in testing its sound, Emma Frost guesses to her students that his parents didn't chose the name. Speaking in unison, the five Stepford Cuckoos inform their mentor that Jumbo was a mutant fashion guru, and a flamboyant young club entrepreneur. It's not the sort of thing they're normally keen on, they continue, but he made some lovely clothes for the X-Factory store; tentacle stockings, wing gloves. Admitting that it sounds fascinating, Miss Frost asks where she can meet this style prodigy. Expressing their disappointment through their glowing eyes, the girls inform Miss Frost that she can't, he's dead, murdered by humans and everyone's very cross about it.
Adding a post-script to their statements, they tell their teacher that they don't want Quentin Quire to be involved with the "Dance of the Planets" display on Open Day. There's something very creepy about him and his see-through mind. Or, counters Emma, could it be that he's Professor Xavier's prize pupil and their chief rival, hmm? Her hands still on her hips, Emma tells the girls that she's afraid she's much more interested in hearing about the misfortunes of Jumbo Carnation.
Standing over the chalk outline of Jumbo Carnation at the crime scene, the Beast declares that it smells delicious, he's ashamed to admit. The explosion killed him instantly and his internal organs were cooked inside his own Teflon skin. As Cyclops and a police detective look on, Beast tells them that Jumbo was a little drunk on vodka and orange juice and had been dancing all night. Amazed at the Beast's details, the detective asks can he really smell all that? Informing the two X-Men that this is his first all-mutant homicide since they assigned him to the new division, he asks them what the term for the crime is; mutantcide? In a low voice, reflecting his black humor, Cyclops tests out the phrase "homicide superior?"
Addressing the Beast by his given name, Henry, Detective Foster asks how he is. Not even waiting for a response, he informs Cyclops that Doctor McCoy here saved his wife and he during a super-terror meets woman-in-labor incident a few years back. Not remembering the incident, the Beast apologizes, telling Foster that all humans look alike to him. It's all save this and save that? Laughing at the Beast's humor, Foster tells Cyclops that he cracks him up. He was like that the whole way to the hospital, while driving a tank! Would he believe it? It's a dry humor.
Dropping to all fours, the Beast lowers his nose to the ground and begins to sniff. Speaking to the uniformed police, who are holding onlookers behind police barricades, Beast asks them if they could ask people to take photographs after he finishes. The light is distracting him. Glancing back, the Beast then adds no cigarettes, aftershaves or perfume, please. Stone-faced and stoic as ever, Cyclops tells Detective Foster that he didn't agree to having his picture taken for the press. He seriously hates having his photograph taken. He always comes out looking stiff and inhuman. Responding as dryly as possible, Foster tells him that the camera never lies.
His assessment finished and having risen to his feet, the Beast tells Foster to leave Cyclops alone. Turning to the subject at hand, the Beast informs the two that Jumbo's blood was contaminated, adding then that he'd like to take the empty inhaler they found on him to nose at. Complimenting the Beast on his work, Foster tells him that the inhaler probably contained a steroid called Hypercortisone D. As the two X-Men leave the scene, Foster yells out, telling "Henry" that he heard he came out gay. Well done! Not turning around, but definitely speaking to Detective Foster, Cyclops replies that he's not gay.
Sniffing the inhaler as they walk, Hank sounds out the name, Hypercortisone D. Telling Cyclops that this is the new drug he was telling him about, the Beast adds that the mutant kids are calling it "kick." He should listen to him more. Switching subjects, Cyclops asks Hank what is this nonsense? What? The gay stuff, Beast responds inquisitively. Telling Cyclops to "come on," Hank replies that he's challenging all kinds of stereotypes here! Really, replies Cyclops, more in statement than a question.
Starting with a quiet, okay, Hank admits that it all started as a cruel, calculated strike at Trish Tilby's fickle heart. He admits it. And it could have ended there, he continues, but his dear ex-girlfriend chose to prolong this ghastly game of emotional chess and leaked the "news" about his sexuality to the entire world's media. So, he thought, why not?
