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Loss
Images of a life from birth to death. Cable, Professor X states and returns the memories to the resurrected Nathan Summers.Xavier hopes the resurrection process wasn’t too arduous. Cable jokes that the yolk gets everywhere but his T/O load is back to normal levels and he sees they installed the stealth arm as instructed. The Five work to order, his adopted daughter Hope jokes. Just do her a favor and don’t come here again for a while.“Hey junior!” comes a voice from the entrance. Cable assures his daughter he will do his best, but John here might have other ideas. He might, John Proudstar agrees. Time they had a little talk. Hope bristles but Cable assures her it’s fine. He’s in the mood for a little post-resurrection workout. He suggests to John that they settle this away from the delicate business of the Five, and the two men leave.Hope asks if Proudstar was always such a jackass. He was always troubled, Xavier replies, and while he won’t spy, he can’t help but worry about him. The world has moved on without him.Outside, Cable chuckles that Charles is worried about him. Baldy and his savior complex, John scoffs. Ready to get down to business, junior? Cable activates his stealth arm, which shields them from all forms of surveillance including telepathy, while broadcasting a deep-faked stream of John cursing him out - extrapolated form their encounter in the Red Lagoon. He praises John for his realistic performance. John retorts he wasn’t acting. He meant every *§$% word. Cable and Frost used his younger brother Jimmy for their wars! And yeah, he wasn’t there. But he is here now! And he says there will be consequences as soon as they fry the bigger fish! What is he looking at? he belligerently asks someone else.He's looking at all the testosterone floating about, Eden Fezi replies. They gonna talk Brand or what?SWORD Station two, the KEEP:Storm is paying a visit to Abigail Brand, demanding what her game is. She refers to Vulcan’s challenge of Tarn, which is meant to go on this night. Brand plays innocent. Storm scoffs that, out of all the Seats on the Great Ring, Vulcan challenges for the Seat of Loss, the seat with the least cachet. If Vulcan was doing the thinking, he’d challenge Isca or take another shot at Storm. And he’d lose, Brand smirks. He knows that. Storm warns he will lose against Tarn. She didn’t, Brand retorts. Storm explains that Tarn was arrogant in their battle; he thought stealing her powers gave him room to gloat. Now he knows better. Instead of gloating, he now kills with a single thought.Brand asks if she is worried that Vulcan will lose or if she is worried, he might win? Should that be a worry? Storm retorts. What does Abilgail plan with one of her people on the Great Ring? Their people surely, Brand stresses. Vulcan is Krakoan. Krakoan royalty, she hears. And Shi’ar royalty, as well…Storm replies that the Shi’ar won’t even acknowledge that he exists or ever existed. And there is the little matter of Empress Xandra being on the throne. Of course, silly her, Brand simpers. But once he put down Arakko’s most hated mutant like a dog, she imagines he will be royalty here as well. Someone has to be after all, she needles. Storm stalks away and Brand calls after her that she will see her in the audience.Storm heads to meet her fellow Brotherhood members, Magneto, Sunspot and the Fisher King at Magneto’s Autumn Palace. The Fisher King agrees with her that Tarn takes no risks these days. He’s faced more challenges than ever, since she fought him. People thought they smelled his blood on the Circle floor, but it was their own and it spills by the gallon. In his opinion, this Vulcan is dead already. Sunspot retorts that Krakoans make a habit of surviving the impossible. Vulcan especially. If he wins? “A good if to if about,” Fisher muses. Tarn took the Seat of Loss to hurt the Arakkii. To signal their defeat. Who kills him will be a hero to them. It should have been her, he tells Storm, who replies that it would have lessened her. Tarn yielded. And he will again, with the right pressure.Does that need to come from Vulcan though? Sunspot wonders. Anyone can challenge a member of the Ring anytime. Helps to be an omega though, he hints heavily.Absolutely not! is Magneto’s answer. Killing Tarn would be no moral quandary for him, but to put him, another Krakoan, in his place to push Arakko in the direction they want it to be-- How does that make their Brotherhood different from Brand’s? Fisher King points out, he isn’t on Krakoa now, or in orbit, frowning at them. He built a home here and built it with an open door. He fought beside them, not above them. They see him. He has a place in the broken land. They don’t say that if it is not so.Magneto thanks him for that and for his friendship. But, even so, does his sole voice give Magneto the right to act for a whole world?Storms shares his doubts and believes Tarn’s blood on his hands would lessen Magneto as well. But Tarn is a living reminder of a dark past, a thorn in the paw, causing Arakko pain as long as he remains. While she doubts Brand’s motives, removing Tarn from power could make a difference here. Perhaps they owe it to this world to try.Magneto accuses her of sounding like Charles. He asked Magneto to try. To work with him… make a difference. So he did and together they built a nation. And then he watched his daughter Wanda build a heaven. The Waiting Room – that lets them resurrect all mutants. Even mutants who died before their mutant gene activated are waiting in that room.He smiles slightly, recalling the hope that brought him. He thinks of Wanda as his child, but she wasn’t his first. His daughter Anya… he struggles to say it, who he could not save… who died by fire. He is silent for a moment then reveals that Anya had no mutant gene. He will never see her smile again, never hear her laugh. Tears run down his face as he admits that for him their very heaven is hell. Ororo is on the Quiet Council. She knows the betrayals they suffered. The whole bloody business. But that was what finally broke him. That after everything. No more councils, no more utopias. He no longer has the heart.Calling him “headmaster,” Roberto challenges he doesn’t believe him. Magneto silently glares. Roberto clarifies that maybe he wants to quit. To rest in peace. But what he wants to do and what he can do are two very different things. Ask him how he knows. Magneto stalks away, announcing he doesn’t know him at all!Sunset at the Circle Perilous:The duel between Tarn and Vulcan is about to begin. Brand watches via satellite feed. She mutters, Gabe can do this. She trained him for it!In the Circle, Tarn muses aloud he thinks he will melt Vulcan and paint a canvas with the goo. Immortalize him in art as well as their silly Krakoan eggs. He was never in an egg, Vulcan replies, he never died!In the audience, Roberto takes a seat next to Isca. She addresses him as Ororo’s bartender friend. He replies he has heard she always wins. At everything. They say love is a battlefield. It is how she does it, bartender, she smirks.Storm finds a bored-looking Khora of the Burning Heart in the audience. She asks if Khora is still working for Brand. Khora explains her weapon is enhancing others’ weapons. She is not useful here. She misses being useful. Does Storm want her for her faction? If Khora will have them, Storm replies, but they will speak of this another time. Khora has been watching a lot of these fights. Does Vulcan stand a chance? Khora grimly replies she watches so she can see Tarn’s death, but it hasn’t happened yet. He’s a weapons thief and a bodyshaper and he doesn’t waste time with either, since his duel with Storm. So she’d call Brand’s man a dead man, but he is Brand’s man and Brand wouldn’t send him to this without teaching him something.Ora Serrata gives the sign for the fight to start. A burst of energy separate both combatants. Afterwards, Tarn feels mindblind. Vulcan announces part of his gift is siphoning energy. Any energy if he is taught how to do it, and he has been. He can eat mutant power. As Tarn was stealing Vulcan’s gift, he did the same to him. Very clever, Tarn admits, but he learned a lesson from the Krakoans lately about gloating over a weaponless foe. Allow him to apply it…Khora grins as she realizes they are both weapons thieves. Now they have a fight!The far more muscular Tarn jumps to attack Vulcan, who dodges his blow.In the audience, Robert asks if this stratagem would work on Isca. She replies that the power cannot be shut off. She cannot lose. Funny, Roberto smirks, neither can he. Even when he does. Annoyed, she orders him to speak sense. How can you lose without losing?In the ring, Vulcan shouts slurs at Tarn as he hits him in the face. He orders him to kneel before his rightful king. Even a glint of the glory within this shell would strike him blind! What does he have, Tarn the malformed, to match his fire?Face tentacles is the reply, as one of said tentacles grabs Vulcan’s fist, which was about to strike again. Now Tarn strikes – hard.While Vulcan is baffled, Tarn criticizes that he is allowed to bring non-mutant weapons. Didn’t he even bring a knife? Who taught him how to fight? Oh wait, he thinks that he heard the tale: he was emperor of the bird people, with their hollow bones. He grabs Vulcan’s wrist and breaks it. And he is king of them still, or so he rambles, because he never died. Vulcan screams in agony. There’s first time for everything! He slams Vulcan’s head to the ground and strikes again and again. Storm looks horrified, Khora bored, Brand interested.With bloody hands, Tarn announces to the audience the challenger is dead! Tarn the Uncaring sits in the Seat of Loss. Praise Tarn! He is the one who never dies! Have they not learned that? What will it take for them to learn? Who will be the next to challenge him?He will, a voice comes from the sky. Magneto stands in the air, his helmet floating next to him.He knew it, Roberto grins.Magneto addresses Tarn. He wanted to turn away. To ignore Tarn’s stain on the planet Magneto gave life to. But what he wants to do and what he must do are two different things… so he offers a formal challenge. Here and now. Let him think about it, Tarn replies with a sinister grin, his eyes glowing.In the audience, Isca muses that Tarn’s powers are returning. He will stall another moment, then slaughter the old fool. Sadly, he has to agree, Roberto announces. He bets her Tarn wins. Shocked, Isca jumps up and goes for his throat. She will kill him! she shouts. Storm tries to reach them and shouts at Isca to put him down. That is how you lose without losing, Roberto groans with a grin. Challenge by insult! Isca shouts and breaks his neck, then screams in rage. She drops the body.Storm shouts she has gone too far. Isca suggests Storm fight her then. She can never lose! Didn’t they hear what he did? She fought beside Tarn for a thousand years! She shouts, tears in her eyes. She knows him better than any of them. It shouldn’t be like this! She can never lose!Hearing the commotion, Magneto turns around. Ora Serrata announces there was a challenge by insult. No crime was committed. She orders him to turn his attention to what matters. She asks Tarn if he accepts or yields. Tarn replies that he accepts the challenge. His eyes glow as he uses his powers, but so does Magneto. He controls his helmet to fall onto Tarn’s head.Tarn tries to tear it off, realizing he cannot use his power.Magneto explains the helmet blocks psychic powers. And it’s made of metal. He tells him good-bye… this blood on his hands he accepts.Not like this! Tarn pleads. Before he can yield, Magneto crushes the helmet and the skull underneath it. And he accepts what comes with it, Magneto continues. Magneto now sits in the Seat of Loss!