Now arriving at their ride, an X-Men helicopter, Cyclops reminds his friend of the problem; he's not gay. He tells his friend he knows he's not gay. So? Hank counters, he might as well be! He's been taunted all his life for his individualistic looks and style of dress - he's been hounded and called names in the street and he's risen above it. Nearly swearing aloud as he starts up the copter, Cyclops tells Hank that he loves him, but he's officially on the road to apocalyptic mind loss. No one, he tells him, but he is going to find this funny. Replying that he's as gay as the next mutant, Hank adds that he'd make a great role model for alienated young men and women. Why not? As their helicopter rises high above the city, Hank points out to Cyclops that he shouldn't talk about apocalyptic mind loss.
Telling his friend to never mind about him, what about Jean? As a doctor, what does he think of all of this "manifestation of the Phoenix" stuff? Pointing out to his friend that Jean is a grown-up Omega mutant, Hank informs Cyclops that on the Richter scale, she'd be a 12. If she were a mountain, she'd be Olympus Mons on Mars. Telling Cyclops he ran her through every diagnostic, Hank informs him that she's fine. Replying that he wants this to be true, Cyclops points out that one can't run a diagnostic for what Jean's experiencing. There aren't instruments to measure where she is.
Replying with sincerity, Hank tells Cyclops that as his physician and best friend, he thinks that he's projecting his own fears into Jean. He, Hank tells Cyclops, seems to be holding back a lot - more than usual. Jean will be home soon, he continues. Consider this a friendly warning, he says - and beware of late summer Frost, if he knows what he means. Funny, Cyclops replies.
Changing the subject again, Hank tells Cyclops that he caught a whiff of something back there that made him think about when they used to hang around the school library. Remember, he asks, while Warren and Bobby were out chasing girls? They were trying to be these really studious guys to impress Jean because she wore glasses. Recalling another memory, Hank asks his Cyclops if he remembers those little scrapbooks Professor Xavier used to hand out. Remembering them very well, Cyclops comments that, now they were bizarre. Evoking the memory further, Hank remembers that they had to learn to identify the colors for all the weird costumes the bad guys wore. Whenever life seems strange, Hank says, think about that.
Remembering one in particular, Cyclops remarks that Bobby used to have nightmares bout that weird pendant... who was that guy? El Tigre! Remarks Hank. Swearing aloud, he asks Cyclops if he can't still see those drawings with the beautiful water coloring? The idea of Professor Xavier sitting up nights hand painting those things scarred his psyche more than any actual mutant terrorist ever could. Having landed on the Institute grounds, the two X-Men exit their helicopter and walk back to the building. Bringing up the devastation of Genosha, Cyclops remarks that the old troublemakers don?t seem to bother, do they? Everyone's in shock.
Arriving at the Institute itself, the two are stopped by Emma Frost, with her Stepford Cuckoo students. Declaring that they have arrived just in time to become useful, Emma points out that some zealots have levitated a rather embarrassing tribute to man/mutant brotherhood and it is currently wedged in front of her classroom window. Making the leap to the window, several stories up, with a single bound, the Beast receives a compliment from Emma, who calls him a darling. Turning to Cyclops, Emma asks if Hank is not a darling, and then tells Cyclops that Hank's ten points ahead of he in the popularity polls since he came out all over the papers. Gathering around the visibly uncomfortable X-Man, the Stepford Cuckoos, in normal unison, asks Cyclops when Mrs. Summers will be back and then guess that he must be missing her awfully.
Having returned to the ground with the tribute, a gigantic model of the Earth, the Beast comments that some dark-wit has left a cigarette burn where the island of Genosha should be. He then adds that he doesn't know if this "Dance of the Planets" display can survive until Open Day. Now speaking to Emma directly, Hank adds that Jean sends her regards from Hong Kong, by the way. Declaring how generous that is, Emma adds that she was rather hoping for some expensive jewelry, but she supposes regards will have to do. Taking Cyclops by the hand and leading him inside, Emma tells him to tell her all about his adventures. Now left alone with the five sisters, the Beast asks them if they want to talk him through their plans for Open Day. Their eyes still transfixed on the departing Cyclops and Mr. Frost, the five girls reply that they won't have to talk, they'll just let him see them in his head. It'll be more perfect that way.
Sitting on the steps of the Institute with his girlfriend, Tattoo, Slick sings his tribute to Jumbo Carnation. As Tattoo plays the maracas, Slick plays his guitar. The lights went out and the heavens cried on the street where Jumbo dies. What kind of message can we send? When will the suffering end? Can man and mutant meet as friends? Or do all hopes and legends lie on the street where Jumbo died?
After quietly commenting to Quentin that the lyrics are pretty embarrassing, Herman makes an attempt at a sweet, but not-too-subtle hello to the beautiful, Tattoo. Chomping on his candy bar, Quentin tells Slick that he has a question: In what way, exactly, does this stupid performance benefit Jumbo Carnation or help to avenge his murder? Staring down Quentin with a glare of contempt, Slick asks Quentin if he has a point to make. Responding back with a question, Quentin asks Slick if he has any idea what happens inside when you find out you're not the person you thought you were? His own face contorting with loathing, as his left hand contorts into a claw-like fist, Quentin admits to Slick that he does. How about him?
As the rest of the on looking students' expressions turn to abject surprise and horror, Quentin's turns to satisfaction. His arms how crossed across his chest and a wry grin on his face, Quentin asks the others who wants to see Slick naked? As his girlfriend, Tattoo, recoils away from his outstretched hand, Slick stands revealed. Not the tall, slim, muscular hunk that he once was, Slick is now two and a half feet tall, with pointy ears, blue-jeweled eyes, and a barely human face.
Telling Tattoo that it is still he, Slick adds that he still loves her. When she does not move, continuing to assess the last few moments, Slick asks her what is she looking at? He's still the same guy! Finally making her decision, Tattoo uses her powers to form a word across her face, Loser, conveying her thoughts silently. Now gleaming with satisfaction, Quentin comments that it's all fake and illusion. That's what cool is, that's what charisma is. That's what everything is.
Reclining in his chair in his office, Professor tells Quentin that while he tests highly for super-intelligence, and those "antigravity floats" he invented has given Martha Johansson's brain mobility they never thought she'd have, he's not one of the Xavier Institute's most promising students. So you understand, Xavier tells Quentin, why it seems so out of character for him to humiliate another student in this way. To this, Xavier adds that Quentin is welcome to spend some time at the school's Pacific retreat.
Standing at military-like attention before the Professor, Quentin, with a tattoo on his forehead reading "Crazy Now," defends himself, stating firmly that he thinks Slick deserved it. Saying that he had a kind of realization, Quentin explains that he felt Slick was just betraying the ethos of the Institute by using deception. Nearby, standing next to the desk, the Beast points out that while Slick was a pain, no one got hurt. It was wrong, he thinks, to take away Slick's tangible ego. It took him a long time to overcome his shyness by building up an illusory self-image.
His eyes still staring straight-forward, Quentin retorts that Slick was a liar. And he doesn't need a retreat. He just needs a haircut. Telling the two teachers that he just found out today that he was adopted, Quentin informs them that it made him think about things differently. And sometimes, he tells Xavier, he thinks all that matters to him is being on television and telling everyone how wonderful his brave new world is. Well, he adds, he lives in that brave new world and it's not as shiny and perfect as he'd like to think. He's always selling this future that never arrives. He preaches Utopia, but he never delivers on this "dream" they keep hearing about.
Responding as calmly as he can, Xavier tells Quentin that he knows that nothing seems to make sense right now, but they didn't bring him here to lecture or punish him. There is another reason. After the Professor turns the conversation over to him, Beast holds up a set of papers and tells the young Quentin that he just wanted to bring up the fact that he noticed some anomalies in his blood test results. Right now, he informs the student, his brains is burning sugar fifteen times faster than normal. It's literally on fire, hence these big thoughts and ideas. Telling Quentin that they would like to put him on a mega-glucose diet and keep him observation, Doctor McCoy informs him that he may be experiencing a secondary mutation. Taken aback at this news, Quentin can only inquisitively repeat the word, observation?
Standing over the chalk-outline of Jumbo Carnation in Mutant Town, Quentin reads the spray-painted graffiti that accompanies it; "Mutant Scum. He deserved it." Replying to the departed Jumbo, or perhaps the person who wrote the message, Quentin remarks that everyone deserves it. The Professor's a fake, he proclaims to no one and everyone. Mom and dad are strangers. Everything's a lie. Pulling out an inhaler, Quentin adds that the drugs can't hurt him - can they? With this question, Quentin inhales some of its contents.