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[Assistant]
Three Short Stories About Death
Planet Arakko: the Great Ring:Ora Serrata announces that Magneto takes the Seat of Loss. And they must ask the most obvious question: What is the meaning of loss? What is the meaning of death?In the Circle, to lose is to yield or to die. If you rise again after death, it makes no difference to the loss. If a member of the Great Ring falls in the Circle and were to lose their life and resurrect, they would not regain their seat. These questions are as old as the White Sword’s army of risen dead. The new Krakoan age does not give them new answers. The Arakkii do not desire resurrection. That is the way of the White Sword, not theirs. They are not afraid of a life that ends. But they are aware that life may end, even those that do not age may lose their lives in the Circle. They understand the potential cost of their high position. And so they weigh each decision with care, knowing they may be challenged and it may be their last.No one should be immune to death, for who faces the challenge without feeling the risk? A poor ruler. The Arakkii way is to keep an open door to everyone, including the Kraokans with their weak desire for a life without the risks of life. But should that welcome include an open door to serve on the Great Ring? Krakoans have a place in the broken land, but they must decide if they have a place on the Great Ring.Magneto summarizes that Ora says leadership must demand sacrifice. To lead a people, one must be prepared to lose, and lose everything. He pointedly asks Isca the Unbeaten if she has an opinion on that. With a smirk, she retorts she could debate the necessity of loss. And she’d win that debate as she wins all things. Magneto cooly replies he is aware of her latest “victory” against one of his students. While his back was turned…Is he sure he wants to bring that up? she asks, her smile gone. How he is only here because DaCosta used Isca’s power to cheat? Ora Serrata interjects that Magneto won using his chosen weapon. No law was broken. If DaCosta speaking a few words to her could undermine that… perhaps he is not the problem.Isca warns her not to cast her evil eye at her. She may go blind! As for Magneto’s student, he is a Krakoan. They don’t die like Arakkii do. That’s the point of this meeting. He is probably back already.Arbor Magna:A yet mindless Sunspot breaks from the resurrection egg. He looks up to see Rockslide standing there. Jean Grey telepathically returns Roberto’s memory and personality to him.The Great Ring:Lodus Logos asks Isca if she dies like them. Of course, she can die, she blusters. She always wins but she is sure a poet like him can find victory in death. But not in the Circle Xilo interjects. Can Isca ever be removed from the Seat of Victory? Isca replies, when Genesis returns. Or better, when they return to her. This is her sister’s seat. She only keeps it warm.A throne on Arakko then, Magneto observes. Ororo would have something to say about that. She is sure she would if she were here, Isca sniffs. Where is their gracious queen? Elsewhere, Magneto replies. She is letting him speak for both of them. They are of one mind on this. Elsewhere? Isca demands. Magneto explains, she is the voice of Sol. Designated diplomatic spokesperson for the solar system. Sometimes things come up.Storm is currently at a Shiar emergency meeting at the Proscenium.The attendees include Oracle of the Shi’ar Imperial Guard, Emperor Dorrek VIII aka Hulkling of the Kree-Skrull Empire, the Black Panther (via hologram), Orbis Stellaris (representing the Rim Worlds) and Nova (representing the Guardians of the Galaxy).Storm enters and sees the hologram form of her former husband. Still the ruler of Intergalactic Wakanda, she sees. He considers it a transitional phase and tells her it is good to see her. She is missing important business on Arakko for this, is her cool reply. Magneto knows where she stands, but she’d rather be there in person.Still, it gives them an opportunity to talk, T’Challa points out. They had said no more secrets and then he learns about mutant resurrection from the Daily Bugle. Did Gentle not keep him informed in his reports? Storm shoots back. It was never about state secrets. She didn’t want the Galactus Protocol or the backdoor codes for Kimoyo. She just wanted the man she still loved not to lie to her face. Instead, he put a sleeper agent on Arakko, because he figured she was too stupid to figure it out. She gave him a chance to come clean. Instead, he chose to continue playing his great game. She won’t live on his chessboard! He admits neither would he. Still, the game goes on. Shall they?They stand before the entry to the chamber. They are the last to arrive. Oracle greets them and gets to the point. Shi’ar empress Xandra Neramani is dead. Oracle explains she heard her psychic scream as she died. The entirety of her being broadcast to the void as she perished. She saw her whole life and then she was gone.Hulkling asks that not even the Shi’ar know? Oracle explains Deathbird is missing, but she put the protocol into place. In the case of Xandra’s death, they shore up support with their most important allies, before they inform the people or even fellow Super Guardians. Because, when the knowledge is abroad, it will mean war The empire is still unstable and Xandra’s absence will create a power vacuum. If the conflict were to turn astro-nuclear… Casualties in the trillions! At best, Nova states.Hukling asks what Oracle wants from them. Black Panther warns interference from Intergalactic Wakanda in Shi’ar affairs would be taken poorly by both sides. He points out Xandra is the daughter of Charles Xavier. If she has psychic gifts, she is surely a mutant herself. Is there a simple solution they are not considering? Can Krakoa bring her back?Arbor Magna:Sunspot, now clothed, admits he is surprised the Professor isn’t here. He prefers resurrecting his own students when he can. He remembers Xavier reading him the riot act for getting killed last time. Hope replies evasively the professor is resting. He had a long day. Jean suspects Ororo will want to talk to him, when she gets back from space.Roberto remarks his last back-up was two days ago, so he can only guess what he did to tick Isca off. He looks after Rockslide, who is walking out. He suspects they all have questions. Does he often come down here? he asks Elixir. The healer replies he likes watching the process. The Santo he knew died in Otherworld. This guy is an amalgam of all possible Santos. And he was as shocked as them.The Proscenium:Orbis Stellaris objects to the resurrection of Xandra in the name of the Cosmic Rim. Hulkling points out if reversing one death will prevent a cosmic war… Why this death? Orbis Stellaris demands. Why can only mutants return from death and not others? Where is the justice? And what happens the next time she dies? Reviving Xandra will not fix the rot in the Shi’ar Empire, only stave off the inevitable. They will install an immortal dictator on the throne to rule until the end of time! He does not consent to that! He says: let there be war! If that is the bed the Shi’ar have made, let them lie in it! It is the lesser of two evils!The Great Ring:Ora Serrata announces they must decide if Krakoans can serve on the Great Ring or not. Magneto interrupts her with a curt ‘no.’ Krakoa is only a place, he explains. The precedent should be universal. He touches the small floating Cerebro unit next to him. Should those who have removed themselves from death’s reach rule those who have not. That is the question, and this is their answer: it’s called a Cerebro drive, built by Forge. A similar device to their cradles, but more limited. It stores but does not create back-ups. It only stores a preset selection.Back-ups? Isca asks. Mental versions of Krakoans, Magneto explains. The self that draws back the soul to the new body. If souls exist, of course. Perhaps this is all they truly leave behind them… a handful of memories held tight against the setting sun…Krakoa:Rockslide stands at the beach watching the sun set. Then he draws up some sand and watches it pour through his fingers.Sunspot carefully addresses him as Santo. He replies he doesn’t know who that is. The children call him “Wrongslide.” Sunspot winces. Kids can be cruel. Is that the intent? Wrongslide asks. He doesn’t’ see it that way. He doesn’t want the name of somebody lost. That would be cruel to everyone. “Wrongslide” is a sound that only means him. What’s the sound that means only him? he asks Roberto.Sunspot introduces himself with his mutant name, but he prefers Roberto. Did he know Santo? Wrongslide asks. Skipping some stones across the water, Roberto replies he did. His death hit everyone hard. It was so arbitrary. One day he was here, the next… He was so full of life. It doesn’t seem fair.The Proscenium:Richard Rider takes off his helmet. Once upon a time, he used the entire Nova Force to bring the dead of Xandar back to life. Pretty basic. Cloned bodies, mind recordings. They probably got a better way on Krakoa. But a lot of people thought that was unfair too. Anyway, then the Annihilation War happened. The whole planet died all over again and he was left staring at the corpses. Fairness restored, he guesses…Does Krakoa have immortality? Will Xandra have immortality? No on both counts. Everybody dies. That’s just life. He doesn’t regret buying Xandar a few extra days of peace. He won’t regret it for those colony worlds either. If it was him on Krakoa? It would already be done!Storm replies that she is glad he thinks so, because it is already done.Flabbergasted, Oracle demands how Krakoa even knew. Did they bring a listening device to this meeting? Storm sharply tells her to think. The psychic wave Oracle caught. Does she think it was meant for her? If Xandra had enough power to throw her entire being across the stars – think where she got that power from. Think who has the power to catch it. Charles Xavier – perhaps the universe’s most powerful telepath. And when offered the choice and the chance, he will always choose life over death!Sitting in the Cerebro unit, blood flowing from his nose from the strain Charles orders the Five to convene and for Mr. Sinister to convene the DNA sequence.Storm announces she appreciates Oracle informing them. She then addresses Orbis Stellaris, warning there was never any debate to be had over this. Mutantkind does not need their permission to live or thrive.As she leaves the chamber, Nova hurries after her. He explains that there is a lot of instability in the air. The Reckoning, the latest thing with the Shi’ar… His Nova sense is starting to tingle again. His therapist says he fixates on things, but he still thinks they are heading toward something big. And he thinks Arakko might be the focal point. Mind if he comes visit for a while? Storm tells him he will fit right in. She agrees with his suspicions and having his perspective certainly won’t hurt them.Krakoa, the beach:Wrongslide muses that he hurts people by being here. They see him and remember their friend. He is a tombstone for someone they wish was here. That’s not fair. It’s not fair he makes people sad, when he is so happy. It’s so beautiful to be here. And it only lasts so long. He also skips a stone across the water. Roberto agrees. Even with the Five, it only lasts so long. That’s the lesson Santo taught them. Death can be postponed, but it can’t be avoided. Everyone dies. That’s just life. Wrongslide agrees with a smile. That’s life.Arakko, the Great Ring.Isca scoffs that’s what Magneto offers them – a life so small you keep it in a box? Does he think they want that? No, he replies calmy and destroys the unit. And neither does he. He explains that was his and Storm’s back-up – the last one in existence, and no more will be recorded. They no longer have the Krakoan insurance. If they are to defend Arakko, they must be of Arakko. They understand the cost.There are other ways back, of course. Other doors. His daughter built one. But to come that way… you have to want to return. As Ororo said: to everything a season. He finds himself in autumn and he fears winter. He’s seen what comes with the cold of centuries. What can hide through life after life… even from yourself. What would he become with endless time? He fears it, he states forcefully. He does not fear a life that ends!Krakoa:Wrongslide announces he thinks he wants to die on Otherworld. Not right now? Roberto bursts out shocked. Not for a long time, Wrongslide assures him. But when the stone that is him slows on the water, he will go through the gate. And when it is the time, he will lie down in the flow and give himself back to the everything. And the Five will bring back someone new. And they will be alive, they will see what he sees. The beauty. He’ll have shared it.As they both look up at the night sky, Roberto asks if he has been to Arakko yet.


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The Hour of Uranos
Planet Arakko, the Great Ring:Standing before the members of Arakko’s ruling body are Abigail Brand, Cable, Magneto (also a member) and Nightcrawler. Brand gets to the point: Krakoa’s had a precognitive warning that the Eternals are going to attack mutantkind soon, perhaps even today. She’d consider an immediate future reading on the source 98% accurate or even higher, but she understands if Arakko’s own top precog wants to verify.
When none of the Great Ring members react, she directly addresses said precog Idyll, who does not answer. Ora Serrata interjects that, as an omega seer, Idyll can see the true future but cannot act to alter it. Even before Tarn stole her tongue, she gave no clues. All they can do is interpret the notes of her silence. She would say in translation: “An empty heart beats hardest. An empty hand deals the impossible blow. And the stalemate ends with victory’s loss.” Isca the Unbeaten (who occupies the Seat of Victory) observes that Ororo usually ends stalemates here. Where is she today?
Magneto explains she is giving the Quiet Council of Krakoa perspective. Nightcrawler, meanwhile, joins them with the Krakoan view. So, princess Ororo reigns elsewhere today, Isca observes, while she studies her nails. All to the good, this is not the Table Day’s business. This is the Dawn’s time. A war council…
Cable suggests talking strategy as he shows them files of the best-known Eternals. The Eternals won’t want Arakko coming to the rescue, so they can expect them here, as soon as they attack Krakoa. They’ll exercise restraint on Earth, maybe even keep the fight on the astral plane, but here on the red planet they can expect overwhelming force. And the best way to counter that is to be prepared beforehand. He is interrupted by a flashing light. Incoming! he shouts.
Nightcrawler urges the others to get to safety. Magneto tells him that is not their way. He orders Isca to be ready. With her powers, she needs to act first against the enemy.
They look at Isca, who has just killed Idyll and holds her head. That’s just what she is doing, Isca states. Sobunar pronounces what they are thinking: Isca’s power is not to lose. If she has switched sides, that means… … That someone must take her off the board, Nightcrawler decides and teleports away with her.
The object that caused the flash lands hard. The being announces he is Uranos. They have deviated excessively. And he has one hour to correct them.
The Armories of Uranos have landed on several points of Arakko. Once he left the Exclusion, they were activated. Now they open like flowers. In the air above Port Prometheus, the air shimmers. A nightmare machine blots out the sun and disgorges horror.
In the art community of the Morrowlands, the air shimmers. Bio-metallic slime emerges to infect and consume.
Nightcrawler and Isca materialize over the ocean west of Arakko Prime, where Isca dislocates Nightcrawler’s arm. In the distance, the air shimmers.
In the Valley of the Fallen, the air shimmers. A thing of light and monstrous angles bursts forth to burn the eyes from the pilgrims.
In all different places on Arakko, the air shimmers followed by horrors.
At the Great Ring, Ora Serrata doubles down, blasting Uranos. The eye of the law is on him and he… No, Uranos cuts them off. There is no law but the three principles coded into him and no vision of that law but his own. He walks toward Ora Serrata, in spite of being blasted. He hits them. That is the law he sees and now they see it too.
He looks upward. What has gained his interest is the appearance of Legion. Outside, Legion orders and Uranos flies upward to join him. Wouldn’t want to break the furniture.
After 6:28 minutes, there is a momentary lull in hostilities. Brand announces she has lost contact with Station 2. She has to assume the KEEP is down, maybe destroyed. But they confirm multiple attacks across Mars. No need for her machine eyes, Lactuca announces. She sees all. The enemy has arsenals. Many machines of death sail across the world. And they will fight without him. A challenge to all, Sobunar announces. And the seats of Day have responsibilities to the world, the sea and the sky.
What’s happening up there? Cable mutters. Magneto fears the worst and orders Lactuca and Sobunar to defend the broken land. They will keep him busy here.
Less than 30 seconds later, Uranos returns and David Haller is gone. “You bore a brave boy, Charles,” Magneto mutters. So much for that, Uranos announces. Where were they?
Magneto order Lodus Logos to give him metal, and so metal emits from Lodus’ mouth and is directed to attack Uranos.
In the settlement at Argyre Planitia, the Brotherhood of Mutants join the fight against the self-replicating machine army. Together they hold the line.
Above Port Prometheus, Nova fights to protect civilians from a dozen worlds as they evacuate. “It’s all up to me,” he thinks. He thinks that too often. Alone, he holds the line.
After her victory over Nightcrawler, Isca the Unbeaten fell into Sobunar’s ocean. Now he besieges her there, his creatures are many and they fight to the last. They try to hold the line. But against some, the line simply cannot be held.
Uranos is mildly impressed. Between Magneto’s magnetism and Cable’s telekinesis, they are actually fighting him. Magneto groans that he is everything he has ever fought against. Uranos smirks as he notes that it is personal in some way. His condolences. He blasts all the shrapnel back against his foes. He states that it must be heart-rending. Uranos grabs Magneto and tears out his heart.
13:23 minutes into the hour, Magneto falls.
Brand panics. Cable cuts her off. They will mourn him tomorrow, if there is a tomorrow. He accesses his computer, ordering to bodyslide in the omega one from his weapon cache. The omega one pulse rifle is the most powerful weapon in Cable’s arsenal. It fires bullet of ultra-dense solid light along a tunnel of hard radiation that can melt osmium. In the year 3877, it will be classified as a weapon of absolute destruction and banned from use in warfare. It weakens Uranos. That’s all.
After three and a half minutes of constant fire, the omega one overheats and jams. Uranos’ weapon does not as it kills Cable.
Lactuca seals a breach to a dimension of pure destructive force but it comes too late to help the hands in the KEEP.
Xilo unleashes the invertebrates and insects that form him. They can scour a human body to the bone in seconds. They manage to disgust Uranos.
By now, partial evacuation in Port Prometheus has been successful but all the Krakoan gates have been destroyed. Seven Kymellian priests die by fire, before Nova can save them.
In the markets below, the Arakkiii regulars fight alongside the alien vendors to save what they can.

With laser eyes, Uranos methodically reduces the collective that is Xilo to 13.5 % of its mass. A few seconds later, Abigail Brand tries to flee to avoid entering the Resurrection Protocols. She fails and Uranos strikes her down.

On the dark side of the planet, the Fisher King feels the wind change. It is time.

On Argyre Planitia, the Arakkii are forced into strategic retreat. Yielding the field is not yielding the fight, they remind themselves. Yet the taste is bitter.

In the Great Ring, there is silence. All of this has occurred in twenty minutes. Uranos still has 40 minutes left. He uses the time well. When the hour is over, so is 98 percent of life in a fifty-mile radius.

Uranos is teleported back to his prison in the Exclusion. He has felt no need to check his work. He should have made sure.

Lodus Logos awakes with a gasp. He has been hidden by green vines from what is left of Xilo, who assures Lodus he meant no insult. Lodus Logos calms them. This way he fights again and can take revenge. He takes no offense for wise tactics. How long was he out? Xilo doesn’t know, as their memory store has been damaged. Others may be alive. Lodus examines the great eyeball of Ora Serrata. She was gouged in the eye but the body is unharmed. She has survived worse, but her weapon will require healing. And Uranos’ weapons still roam unchecked. They must strategize.