Noticing that a group of youths had kicked over some flowers left behind in dedication to Jumbo, Quentin's demeanor sours even more. Striding with resolution to the barbershop across the street, Quentin enters and sits down in the chair. Addressing his new customer with a smile, the barber asks Quentin what's it gonna be? The shaved look, he tells Quentin, is big on the streets. Telling the barber to forget it, that look is so out of date, Quentin informs him that there's this new thing.
Pulling the folded article he had shown the students at the Institute earlier that day out of his pocket, Quentin asks the barber if he sees this insane pop-art masterpiece and asks if he can cut his hair like the guy in the picture.


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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
Teaching Children about Fractals
Standing before five students of the Xavier Institute (and a brain, enclosed in a gravity-defying bubble), all disinterested in being where they are, the instructor of the class welcomes them to the special class.
Introducing himself, the instructor tells the class that his name is Xorn. As if in illustration to Xorn's words, his name is spelled in large letters in the blackboard behind him. Finishing his introduction, Xorn tells the class that while he is to be their teacher, he also wishes to learn from each of them.
Speaking up, a teenager with pink, shapeless features and a small, single, mechanical-looking eye, Basilisk, informs Xorn that he can "learn him to count." He forgot No-Girl in the roll call. "Just 'cuz she's totally conceptual," Basilisk points out, "don't mean it's right to ignore her." Surveying the room once more, Xorn calls out the roll... Angel, Basilisk, Beak, Martha, Ernst, Dummy. Noting that there is still no No-Girl, Xorn apologizes and suggests that perhaps she has gone ahead and waits for them outside. Grabbing his backpack, Xorn calls the students on. Let them learn from one another as they share the beauty and mystery of this great world together! As the students chuckle at the note taped to Xorn's back, which reads "jackass," Basilisk can barely manage to utter a mischievous "you bet, Mister Xorn!"
In the wooded hills, away from the Institute, the special class hikes through the trees. Huffing through the strain of the trek, the diminutive and aged-looking Ernst points out to Xorn that this is awful hard work. Concurring, Angel asks why everyone else gets to sit in class and watch mind movies? Speaking up, Beak suggests to Angel that maybe "special" equals "garbage." All of the freaks and losers, he adds, are now halfway up the mountain so no human has to throw up when the school's "Open Day" happens! Still moving, undeterred by the students' grumbling, Xorn replies that he is sure that he explained that they will be back long before Open Day. The hardest part of their climb, he tells them, is almost done now.
Trailing closely behind Xorn, Ernst asks if it is true that he was locked away for years and years? Martha, she informs him, said that he was locked in jail for something. Emerging onto the plateau at the top of the hill, Xorn replies that he was... once. Men chained him down in a great iron dungeon for many years - until the X-Men found him. Now, he says, it is his joy to walk these hills with their radiant stones and fertile living systems. Inside his head, where she and the others have a brain, he has a little star. He was bound in darkness but he never lost the freedom to dream. Replying that she knew, Ernst asks Xorn simply how did he pee? As Xorn considers this question, Basilisk, at the back of the line, manages a barely audible chuckle.
Addressing one of his students, Xavier agrees that, certainly, stereotypical portrayals of mutants have come a long way since he founded the Xavier Institute. But, Xavier adds to the student, in light of their efforts to heal the split between humans and mutants and, especially in the context of the upcoming Open Day for both races, let them says that his mode of dress seems somewhat deliberately... provocative. That's all.
Quentin, the focus of Xavier's carefully worded assessment, explains that his clothes, the red and black striped sweater over a buttoned shirt, matched with blue pants, are part of a creative history project. He thinks, Quentin continues, that it is time young mutants reclaimed some of the offensive imagery produced by bigots and propagandists in the mass media. Standing up, Quentin adds that he wanted to use Open Day to make a strong, confrontational statement about how far they've all come from those dark days of persecution. That's all.
His countenance belying no true response, Xavier admits to Quentin that his look certainly has the desired effect. Where possible, however, he declares that they prefer to examine non-confrontational pathways. Interjecting with a snide comment, Emma Frost informs the Professor that their young Mister Quire thinks ten million brilliant thoughts per second. The rest of them can't seem to keep him distracted with their shallow and grubby paddlings through the minds of the rich and undignified.
Replying that Miss Frost is correct, Xavier tells Quentin that he has changed considerably in recent weeks. Replying innocently, Quentin asks if that isn't the point of their education? Butterflies and caterpillars and all that stuff from their very first lecture. All he's done, Quentin explains, is see things from a higher perspective. All he's done is grow up a little. Countering that they are all very proud of him, Xavier tells Quentin that, in three days time, the Institute is opening its doors to humans and mutants alike and he would prefer to avoid confrontations. But, he says, changing the subject, this is actually not why he stopped by.
Holding up an inhaler, with a red, circled X on it, Emma replies that this is the reason. Instructing the class to own up, Emma tells them the Professor wants to know if any of them naughty Bohemian boys and girls have been "on the puff," as they say in the local discos. After a moment of stark silence, Quentin, more stone-faced than before, tells Xavier and Emma that this is ridiculous. He actually has a more important question. If his clothes are provocative, doesn't it follow that it's more provocative to invite humans into a school filled with vulnerable mutants? Didn't humans provide the weapons which just killed sixteen million of their people in Genosha? Didn't they just murder one of their greatest artists, Jumbo Carnation? They live under constant threat, he concludes.
Borrowing the inhaler from Emma, Xavier holds it up and informs Quentin that this is an immediate threat to all of them. He is not there to tell him or anyone else what to do, Xavier tells Quentin. However, they all have reason to believe that this stimulant known as "kick" is a neuro-toxin. Using these inhalers may irreparably damage the mutant X-Gene. Arm yourselves with information, Xavier concludes. Think before you act.
Not finished himself, Quentin tells the Professor that there's one more thing. He doesn't know if he realizes it or not, but his clothes are based on designs by the late, afore-mentioned Jumbo Carnation. Tired of the exchange, another student tells Quentin to shut up. He was having the best day of his life in Hugh Hefner's head until he started up! Not turning to address his critic, Quentin informs him that, as maybe he has not heard, Jumbo was murdered in the street the other night. Addressing the whole class now, Quentin informs them that Jumbo dreamed of seeing mutant models on the Paris fashion catwalks. He dreamed of having his talent accepted. Just like he dreams of a world where he doesn't have to live side-by-side with Jumbo's human murderer.
Still unmoved, Xavier points out that just because some birds are irrefutably black... it does not follow that all birds are blackbirds. He, Xavier tells Quentin, is falling into a logical error. Replying that he was just testing, Quentin claims that he was only playing devil's advocate. Pointing out to Xavier that he has always encouraged them to dream, Quentin wonders aloud what would happen if one of them had a dream that he didn't like?
Later, lounging in a dorm room, a group of students converse with Quentin. Referring to Quentin's bravado with Xavier, Glob Herman asks the two other guys about the "basketballs" on this midget. Holding an outfit exactly the same as Quentin's, Radian asks what's up? Glob's been telling him what he did in the Professor's telepathy class. Dismissing the incident as nothing, Quentin replies that Xavier's just a bald guy. "Some birds are blackbirds," he repeats, mockingly.
Holding out another red and black striped outfit, another student, Redneck, asks Quentin if he's trying to humiliate him with this getup. Bluntly telling his classmate to shut up, Quentin informs him that they are a gang. They all wear the same clothes. They want others to copy them. Ask Tattoo, he then adds, she's cool. Cool? Tattoo asks striding in the room with presence. Super zeitgeist, she says, she is that Blackbird! Already adorned in the same "uniform" as Quentin, the striped sweater, blue pants and bullwhip, Tattoo lacks only the dress shirt beneath the sweater. Telling Quentin that he's gone to the next level, she exclaims that he scores!
Pointing to his prized newspaper article clipping, Quentin points to the picture their uniform reproduces. The uniforms are based on what humans thought mutants might wear, when they were most scared of them, he informs the group. That's where Jumbo got the idea and that's where he got his ideas. Squinting his eyes in cold rage, Quentin tells the others that they are going ahead with this. They are going to make people scared again. In dramatic punctuation to his speech, Quentin takes a deep breath from a "Kick" inhaler he has been handling for the last few minutes.