No, comes a new weak voice. Such strategies are not for the Table Dusk. There is a war. A war they are losing Still standing, his power keeping his body alive without his heart, Magneto announces: and so the Seat of Loss takes command…


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[Assistant]
The Winning Side
In the heart of the Earth, Magneto and Storm have just defeated Uranos the Undying with his own weapons. However, for Magneto, who has had to keep himself alive without a heart, it has proved too much and he lies dying in Storm’s arms. “You have new gods now,” he remembers saying. She tries to shush him. He continues he always knew who he was talking to. Those who would never be so gauche as to say it themselves, even as they pull mutantkind’s wings off for sport. He needed them to know that godhood was no longer an exclusive club. And look at him now… a full member… dying for a world that hates and fears him. Bitter irony on so many levels, he coughs.
Storm reminds him she told him not to talk, not hold a soliloquy. She can still keep him alive with her electricity if he just…
With a smile, he interrupts that even she can hold back death for only so long. Some things are out of their hands. Resurrection! she shouts. Even without a backup he can… Without backup is his decision, Magneto reminds her. She wouldn’t break her word either. With what’s to come, they need Arakko with them. He honestly thinks they need a martyr? she snaps. No, he replies, that is why she has to promise him to watch Charles.
Ororo doesn’t undestand and he explains the three of them created Krakoa. Moira betrayed them. He deserted his post. Now Charles is alone with his dream. Storm points out there are worse dreams than humans and mutants coexisting. He agrees. He has come to understand that nothing less will save them. They must stand together and fight together, humans and mutants, or their enemies will destroy them for simply daring to exist. He refers to the machines. They have never stopped. Charles dreams of persuading the world that mutantkind has value. In the hope that the world will then make them safe. His dream was simpler: to assure their safety, whether the world valued them or not. Krakoa was a compromise - a shared dream. But they were old fools building on sand and now… there will come a day, if they live.
He fears it will be soon. Their enemies will strike and Charles will feel forced by events to act. To do something because something must be done, however terrible. And, because he cannot see a choice, he will martyr them all. He is a good man. They must be wary of good men. For what will they not do to show how good they are? Watch him!
She promises to try. His eyes lose focus and suddenly he sees his lost daughter, Anya. He asks Storm if she can see her. Crying, she lies that she can. She’s proud of him, he states. He promises to be right there and dies.
Arakko:The surviving members of the Great Ring survey the carnage and destruction caused by Uranos and his weapons.
Lodus Logos laments all the suffering and death and promises the dead will not be forgotten. He continues that two of their tables are whole, but the Day Table lies empty with two honored dead and one he names traitor. Arakko’s bane, Idyll’s murderer! He stares at Isca. Isca the Unbeaten. Isca the rogue. Isca of Amenth!
She steps closer to him and warns him that his next haiku may be his last. Lodus Logos is unimpressed. Art lives forever!
Ora Serrata interjects there is no true precedent for this situation. To have one of the Great Ring kill another – outside the Circle, in a time of war – even Tarn never dared take that step. It is unheard of, in her time at least. She turns to their historian Xilo but the injuries Uranos wrought have cost too much of his memories.
Isca smirks that the Seat of Law knows no Law and the Seat of History knows no history… and they presume to judge her.
They are all being judged, comes a new voice, as Storm returns with Sunspot, the Fisher King, and Syziza of the Smoke – the three Night Seats. Earth and everyone of Earth is to be judged… tested by Celestial forces far greater than any of them can comprehend and, though they have been gone from Earth for a long time, that includes them, perhaps her more than any. Unimpressed, Isca points out that she will pass any test, because she cannot fail. Worry about themselves.
Lodus Logos gives his condolences regarding Magneto to Storm and the Fisher King. He feels some trepidation as the Night Seats now stand in the day. A reasonable fear, Syziza agree. Traditionally, they make themselves known in ill times. Sunspot states that’s why Genesis had the original Night Seat dissolved, right? They made themselves known a little too much. And Ora Serrata dissolved them, didn’t she? Ora replies it was decided they were no longer necessary. Sunspot opines that that alone would make them more necessary, but what does he know. He’d never consider strategies like sitting in one place for ten thousand years. Getting high on his own pomp and grander…
What did he say? Isca demands. Here’s a thought, Roberto suggests. Did the great warrior Genesis ever win anything that actually mattered? If she had, wouldn’t they have come home? Bold words from a child she killed once already, Isca hisses. What would he do if she asked him to back that up? She turns to the others: what if she asked any of them to back their words up? What if she should judge them? What would they do?
Most of them have faced her at least once, in battle or in training. And how did that end for any of them? They lost because she never can. They only hold court now, because she was merciful. They hold court because she abstains! If she decided that the entire Great Ring is hers – that the entire planet is hers - what would they do? Knowing they’d always lose to her? What would any of them…
Lighting strikes in front of her. Knowing they would lose, they fight her anyway, Storm announces. To the death? Isca asks threateningly. Lodus Logos informs her there are things in life more important than simply living. Isca-who-speaks-of-us, Lactuca seethes, who-speaks-for-us, who-speaks-over-us. Isca-who-does-not-know-us.
Sobunar adds that Arakkii are not afraid of a life that ends.
But it won’t come to that, comes another voice. There will be no battle today between Isca and the Great Ring, because that’s what the Night Seats are for, the Fisher King pronounces, flanked by Sunspot and Syzyza.
She remembers him, Isca mocks. A little rat scurrying through the prisons. A fly they never managed to swat. But better late than never. He agrees and challenges her to a contest of understanding. And the winner is the one who most truly understands the meaning of loss.
Isca’s power begins to work. Pathetic fisherman, Isca thinks. Already old after sixty some years, whereas she has lived more than ten thousand years. What has this fisherman ever lost? His freedom? His love? His family?
Isca’s thoughts turn unbidden to her childhood on Okkara, spent happily with her sister, playing games. She always lagged behind. When she started winning games, it was a novelty at first. They grew up and her sister married a blue-lipped boy who hung onto every word of her philosophy. Swords were sued for ceremonies only. Then the demons came and one island became two and Isca won every battle against the demon army.
Her efforts brought Annihilation to the gates with whispered words for her sister that appealed to Genesis’ ideals, her dark dreams of what Arakko could be. Temptations were heeded. She remembered feeling the shift inside her when there could be no winning. Her perspective suddenly flipped, so that there was no choice to be made. So she left her home behind and walked into Amenth, to the demon lands, to join the first Summoners and fight for their cause. And she took one of them, a genomic mage with a cruel wit, to be her lover. Together they were conquerors and prison lords, bending the proudest their will and the calls of traitor and oathbreaker were as easily borne as summer rain on the skin. Until the world shifted again and she turned again, for she could never lose.
And after the great victory she joined so late, her people despised her and her family was lost to her and her love was killed while she watched. And then the roles had shifted again and shifted back. And she had never had a choice. There was no freedom for her either, even now, how could there be? How could she understand loss?
Isca remembers a laughing girl running along a beach. She falls to her knees. One second has passed.
Isca announces she understands. She resigns from the Great Ring. She does not belong in the Seat of Victory. She does not belong in any seat at all, because she is not of Arakko. She can never be. She can never lose.
The Progenitor appears to her in the form of Tarn and gives her a thumbs up. She passes. Again, she doesn’t lose.
Storm addresses her. Isca tells her not to talk to her. She warns them all not to follow her. She may kill them yet.
Ora Serrata observes that the Great Ring are now six, where once there were nine. She will not dissolve the Night Seats again, even to shore up their number. And yet, to have no Table of the Dawn during the war against a god is inacceptable. There is no precedent for this, and they cannot look into the past. Lodus Logos suggests they look to the future. Sobunar calls him an optimist. He’d rule them all with their dreams.
Yes, he replies forcefully. A new world needs new dreams, new ways of life that are more than war. Would they be like their foes? Eternal and eternally caged? So shackled to their older ways that they cannot change? They stand upon the remains of their dead and they demand more from their Great Ring. Storm agrees and, to everyone’s surprise, yields the Seat-of-all-around-us and its second vote to Lodus Logos, who accepts.
Ora Serrate protests there can be no transfer without a challenge. Storm calls it a challenge of fitness for the role and she yields. The regent’s seat decides the future of this land. Who should chart the future if not their poets and dreamers? Because it can’t be her. She is of Arakko and Earth, her attention is divided. Lodus asks if she is leaving the Great Ring. She replies that, in Magneto’s name, she claims the Seat of Loss.
The KEEP:Wiz Kid and Cable are working outside the station. Wiz Kid warns Cable she just logged in. Oh, and his dead mother just gave him a thumbs up. Something about looking for the truth, even though he doesn’t want to know about it. How is his end of the world going? He’s keeping busy, Cable replies and teleports in. For all he knows, he is risking the bad thumb by taking time out on a personal project. But part of fighting today’s war is planning for the war tomorrow.
And if tomorrow never comes, that’s one less war to worry about? Taki asks. Cable chides him for getting cynical in his old age. He is less concerned about the world ending and more about Brand noticing their hack. That’s the beauty of it, Taki replies, they are not hacking anything. The KEEP is a reality-warped duplicate of the PEAK. Not just a copy but the same station in two places at once. Kind of like two particles in quantum entanglement. The information of the PEAK wants to flow into the KEEP. Including Brand’s files.
The files are incoming. She was just resurrected, and her last back-up was six days ago. She’ll have left notes for herself and will access them so to not do the same thing twice. And now they will see those notes when she accesses them. Taki mutters he guesses they have to decide what to do about it, if she did kill Gyrich. They should take it to Nightcrawler first, then the Council. Whatever Brand’s done, she’s discreet.
He reads and starts to swear. Is he seeing this? he asks in disbelief. He turns to Cable, who angrily locks and loads his big gun. Taki takes that as a ‘yes.’


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The Hour of Magneto
NASA soil agent Dr. Craig Marshall is recording what has been happening on Arakko, believing these to be his last words. He has been here for a month, describing how, despite Commander Brand’s warnings, the locals were nice and accepted him, especially when he helped with the harvest.
An Arakkii child, Looloo, interrupts him, piping “insult.” He explains that “help” means implying another needed help. He is still learning. Something came to attack Arakko. The commune leader told him to stay here, protect the kids and then – he turns the camera to show a high tech weapon of Uranos’ arsenal. They went to fight that and didn’t come back.
Marshall continues that he is going to attack it, so Looloo and her brother can get away. Insult, Looloo pipes up. He corrects himself. So they can make a strategic retreat. He knows she wouldn’t yield, but they haven’t got their powers yet to fight. They need to survive for a long time. She has to live through that. Can she do that for him? She mutters she has done that in the prisons. She can do that. But she doesn’t want to leave him. He’s not from Arakko. He is a human from Earth. He shouldn’t have to fight for them. Craig grins sheepishly. He knows. He just came here to look at some dirt. But they treated him like he belonged from day one, so yeah, he guesses he is of Arakko today.
A voice from the sky announces, the truth is spoken. They see him. He has a place in the broken land – now and forever! The kids cheer at the sight of Sobunar, Lactuca and Storm. They announce, this is a challenge to all, so nobody fights alone.
Storm flies toward the creature that fires lasers at her. Sobunar releases part of the endless ocean that is his blood. From that added moisture, Storm sculpts a monsoon. The raindrops refract the creature’s lasers. Storm fries it with lightning.
She is furious. For all her powers, she cannot be in two places at once. And so, once again, a people to whom she made bold claims to represent suffered while she was elsewhere. The machine is broken and she lands. She berates herself for not being here. Sobunar simply replies that, if she were not there, she was elsewhere, fighting the same foe. And they have foes enough to fight without turning on themselves and their own choices.
Storm realizes he is right and that Uranos left his arsenal behind. She asks Lactuca, where they can do the most good. Lactuca creates a psychic link with Storm and, through that, Storm’s mind merges with everyone.
She is Nova, fighting the weapons above Port Prometheus, saving lives while still berating himself for not being good enough.
She is the Fisher King, the man without a name. They are now two, he thinks. Time to join with the third.
She is Isca the Unbeaten, dropped into the ocean fighting fish, having to fight on Uranos’ side, as she cannot lose.
She is Wrongslide, fighting alongside the Brotherhood and the local population against Uranos’s machines, feeling anger for the first time in his life.
She is Sunspot, fighting his foes, then stepping away. He smells something sweet. He is about to reveal another secret.
She is Khora of the Burning Heart. Smelling jasmine, she knows what that means. Night has fallen. Her father has prepared her for this and for what she must become if he falls. For the first time in years, she thinks of her sister.
She is Wiz Kid on SWORD Station two, with Cable trying to get it back online. As Cable calls in the marker Wiz Kid owes him for electrocuting him some time ago. Time to talk about Brand…
She is the husk of Abigail Brand, emerging from an egg. Xavier is holding her mind, about to plug it back in. She has never been this vulnerable.
She is Lodus Logos, metal his voice. Vengeance his desire.
She is Magneto, fighting another of Uranos’ creatures with the metal Lodus creates. He sends one of the iron spears through the creature’s brain and thanks Lodus Logos. They make a fine team. The poet muses that word is not much used on Arakko. A word they could learn?
What’s left of Xilo muses that Apocalypse made use of mutants in concert, but the practice fell out of use. He no longer knows. That knowledge is lost to him now. He must find a new name for himself.
Lodus Logos asks Magneto how he fares. He is without his heart, is the reply. He won’t see tomorrow. Seeing even another second demands constant command of his mastery over magnetism. His mutant gift is all that keeps his blood pumping.
Magneto? a voice asks. It’s Sunspot, who stands next to a young woman with white hair, purple skin and a tail and the Fisher King. Magneto asks to what they owe the pleasure. The woman explains they are all that remains of the Great Ring. They’ve been lucky, Magneto groans. Idyll was slain by Isca, but the Table Day is engaged against the wider foe. Ora Serrata is wounded but stable. She went to join the Inner Watch. Now answer his question: Why are they here?
Sunspot replies that, when Dawn, Dusk and Day are split asunder – who is left? The Night Seats. But if he’d known this nightmare would happen – Magneto assures him not everything is about him. Roberto didn’t start this war, and if he thinks his words pushed Magneto into fighting it… will he trick the sun into rising next? Take credit for that? Magneto puts his hand on Sunspot’s shoulder. He may have chosen a seat at the table, but the cards were dealt long ago. If all he can do is play the game to the best of his ability, Magneto expects nothing less. Yes, sir, Sunspot replies.
Magneto admits to being disappointed in the Fisher King. Here was thinking their meeting was a happy coincidence. Fisher replies that Roberto vouched for Max, but he had to be sure. But, right away, Max opened his door. He holds out his hand. Will he close it now? Magneto takes the hand. Of course not. Time is too short. He grows weaker but, before he can rest, he has to knows Arakko will survive him. He didn’t catch her name, he tells the third member, who introduces herself as Syzya of the Smoke. Her weapon is to be in any place she knows of, in a puff of her smoke and to bring others. But the Vile knew ways to block and trap her, making the prison her prison, too. Now she keeps secret to not be caged again.
Someone should introduce her to Nightcrawler, Magneto moans. In his absence, they will need help to assemble their forces. Fisher King fears that is a big demand. There are a hundred battles against a hundred foes, and most are trained in siege warfare or single combat. Too set in the old way. Then let the old ways change, Xilo announces. Lodus Logos agrees. A moment later, the monster rises again. Magneto realizes that Uranos’ machines heal.
Storm merges with the thoughts of others, who make the same experience. Then it fades. And Storm hits Magneto with lightning, allowing him to power up. The Arakki watch in shock as they shatter a societal rule. She gives of herself and he accepts without hesitation, though any error means, her life for his. In the broken land, such intimacy is reserved for the closest of lovers but they did not come to make love but war. With their powers combined, they fry the war machine.
Lodus Logos and Xilo realize this may be the start of something new.
Storm jokingly tells Magneto to keep the heart beating. Do they have time for a quick trip to the Healing Gardens? Is that aftercare? he asks. He’s sure the correct mutant circuit to regrow a heart could be sourced, but there is no time. Fisher King points out Isca is not with them, so they are still losing, every moment that passes they lose more. He was wrong though, this is a siege – planet size.
Roberto agrees. If Arakko holds the line long enough, they can find the off switch for the murder machines. And if they don’t know where that is, they know who has it, Storm agrees. It’s decided then. They take the fight to Uranos and destroy their enemy!


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The New Age
The Autumn Palace:Vulcan came here to murder Xandra. Instead, he found Storm waiting for him.He warns her, he is reborn. The shell is broken and the fire inside him is free now! This will not go as it went before. Before she went easy on him, Storm replies calmly and tells him to make his move. He warns her she had her chance. His energy blast destroys the walls.The World Farm:The three Progenitors have done something to Manifold, who is caught in a spasms, energy swirling in him. Such beautiful power, one Progenitor muses. Would their master like them to let it loose from its cage? To let the speaker-to-space speak Babel – turn the language of the stars and worlds to gibberish? To reduce all signal to noise? If their sublime overlord desires it, a second Progenitor replies. Nervously Orbis Stellaris tells them not to, adding “please.” But of course, great Stellaris the third Progenitor grins mockingly. He is whom they meant!Anyone else feels like the wheels are coming off the wagon here? Proudstar asks, getting ready to attack the one with the two mouths. He has two fists. The math checks out! Cable holds him back, suggesting they make that Plan B. He turns to Khora of the Burning Heart for Plan A. Khora boosts Cable’s power. Weaponless Zsen opines that no Arakkii would accept such an insult. Her sister replies that the Askanison thinks differently, and so does she. This was never weakness, but strength upon strength!And he was pretty strong to start with, Cable groans as he glows with energy. Too strong at times. His power threatened to burn him out, so he used it to control the techno-organic virus inside of him. He reaches out telekinetically and frees the T.O.-sample Stellaris got off him. It comes to Cable and creates a battle suit around him.A complication, the Progenitors admit. Cable grins. He tells Stellaris to crack that shell open and talk man to man!Arakko:Having protected herself with an iceshield, Storm is still in the air. Unimpressed, Vulcan mocks if that is her move, when he brings the sun to her door. Not falling over. Surviving, little king, she corrects him. It’s what she’s been doing since the day she was born. He is a furnace. She is the Arctic. He brandishes flames, she holds the lightning, they are evenly matched.Are they? he goads. She was too proud to die. Too fearful. But the Son of Summer has visited that cold country and returned! Reinvigorated and restored! With hell’s own fire in his hand, the Arctic melts! The planet burns! And he is that burning! So, in the end, she will fall!On the KEEP, Brand is watching the two. Mentallo remarks, she found Storm at least. Vulcan found her, she corrects, and found her at the Autumn Palace, the headquarters of the Brotherhood of Arakko. And her scans told her Magneto’s house was empty. And there is nothing wrong with her equipment, so the problem was her. Not seeing what was right there. Psychic wammy, huh? Mentallo asks and apologizes for not spotting it.She’s been trained in psychic defense on a dozen worlds, she replies calmly. She even took Xavier’s psychic defense course, the Red Triangle Protocol.Mentallo stammers that Xandra is pretty powerful. Not good enough to get to her, Brand interrupts, unless she was right here in this room. And if she was that close, Brand would see her… unless she used a relay…a fellow psychic to carry her signal. He wouldn’t need much psi-power either, she continues mercilessly. He could be a total loser.She bodyslides a sidearm into her hand and trains it on Mentallo. She does see the sunny side of this. She took him, after all his AIM snafus, because his loyalty goes to the highest bidder. And she honestly thought that was her. When Fury turned “moon man,” she got the keys to the black budget. So, who’s got more money than SHIELD? Who hires from AIM? Does she even need to ask, or should she play the Mission Impossible theme right now? Behind her stand Syzia, Xandra, Deathbird and a somewhat miffed Sunspot. Is he really that predictable?The World Farm:Please be gentle, Orbis Stellaris begs a moment before Cable hits the globe he resides in.The Progenitors are disgusted: the glow of the Phalanx contagion reduced to this. A primate finds a priceless crystal and uses it to bash another ape’s skull! The third announces he refuses to watch. It insults his sight. The three take Cable into their sight, making his T.O. armor turn against him.However, with their attention on Cable, Manifold is free. Zsen tells him to act - he has more power than any of them. He explains he cannot use his power in a room without windows. He needs to see the stars or a landmark or something! He needs to know where he is.Suddenly, somehow, Lactuca contacts him, calling him her little brother. He is her kin and Lactuca will always know where he is! That revelation helps Eden, and he uses it to teleport the Progenitors away.Where did he put them? Khora asks the exhausted Eden. Outside, all the way outside, he replies, but he thinks that might be where they are from, he adds in a small voice.Cable announces they got his TO back and any intel it might have gathered. As well as what Zsen saw, but that intel might be redundant now. He looks at the motionless Orbis Stellaris. When he is ready, he tells Eden.Eden teleports aboard Wiz Kid’s ship that is under attack and tells him he is not carrying an entire ship. He can always make another, Taki consoles himself and is teleported away a moment before the ship gets blown up.The KEEP:Brand tells Xandra that, for a moment there, she really thought she’d killed her. Many have, Xandra replies, but here she is, and she is currently in telepathic contact with Nathan Summers, who has witnessed many things, all fully admissible as evidence both under the pan-world treaty and the Shi’ar’s own law. Brand flew too close to the sun and in doing so she tried to foment interstellar war and conspired to remove Xandra from her throne. What does she say in her defense?Brand replies that, as Xandra’s forebears would have told her, the Kree and Skrulls’ peace makes for strong neighbors, and she’d rather have weak ones. She’s seen what happens when your home system can’t compete. She was there.An old excuse, Xandra scoffs, and she is sure Brand has used it many times to help her sleep at night. She truly has nothing else to tell her? Only that she copied Kid Cable’s tech the day they met, Brand replies and gives the order to bodyslide her out of here.She is teleported to a secret place and sinks down in exhaustion, then chides herself to get herself together.Abigail Thanriaguiaxus! a voice booms. How does he know her name? she bursts out. Her grand plans are dust, Abigail-born-as-Axus-ended, the Fisher King replies. She is an enemy of Arakko, and for their enemies there is only destruction. Destruction of all that she is. And at the end of that road? Is what comes next.On Arakko, fire fights water. Vulcan battles Storm and announces she has nothing! All her power is going to defense against the inferno he is bidding! But her snows are gone. The wind she is riding is dry as dust. The sky is fire! Where is her weather now? Firing a blast at her, he rants there is none! He has stolen her weather! What does she have left? The rope-a-dope, she smirks and gives the order to do it now!Suddenly, there is a downpour that extinguishes his flames. He falls. Storm tells him omega against omega is always a matter of will. He mistook her restraint for weakness. While he wasted his power on petty displays of grandiosity, she waited for her moment to strike. With what? he demands. He left nothing but fire and ash! How could she summon the rain?She tells him, the difference between them is he fights like a king, considering his power his subject. She is not a queen, so she has equals. Wrongslide formed an underground chamber. Sobunar filled it with his endless ocean and Logos Lodus shielded it with a lining of Mysterium. These are her equals. These are her people.He scoffs that she needed help? She retorts that they have learned, and he has learned nothing! Even now, he only respects the empty hierarchies of powers. So be it!She asks Lodus Logos to show him power. Lodus Logos encases Vulcan in a mysterium husk, which he will be unable to destroy. Storm doesn’t believe he possess the subtlety to escape but, since he is an omega who grows stronger with death, he may evolve again.He is king! Vulcan shouts through the small mouth opening. Or he may not, Storm concludes wryly.Then they must, Sobunar muses. Arakko is changing to meet new threats. Including this. And if their new tactics are called “help” on their new world, let them embrace that. And help each other, in the name of brotherhood.At the World Farm, Orbis Stellaris has trouble opening the round shell that transports him but finally manages to do so. He orders the Progenitors to prepare a new Orbis Stellaris shell. This ancient body won’t last out the day without proper medical support… and he refuses to die. He simply has too much to do. The mutants of Earth have earned his undying enmity – his vengeance in full measure…He is an old, naked man with a spade symbol on his forehead. And Nathan Essex will deliver in spades, he promises.