Reeling from the drug's effect, Quentin informs the others that it lasts for five hours. One puff enhances your mutant talent up to five times. Excited by the idea, Tattoo asks for the inhaler and Quentin tosses it without a thought. Examining the look of satisfaction and power on Quentin's face, Radian asks what it is like. He's never done anything like this before. Gritting his teeth in a wild grin and clenching his fists in a show of strength, Quentin replies that it rots your X-Gene and kills you dead. As Radian voices his wish to try it, Quentin repeats the question. What's it like? It's like breathing the electric air of the future!
It is night in the section of New York City called Mutant Town. Five youths, the same who killed Jumbo Carnation days earlier, walk through the light rain. Continuing in their conversation, one youth informs his friend that "Juggernaut" is a mutant band... he hates mutants. Yeah, the second agrees, but they have some cool bands. Interjecting, a third agrees, pointing out that mutants have some great bands. They've got "Sentinel Bait" and "Cerebrastorm"... A fourth, the leader of the group, interrupts, telling them that he hates mutants, okay? Before the conversation can go further, the group stops dead in their tracks, having noticed something in the alley they were passing.
Standing in the alley are four teens and a large creature, whose transparent, globular body shows it's skeleton and internal organs. All are wearing red and black striped sweaters and blue pants. The apparent leader of the group, a young man with his head shaved, except for a pink-dyed mop on top, purses his lips in a sneer. Breaking the silence with a "now then," the leader, Quentin Quire, asks what's that they hear?
After a few snide comments from the gang, Quentin dismisses it all as low opinionating and disrespect from apes who can barely think in their own language. You know when you had that big idea in your head to walk past this alley? Quentin asks. He put it there. Goading the thugs on, Quentin tells them when they're all buried they'll bulldoze their houses and call it Mutantville.
Suddenly, the street gang runs forward, its leader screaming a battle cry, calling Quentin's gang dead. Calmly, Quentin raises a leg, kicking the gang leader in the stomach. Simultaneously, Tattoo and Radian tackle two others, pulling them down. Breaking out his bullwhip, Quentin whips the gang leader, who recoils in pain. Nearby, Glob Herman suffocates another thug with his massive hands, while Redneck applies his heated hands on another. Asking the youth if he can feel that, Redneck informs him that it's a full-on, six bar, electric heater! Tattoo, having moved behind the fifth and final gang member, phases her hand through the youth's back, which emerges through his chest. As the youth's eye widen in silent pain, Tattoo tells him to shhh! It's a heart attack, baby, she informs him. Shhh...
Dealing with the final standing thug, Quentin unleashes a very radiant telepathic assault, informing his victim it is for Jumbo. Examining the remains of Quentin's unconscious prey, Redneck asks Quentin what did he do to this guy? What did they just do? Opening a can of spray paint, Quentin replies that he carved his name right across his memory. Snuggling up against Quentin's shoulder, Tattoo tries to get his attention. As he spray paints a large Omega symbol on the alley wall, followed by a large X beneath it, Tattoo asks Quentin if he would like to go somewhere warm. "Like Hell?" he asks. They've only started, he tells Tattoo. They avenged one mutant with sixteen million to go. Exiting the alley, Quentin points out that that's more than just a five-hour trip.
Standing before a podium, Xavier addresses the Institute's student body. The surviving youths, he tells them, say a gang of young mutants were responsible for this appalling attack. The survivors reported "odd" clothing. Striped shirts. Informing the students that he knows how some of them feel about this "Jumbo Carnation" case, the Professor tells them that the Xavier Institute does not tolerate vigilante assault. The aura of unrest in the school is becoming unacceptable. Certain fashion items will no longer be welcome there.
Speaking up, Quentin, wearing a "Magneto Was Right" T-shirt, points out to the Professor that he taught them to think outside the box. They all receive two hours of martial arts instruction every day. Surely they can be trusted to express themselves without hurting anyone?
In the Headmaster's Office of the Xavier Institute, a meeting has been called. The office, lacking walls, ceiling or floor, sits amid a sea of white calculations, notes and doodles, written against an infinite blue background. Within this office, the only thing of substance, with the exception of the assembled faculty, is the desk upon which's front Xavier is sitting. In attendance are Emma Frost, Jean Grey, Wolverine and Cyclops (all sitting in non-existent chairs) and the Beast, who has chosen to stand.