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[Assistant]
Mission to the Unknown
Gosnell’s Bar on Dolo-Ayan, where the galaxy’s elite mercenaries drink away their battles:The Arakkii warrior Weaponless Zsen studies the two mercs opposite her – Blackjack O’Hare, a cybernetic bunny, and the Prince of Power, a blond himbo. They are not what she pictured, she remarks.How so? Blackjack wonders. She muses, it was a mistake leaving Arakko. She left a planet at peace, and now it plunged into war, a war she could have found purpose in. The only thing she found out here are treaties and talking animals. Blackjack explains, the Guardians of the Galaxy are doing all the hero stuff for free. Merc jobs are few right now. He and the Prince of power here mostly do repo work and have wacky adventures. But patience and time are his motto: if you can’t find any trouble here, it is probably busy finding you.That’s the cue for Cable and Khora of the Burning Heart – Zsen’s siter – to enter. Zsen asks if their father sent Khora. She knows he returned from his shadows. But she won’t speak to him again – not after what he did. Khora retorts that he feels the same. She sent herself. She introduces Cable and adds, he’s got a job.Blackjack is interested and offers their help. Cable tells him not to call them. They’ll call him. But Khora says Zsen has an ability that might be useful. In the Morrowlands perhaps, Zsen scoffs. With the artists and dreamers, but art wasn’t what she dreamt of in the prisons. Cable tells her this is about a military application of her talent and it’s his understanding she has other weapons, such as an almost unbreakable blade. Nice tech, Cable remarks when he sees it. She paid dearly for it, she replies primly.So, what will she be using it for? She hears little Khora performed assassinations for Abigail Brand. Is that what he has planned for her? Who is her target? Abigail Brand, of course, Cable replies with a mirthless grin, but they are taking the long way round.On Arakko, Lake Hellas, there is an emergency diplomatic meeting regarding the Kree-Skrull Alliance and the Shi’ar. Paibok the Power-Skrull announces his emperor considers this a highly delicate matter. As in all things, he wishes to avoid war.Is that why the Kree/Skrull Empire sent their second-most-important envoy to meet with his empress, to avoid an insult? Gladiator asks sharply. Nova warns him to play nice. Paibok considers it a fair question. Normally, the Super-Skrull would be present for this meeting, but he swore an oath not to commit murder in the emperor’s service. And he doesn’t quite trust himself to keep it…Gladiator scoffs, noting that the old saying is true then: A Skrull’s mask will always slip. And no Ororo either. Again, the voice of Sol has no time to speak to them…A prior conflict, Frenzy explains. Auditions for the empty seats on the Great Ring, she suspects. But they will find her a fair mediator in whatever this conflict is. Like the man said, play nice, she tells Paibok who assures her he always does.On SWORD Station One, Brand with Mentallo are eavesdropping. Are they flirting? Mentallo comments. He thought Frenzy only had eyes for Scott Summers. He wonders if Paibok changes into Scott Summer for her. Brand cuts him off. Insulted, he asks if the grand plan isn’t going to plan. She hopes it is. But Xandra is running late and Paibok doesn’t seem to be in a mood to wait for her. But if this doesn’t lure her to Arakko, she doesn’t know what will. And then there’s Storm. It’s fine if she doesn’t show up, as long as she is where Brand can see her, but she is not on Krakoa or Arakko, at least nowhere they have eyes on.The Diplomatic Zone:Grimly, Paibok announces, he’d like to tell Gladiator a story. Roughly three standard decades ago, there was a lull in the Kree / Skrull war. Peace talks were in progress. At which point, the Kree received word of a breach of the Pan-Worlds Arms Treaty. The Skrulls were allegedly conducting forbidden genetic weapon research at a secret facility codenamed Shapeless Ridge.The Kree sent a small group of stealth warriors to destroy the facility. The experimental Kree super soldier Major Glory led the force, succeeding admirably – by massacring every soul there. In fact, they barely put up a fight, because Shapeless Ridge didn’t make weapons but was a treatment facility for wounded Skrulls no longer able to shapeshift. Civilians! The intelligence was wrong. The Kree refused to admit an error, so the war flared up again, more bitter than ever.New information has now come to light: the Kree were fed false reports goading them to commit a war atrocity. Who would do such a thing he asks a confused Gladiator. “We would,” comes a new voice, that of Empress Xandra, who has arrived with her aunt Deathbird. The Shi’ar spread those lies for their own benefit, to lengthen the war. It is one of the ten shames their Kin Crimson tried to bury - the crimes of previous Shi’ar regimes that they must pay for now. She sits down on the throne.Showtime! Brand grins.One parsec from Doyo-Malan:Showtime! the pilot Wiz-Kid announces and welcomes them to the ship. He is still torn between naming it Bebop II or Brett Anderson. At this point, he hasn’t decided yet. Cable remarks it is whatever he wants it to be. That is literally his power. Anything from a sleek fighter to an exploratory vessel.Also aboard are Khora, Zsen, Thunderbird and Manifold. Cable continues, when it comes to long distance, he refers to their everywhere man. He asks Manifold if he is ready to get them where they need to be. Manifold admits he is still fuzzy on some details. Cable summarizes the situation: recently Brand was resurrected, but a resurrection via Cerebro only goes so far. That means when she came out of the egg, the first thing she did was check her files to see what she was missing.Wiz-Kid adds that he and Cable were checking too, and they saw everything. Which isn’t everything, Cable corrects, just the most recent file. Still pretty damning stuff. Brand is working with Orchis, or playing them at least. To her, Krakoa and Arakko are a temporary situation that can be leveraged to advance more important goals.Manifold interrupts, that is not the part he is fuzzy on. He needs a destination! He can take them anywhere in the universe, but he still needs a starting point and an end point.Cable shows them a hologram and explains Brand is also partnered with a Rimworld diplomat named Orbis Stellaris. He is a gene tech entrepreneur of unknown origin. Rumor has it that he also runs a profitable sideline in bioweapons, including militarized cloning. Quite a well-rounded individual. Brand isn’t just cultivating him for his diplomatic clout. She partnered with him to steal a sample of Cable’s techno-organic virus.He demonstrates it by creating Wolverine-like claws from his T.O.-arm. Zsen is impressed. Cable admits it has its uses or he’d have ditched it with his first resurrection. He figures Brand sent a sample to Orchis, but he thinks she has bigger plans. So does he.He reaches out to Manifold with a T.O. tentacle and explains, his virus is based on the more common Technarch strain, but it was altered by Apocalypse. It is unique to him.He gives Manifold the sample. So whatever sample Orbis has, is unique to him, too. There are only two places where this particular viral load can be found. One is in the palm of his hand, and he can find the other one.Manifold focuses and senses it. Far out beyond everything. The gulf between galaxies… he can get them there, but getting them back…. Taki points out that Manifold caught a space station. He has faith. Eden opens the gate and Taki steers the ship through it.The face an artificial-looking globe. It’s called the World Farm. Home of the Progenitors, Cable explains. Ancient alien super-scientists. The ones who attacked Arakko to steal his T.O. virus. He assumed Stellaris was using Progenitor clones though. If he’s got access to the real ones…They’ll take him down! Thunderbird interrupts and draws his blade. Just the same! They are here to find out how deep Brand’s plans go. That means they don’t quit until they get to the bottom, no matter what they face!Zsen muses, she likes this one. She would! Khora scoffs.Taki agrees with John, but Cable asks him to stay behind on the ship. He’s lucky he still owes Cable for the brain thing, Taki mutters.Cable asks Manifold to get them closer. Manifold teleports the group.Once they are inside, Taki is blocked. Manifold warns that without windows he cannot see the outside, which he needs to form a portal. They’ll cross that Einstein-Rosen-bridge when they get to it, Cable quips. He got them to the right place though.He sees several large tubes with T.O.-virus. Looks like they’ve been breeding Cable’s sample. He wonders what the Progenitors get out of working with Orbis Stellaris and vice versa. And what is Brand’s plan?Before them in the three caskets, they see the sleeping Progenitors. Zsen nervously remarks something is hidden in them. If she painted their truth, none could see it and remain sane!Cable accesses the datafiles connected to their caskets. They see a holo-file of the three Progenitors talking to someone claiming he has a little amount of good in him that could grow into more. It is a cancer. And that is unacceptable for the work they have set in front of him. So, they have separated the two.Inside, under a layer of that good is the beautiful broken creature he is. They are going to release him back into his universe. Others will see him as changed… reborn healthy and whole… but that is just a shell. Underneath it buried in a shallow grave is the real him.The angle changes, showing they are talking to Vulcan.Cable realizes that Vulcan’s mysterious return from the Fault at the start of the Krakoan age was orchestrated. The Progenitors knew they’d take him in. They all wanted this to be true. The perfect sleeper agent.Manifold asks if Abby is behind this too? Why not? Cable retorts. She is playing Krakoa. She is playing Orchis. Why not play the Progenitors?So little imagination, come another voice. Cable keeps saying the Progenitors, when what he really means is his Progenitors, Orbis Stellaris atop a giant battle suit announces.The Diplomatic Zone:Paibok addresses Xandra. She is speaking of payment in full measure. He wonders if she knows what that means. He fears the price is already set in stone - he fears it is total war.Over his dead body! Nova swears. Hell, over Hulkling’s dead body!Then so it will be, Paibok vows. The revenge must be taken. It is out of their hands. Only Xandra can prevent it, so he asks again: What will the Shi’ar offer to take the place of their own blood?He offers fire, comes a new voice. It is Vulcan, surrounded by fire. His fire that will burn their pathetic alliance if they dare stand against their betters. “Rejoice, bold men of the Shi’ar! Raise your swords, your hosannas! Your king has returned!”Watching all this, Brand grins and announces that’s check and mate.