Addressing his staff, Xavier informs them that Quentin Quire discovered he was adopted and the news appears to have shaken his sense of identity somewhat. From prize student to agitator, he comments. And his telepathic talents are deep, subtle and he's able to influence minds around him. These clothes and these angry slogans are just the outward signs - he's developing a small cult following with a dangerous anti-human undercurrent. If any of our students are found to be involved in these latest killings... Xavier trails.
Speaking up, Cyclops remarks that he can't believe that they're seriously talking about rewriting the new mutant charter to give kids a vote. Interjecting next, Emma comments that she'd give them a slap! Discipline is disintegrating, Charles, she declares. Leaning forward on his absent chair, Wolverine notes that the kids are just testing their limits. If they want his advice, Wolverine tells them, contain the damage, wait until they grow out of it and don't act like a jerk. Maybe, Cyclops states, adding that he's more concerned they could be watching the birth of a super-criminal right before their eyes. Children need rules. They need role models and limits before they can rebel. They'll have no respect for them if they just let them do whatever they want. Or, he concludes, they could just let Wolverine counsel them.
Jumping back in, Wolverine retorts that he's only talking about life. Trust him, he tells the group. People don't change much from one generation to the next. He doesn't need telepathy or a psychology degree. He watches people. He stalks them. They've got habits, same as every other beast that ever lived. The kid's feeling raw and vulnerable - he doesn't know who he is anymore, so he's recreating himself, complete with some half-baked manifesto.
Across the room, Jean agrees, adding that she will be back from Hong Kong as soon as she can. Compassion is all very well, Emma proposes, but shouldn't they just attribute young Mister Quire's "re-creation" to the most obvious source? Holding up an inhaler, Emma informs the group that it is Hypercortisone D. Also called "Kick" by the kids, God bless the little dears, it makes them feel like movie starts being directed by God on location in Heaven. Reporting his own experience with the drug, the Beast informs the group that it's been linked to six deaths in the mutant community. Verifying McCoy's statement, Emma remarks that they found this dispenser outside the common room window. She's tried it, of course, Emma admits, in the interest of science. After placing it on the desk and considering it for a moment, Emma tells them that she felt angelic and violently insane for five hours. She foresees trouble if this becomes widespread.
At their camp in the woods, Ernst, trailed by the floating Martha, returns with a pile of branches. Her task completed, Ernst asks Mister Xorn if they can't go home to the mansion now. Placing some of her branches onto a mound of others, Xorn points out that they have only just gathered their dead wood. Telling her to step back, Xorn ignites the mound with a blast of energy from his helmet. The fire now burning, Xorn warms his hands by the blaze. They are the heat and the light in the forest, he tells the class. Without them, this is only a place. With them, it becomes an adventure.
Calling out to Mister Xorn again, Ernst tells him that No-Girl says she needs to go into the bushes, so somebody else better keep Dummy moving before she blends in to the environment. Apropos of nothing, Basilisk tells Xorn that he looks like a total serial killer. Innocently toasting his marshmallow, he asks Xorn what crime did he commit to get slung into jail? Nearby, Angel taps Beak on the shoulder and motions with her head and thumb to follow her into the woods.
Crime? There was no crime, Xorn states. Staring into the star-filled sky, he tells them that he became strange and different. Like them, his difference made him a target of ignorance and fear. Different, Basilisk mutters. Chuckling to himself, Basilisk adds that Xorn probably means "gay."Some distance away in the hills above them, Xorn and the students are being watched through night vision goggles. Viewing the group as brightly as if it were day, their watcher rhetorically asks what they have there?
In a parlor shop called "Mutatoo" in Mutant Town, the shop keep puts the final touches on his work. It is the omega symbol over a wide "X." Now finished, the shop keep asks them to let him guess... they're some sissy, Emo band. Walking away from his stool, he then postulates they're suburban Neo-Nazis or frat boys on dope. Examining his freshly inked tattoo on his left forearm, Redneck exclaims that he told them this is what they'd look like! What did he say? They're gonna look like a bunch of frat boys!
Dismissing Redneck's fears, Quentin replies that he will tell him who they are. Everyone's heard of the X-Men, right? Well, they're the next generation, like on TV. Pulling out his Kick inhaler, Quentin adds that they are the improved version and then takes a deep breath of the inhaler's contents. They, he tells the group, are the new X-Men.