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Return of the King
Then:After Magneto’s death, Brand appeals to Xavier to resurrect Vulcan, since without Magneto Krakoa and Arakko are underpowered. While originally Vulcan had been moved to tertiary importance in the resurrection queue, Xavier agrees with Brand. To help Vulcan with his rage and paranoia, he will be telepathically given tools to handle this. Xavier is optimistic it will work.And so, soon at Arbor Magna, the Five stand around an egg. Xavier is with them, Cyclops and Havok stand in the background. Havok pronounces he doesn’t like this. Scott agrees but admits it makes sense. With Magneto choosing to remain dead, they need powerhouses, and Charles’ idea is a good one. Havok points out this is a repair job, and do they trust Charles? Xavier coolly remarks, he has ears.Hope wonders why the egg isn’t hatching and asks Tempus for a quick age-up. No reaction. Tempus remarks, it is his first time out of an egg, right? Is this another Kate Pryde situation? Hope recalls Kate needed a jump start. She turns to Xavier, who agrees. He saw how Emma did it. A little additional guidance… He reaches for the egg, which starts to sizzle and burn. Xavier retracts his injured hand and gasps he didn’t give back Vulcan’s mind. He took it!A hand reaches from the egg. Now! he mutters. Cyclops asks if Gabriel is okay. Yes, he is, Gabriel replies. The shell is broken, brother. Now, it is happening now!Now:Arakko, the Diplomatic Zone:Addressing his former wife Deathbird with her given name, Vulcan asks he heard their union was blessed. How is his son? Somewhere safe, she hisses. Safe from the intrigues of the Shi’ar. Safe from the scientists and their endless experiments. Safe from them, she addresses him.Seems she has no problem with other children being part of the intrigues, he needles, to throw her niece to the wolves, is that it? “That’s ‘your royal niece,’ Mr. Summers”, Xandra corrects him from her throne. Deathbird hushes her. Mr. Summers was his father, he smirks. He is Emperor Vulcan.Gladiator steps in front of Xandra, announcing he is emperor no more. The days of his accursed rule are stricken from official memory. Is that so? Vulcan asks mildly. He can understand the desire to pretend. He’s a little embarrassed by those days himself – not his best work. He’ll do much better on his second reign…Unbelievable! Nova bursts out. Can someone X-affiliated tell him who was dumb enough to resurrect that creep. The mad king? During a period of Shi’ar unrest? Are they trying to start a war here?Frenzy points out he came out of the Fault alive. What were they supposed to do, throw him back? Nova snaps back that Vulcan started a galactic war for kicks. He dropped nega-bombs on inhabited worlds to see the fireworks! You don’t throw that guy back to hell - you fire him out of a krutacking cannon!Very evocative, Vulcan mocks. Shut it, war crimes! Nova snaps back. He asks Gladiator if he knew about this. Didn’t he think of what could happen? Gladiator replies, Xavier himself pronounced Vulcan safe. They chose to respect old alliances and chose mercy… As he speaks, he is getting weaker and finally sinks down. Vulcan sneers that Strontians are powered by their own confidence. They have an enlarged prefrontal cortex - just buzzing with electrical impulses. As an omega level energy manipulator, he can reroute those impulses. That’s what he thinks of mercy. What could happen? He calls Nova a stupid police man. It’s happening now!Grimly, Nova announces Vulcan is charged with crimes against sentient lives, under the pan-world treaty. He orders him to surrender. What is he going to do - use the Nova Force? Vulcan mocks. This Nova Force? He turns the energy against Nova. Frenzy tries to reach Brand, asking for SWORD security as she hits Vulcan. Brand doesn’t reply.The KEEP:Mentallo remarks that Frenzy would be pissed if she knew Brand was already watching. She is pissed at her anyway, Brand shrugs. It’s only her sense of duty that keeps Frenzy at her post. It’s a shame. At one point, she’d have let her into the inner circle as far as him. That inner circle paycheck does buy the kind of luxuries you can’t get in eco-hippy paradise, Mentallo grins. Shame about Frenzy. She was one of the best, but she caught the worst disease you can get in this game: caring what happens to the suckers…Frenzy screams as Vulcan blasts Paibok.Brand corrects him that she does care about – about everybody in the Sol system. Somebody has to. Somebody’s got to care enough to be the bad guy…The World Farm:Taki sulks back in the ship. He tries to contact the others. Instead, several robotic beings notice him and consider him a threat.“I’m not at home to nuisance callers today,” Orbis Stellaris, atop a giant armed robot, announces inside the World Farm, so he hopes they’ll excuse his rudeness by showing them out via the quickest way possible - their violent deaths! He fires a blast at Khora who dodges.Cable orders Zsen and Thunderbird to get him off-balance. The two go for cutting the robot’s tendons and Stellaris feels the body s pain. Cable shoots him. Stellaris mutters that the overlord class was apparently made to give orders, not to engage in combat. He will remember that. Fortunately, he has assistance within the room. He addresses the three sleeping Progenitors, ordering them to rise. Their creator commands!The creator has guests, the first Progenitor grins (with two sets of mouths with needle-sharp teeth).Manifold swears. He can sense the power of those three.Such a compliment, one of them replies, but he has greatness in him. A great tool for their purpose. May it take a closer look?It does something to Manifold, who is paralyzed.Cable orders Thunderbird to get his knife ready.The Diplomatic Zone:Vulcan takes out Frenzy by taking away her oxygen. Nova flies at him and is swatted away.Deathbird tries to appeal to him and he is disappointed that she would bow to the throne. The fire in her eyes is lost, but his fire burns forever! He fires a deadly blast at Xandra.On the KEEP, Mentallo asks to be excused. Brand tells him they have to look at what they do. That’ s the prize… She breaks off. Something is wrong!The Diplomatic Zone:Deathbird mocks she tried to warn him. Wonderful things, Shi’ar image inducers, comes a voice from the throne. They even do voices! Xandra couldn’t make it, Sunspot announces. “Fortunately, I rule.”Vulcan blusters that he will burn him alive for this. Roberto mildly reminds him they both eat solar energy. But please, give it a go. Find out which of them is hotter.Vulcan realizes Sunspot is a distraction. If Xandra isn’t here, he knows where to find her. He flies off.Deathbird smirks at Roberto. Vulcan would have incinerated him. Obviously, he replies, but even so he is better looking. It’s the moral victory that’s important.Vulcan lands outside the Autumn Palace. Brand contacts him via Mentallo to warn him this is not a smart move. He orders her to make her telepath stay out of his mind. Telepaths anger him, especially if they are of Xavier’s line like Xandra-Thronestealer.He enters and shouts he can feel she is here scratching at his mind. “You!” he states a moment later, He has been dreaming of this fight since before he died. Really? Storm asks, eyes ablaze. Sorry to keep him waiting…


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A Storm on the Horizon
Arakko, somewhere at a beautiful lakeside:A table for two has been set.Craig Marshall, NASA scientist, asks the cook if he is Arakkii. Saucier sniffs he is French-Krakoan. Though he does recommend the local cuisine. Simple fare, but he enthuses about the spices. He knows all about the Arakkii spices, Craig replies but loses trail of the rest of his sentence, when he looks up to see Storm, dressed in a seductive gown, make her entrance.She thinks to herself that he is a NASA astronaut with a doctorate in astrophysics, and another in soil and crop sciences. He’s made the cover of NOW twice. He may be the most ordinary man she’s ever been on a date with, but she doesn’t think that will be a problem.She apologizes for being late and he does the same for being underdressed. He politely moves her chair for her. She tells him not to worry. The last dinner she had here was with Dr. Doom. He didn’t even take his faceplate off. Craig is a vast improvement. So, this is a strictly diplomatic dinner? he asks playfully. She feels smitten by his smile and wonders when was the last time somebody simply flirted with her. When was the last time she flirted back?Let’s just say she is a firm believer in mutant-human relations… Saucier present chilled Krakoan gazpacho over caviar from Sobunar’s oceans as an amuse bouche. Craig admits that he had dinner at the White House, but this is something else.Ororo asks about the Arrakki children he adopted. He replies that Kobb still won’t talk, but he smiles. And Looloo is doing great. He describes how the folks at the Argyre Commune that took them in encourage Looloo to talk about her pain. It helped a lot. Ororo recalls that is also the way of the Fisher King: you can’t heal until you speak the pain.Craig admits he still has a lot to learn about Arakko, but then he got his briefing from Commander Brand and she wasn’t exactly painting the best picture. What happened to her? She is gone, Ororo replies. No one knows where. If she resurfaces, she’ll face their justice. If she’s lucky, Nova will find her first – she’s broken the Pan-World-Treaty a dozen ways.He was always a Night Thrasher fan himself, Craig refers to Nova’s former teammate. And a Storm fan, of course, he quickly adds. Of course, she agrees wryly. Seriously, he continues, he always thought the X-Men got a raw deal in the press. When Krakoa was founded, he hoped it would shine a light on the good the X-Men had done for the world. That maybe a new setting would help the people see the real them. They are in a new setting now, Storm points out. What does the real her look like to him? He is speechless.That moment, Charles Xavier telepathically interrupts the date and orders her to Krakoa. They need to talk about Erik!Storm thinks to herself that, when she was young, Xavier insinuated himself into her life to tell her what she was not. And for years after, she followed his dream. Now he summons her again – his soldier – as if nothing has changed. But too much has.Ororo apologizes to Craig. He will have to tell her on the second date. She figures they do have a lot to talk about.In the meantime, Sunspot is sharing a hot tub and dishing gossip with Nova (still wearing his helmet) and Kobak Never-Held. How do they think it is going? he asks. Not great, Nova replies grimly. The Proscenium is destroyed, Peter and Gamora are dealing with that, and he tries not to worry, but Glorp knows where they even are… and he’s keeping an eye on all the fires back home: rebel Skrulls, rogue Brood… and he still fears Arakko is a target. But his therapist says he’d quit, unless Nova took off six hours every week. So here he is hot-tubbing while the galaxy burns.Kobak tells him that’s wise. A warrior who cannot rest, can only die.Sunspot corrects them he was speculating on Storm’s date. Much as he is a fan of their resident galactic supercop. Nova goes off on a tangent about not being a cop and finishes with pointing out he is not a narcissistic billionaire in a fancy suit. Sunspot deadpans, he is completely naked, unlike some he could mention. Nova force overload, Rich explains the helmet. He needs to keep something on, or his cells start degrading. A likely story, Roberto replies wryly. He will show him how a daCosta reacts to an insult and challenges him to a soccer game. New Mutants against New Warriors. They’ll have Nova’s team crying for their mothers by halftime. Make it basketball and he is on! Nova retorts and asks if it’s true his old teammate Firestar is on Krakoa.Kobak apologizes but he is due to battle Calderak in the Circle Perilous for the Seat of Victory. Standing up and giving the others an unwanted eyeful, Kobak informs them he does not plan to yield. When they see him next, he will be on the Great Ring or dead. Do not wish him luck, for he will prevail by his strength and spines or not at all - but if he does not return, remember him.He walks away. Shouldn’t be a problem, Rich mutters. How many seats is that now? he asks. Almost a full house, Bobby replies. The candidates for the Seat of Dreams are still in a preliminary stage, but the Seat of Stalemate was decided yesterday. Has he met Lycaon yet? They are a little more imposing than poor Idyll. Imagine an Omega Wolverine and then double it.Suddenly, they see an energy flare in the sky. Roberto realizes it comes from the External Gate that was originally in Otherworld. It moved to Arakko when the Arakkii came to their reality, then it moved here. A flare like that means something big came through it… or someone. He tells Nova to suit up. This could become apocalyptic!On Krakoa, Storm joins Professor X at the Grove. He listlessly apologizes if he called her away from something important. It depends how he defines the word, she replies. She was taking a little time for herself. A commodity in short supply, but nothing as important as, say nurturing the crops of the people who gave her a home and support, when she had neither. Had he called her away from that work, they might have a problem.Flashback:The both recall how he did just that when he asked her to join the X-Men. He accused her of living a fantasy and offered the real world, telling her she was no goddess but a mutant with responsibilities.Present:Xavier asks if she still resents that he came to her all those years ago. Storm replies he told her she was living a fantasy and she was young enough to believe him. To believe helping her people survive was worth less than helping him…. And was he wrong? Xavier asks. How many times did she save the world? How many times did the X-Men save the universe, because she was there? She accuses him of seeing life as mathematics. He retorts his hand was forced. His X-Men were dying… his children! And he was alone. He didn’t even have Erik to turn to…Max, she corrects him. Taken aback, he agrees. He knows Magneto went back to his birthname, but… Erik Lehnsherr… Magnus. He was his oldest friend, who he knew as well as he knew himself. But he never knew Max. He never let him, he adds in a small voice. And that’s why he asked her here. Now he has to know. When Magnus died, Xavier was engaged in psychic warfare on a scale she cannot imagine. He felt him die but had no time for the fine details. Or so Xavier told himself. The truth is he flinched. He could not look at it. He didn’t have the strength, but now he is sole captain of the ship of state. And this business with Sinister… how he infected Xavier with his psyche… he must know: What did Magneto know? When did he know it? What were Magneto’s last words?They were private, Storm replies. Not from him, Xavier insists. From him most of all, she retorts. The talk of being “sole captain…” like a king on a throne… as if the Quiet Council are merely courtiers to be summoned…So, Magnus did see something! Xavier demands. He saw Sinister in Xavier when he left the Council? Storm carefully tells him she understands. The blazes she does! he cuts her off. He was his oldest friend! He died in her arms! He has right to know what he said and he is not asking!Storm coolly replies that she is no longer an X-Man and he no longer leads them. She respects him, but in what capacity does he presume to order her?Xavier threatens he could simply read her surface memories. She wouldn’t even notice her. Eyes ablaze, she tells him to try.He tries, she resists and finally throws him out of her mind.She reminds him he taught them to repel psychic probes, his Red Triangle psychic defense protocol. To be called on if they ever faced a telepath with evil intentions… or one who had lost control… What’s happening to him?He takes off the helmet and admits he is afraid. She doesn’t know what it’s like being claimed by Sinister. He didn’t control Xavier. He was him. Has he truly purged him? He thought so, but now he isn’t sure… Did Sinister introduce his strain to them during the council massacre or was that a decoy to disguise the real starting point? Before Krakoa, before any of this, he and Magneto came to Sinister. Resurrection is based on Sinister’s database. His evil is the foundation of their greatest good. If their Eden has a serpent, it wears a diamond on its brow. Or a club or a spade or a heart, he amends. Either way they are surrounded by enemies – within and without.Those who hate them for their success as a mutant nation and those who hate them for where they have failed. Moira lost her faith and turned against them. Max lost his and turned away. If he loses his faith… can their nation survive? Already there are so many cracks in the bedrock… and he is no fool. He knows that things are being kept from him. And he’s allowed it. He spent his whole life closing his eyes to what he could so easily pry into. But if he had looked into Sinister’s mind and forced his secrets from him – how much pain would it have spared the universe? Multiple timelines… trillions of lives… created and destroyed - and he could have stopped it. He could have ransacked his mind at any time.Xavier hesitates recalling that’s how the Sinister version of him used his power. To violate private thought, to control! Yet, how many times has he crossed the same line? Just now in his anger, he attempted it again. So, is he Sinister? Where’s the difference? The luxury of his guilt? And when paradise is lost for that guilt, because when action was needed he hesitated, what excuse will he give then?Storm hesitates, then reveals Max was thinking of Xavier when he died. He asked her to watch him. Xavier tries to interrupt. She continues he didn’t do that because he thought Charles was Sinister, but because he might be himself. Of the three that shared the dream of Krakoa, he is the last. And rather than allowing to pass his dream to other hands, he is trying to bear its weight alone, though it is crushing him!She floats upwards and believes that a measure of concern lay at the root of Max’s request. He was his friend. But after today? She is not! As she flies away, she warns him not to use the gate to Arakko again.Arakko:Sunspot and Nova have reached the External Gate. Nova takes a gravimetric scan and swears “Blue blazes.” Roberto jokes that when Nova uses alien swearwords he knows it’s bad, but when he uses “blue blazes…” it’s real bad. Nova agrees. He describes his scan like someone cutting through space. Carving a path between realities, closer with each swing… the gate begins to flare and the energy burst throws them backward.Jon Ironfire exits, somewhat astonished to see them. Seeing Purity in his hands, Sunspot figures breaktime is over. Is that what he thinks it is? Ironfire informs them the White Sword has fallen, and 99 of his champions with him. He is the last! He brings them Purity as proof of his last words. Tell them, he said, Genesis is coming…