Charlotte, North Carolina, the sun rises over the city, as an armored van pulls up at the rear of a bank. Security guards stand ready, while a bank employee walks towards the van. ‘Morning’ the driver calls out. ‘Not if you put the money on the Packers’ one of the guards mutters. ‘Now who told you to do that?’ the driver asks. The driver gets out of the van and asks the guard how his wife is. The guard replies that she is recovering, before the driver asks him how many more kids they are going to have. ‘Buddy, the baby store is closed’ the guard announces. The driver goes over to the woman from the bank and asks her what is with all the extra security. ‘Big transfer today’ the woman reveals. ‘18 million?’ the driver asks, to which the woman tells him to keep it down, but the driver remarks that he has never handled anything over a couple of a million.
The security guard points out that they get paid the same either way, before exclaiming ’Oh my God!’ as he sees something out of the corner of his eye. ’Lockdown! We are in lockdown!’ he shouts. ’God in -!’ the woman gasps. The other guards all raise their weapons - as Wolverine lunges towards them, accompanied by the original X-Men from the past - Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Angel and the Beast. They start attacking the guards. Iceman encases one in a block of ice, while Angel picks one up and takes him into the air. Cyclops fires a blast of optic energy at his opponent, as Wolverine lashes out with his claws. ‘This is why I don’t live in New York anymore!’ someone shouts as they start to run from the scene of the battle. Wolverine shoves his claws into two guards at the same time, before turning to the driver and asking ‘How much?’ The driver smiles and replies ‘18 million’. ‘It’s a start’ Wolverine mutters.
However, the van driver is suddenly gone, as Raven Darkholme a.k.a. Mystique reveals herself. ‘Damn right it is, Victor’ she tells her associate, Victor “Sabretooth” Creed, who was disguised as Wolverine. Sabretooth announces that if they are going to do this right, they are going to need a hell of a lot more. ‘Darling, we are just getting started’ Mystique points out, while leaning against the truck is Regan Wyngarde a.k.a. Lady Mastermind, who is responsible for creating the illusion of the young X-Men attacking the bank and guards, while explosions now erupt around them. ‘Can we go, Raven? Suddenly I feel like shopping’ the sultry Lady Mastermind remarks. ‘Shotgun’ Mystique replies.
Beast and Angel leap towards two bank employees, one of whom calls out ‘Please! No! I have children!’ while the other declares ‘I - I just work here!’ but, an instant later, Angel and the Beast - and the other X-Men - have vanished. The bank employees all look around, confused, while the bank vault has been emptied. ‘Oh no’ one of the security guards remarks. ‘What just happened?’ another asks. ‘Gary’s dead!’ the first security guard replies as he stands over his colleague, adding ‘What do you think just happened? Damn mutants!’
Meanwhile, the real Wolverine a.k.a. Logan, is at the Jean Grey School in Westchester, New York, staring out a window, along with Quentin Quire, the Stepford Cuckoos and several other students. ‘Come on, Wolverine! You have to give him props for having Galactus-sized cohones’ Quire grins. Logan just frowns and tells everyone to get back to their seats. ‘Do we get to watch the fight? Is there extra credit if we -’ Quire begins, but Wolverine tells him to shut up, as he stares down at the four renegade X-Men who have materialized on the front lawn - Scott “Cyclops” Summers, Emma Frost, Erik Lehnsherr a.k.a. Magneto and Illyana “Magik” Rasputin. Cyclops announces that he is not here to fight anyone, especially not fellow mutants. ‘We are here to clear the air as best we can and make you an offer’ he explains.
Kitty Pryde charges out the front door, ‘Scott Summers, are you out of your mind?’ she demands, while the past Cyclops stands nearby and remarks ‘It’s hard not to take that personally, Prof Kitty’. Kitty tells him that she meant the Cyclops over there. ‘I know, but still…’ the young Cyclops replies, while the present Cyclops begins to announce what his offer is.
‘If it involves you standing trial for the murder of Charles Xavier…we accept’ Bobby “Iceman” Drake tells his former friend. Ororo “Storm” Munroe and Henry McCoy a.k.a. the Beast stand nearby, as do the past Iceman, Beast, Angel a.k.a. Warren Worthington and Jean “Marvel Girl” Grey, and several other students, including Anole and Blindfold. ‘We all have many sins to atone for, Bobby’ the present Cyclops tells his former teammate. ‘But only one of us murdered Charles Xavier in front of the rest of us’ Iceman points out.
‘Yes. It did happen in front of many of you. But do you think that’s exactly what happened? Do you think that I set out to murder a man who raised me?’ Cyclops asks. He steps forward and continues his speech: ‘The man who picked me up out of the gutter and taught me everything I know. The man who gave my life purpose and meaning beyond anything I thought I would have ever…you think that, in control of myself, I murdered this man? If you think that I murdered Charles Xavier of my own free will…then here I am…kill me here. I couldn’t live with the thought that any of you even think that is who I am’ Cyclops declares. Wolverine makes his way to the front of the crowd. Pushing past Kitty, he leers at Cyclops and grits his teeth. Cyclops, his eyes hidden by his mask, says nothing.
Suddenly, the ground bursts up from beneath the renegade X-Men, tossing them into the air, this is no ordinary ground, but the living island known as the second Krakoa, it opens its mouth, and swallows the four powerful mutants whole. ‘Whoa! What was that!?’ the past Iceman gasps. ‘That is Krakoa. He’s, you know, a mutant…too’ Kitty explains. ‘The front lawn is a mutant? I love this place!’ the past Iceman exclaims.
Wolverine starts to tell Krakoa to let them out, but, from within Krakoa, there is a powerful surge of brilliant blue light, and an instant later, Krakoa spit’s the four mutants to the ground. ‘I can’t believe that happened again’ Emma mutters, while Magik readies her large sword and snarls that this time, she kills it. ‘X-Men, I came here for a reason’ Cyclops declares.
Wolverine points at Cyclops, and tells him that it is almost worth not killing him when he had the chance, to watch things like that happen. Storm puts a hand on Wolverine’s shoulder as he tells Cyclops ‘You need to #$@# the @#$@#$ off’. Cyclops stands his ground though, ‘Not until I have said what I came here to say’ he states. Logan tells Cyclops that no one wants to hear him talk himself out of taking responsibility for the @#$@ he has done in his life. ‘Gut him, teach’ Quire smiles. ‘Shut up’ Wolverine tells his irritating pupil. ‘What do you want?’ the past Cyclops asks his present self. The present Cyclops announces that they have opened a school, and Emma reports that they are accepting applications now. ‘Even from time-displaced original X-Men who are probably destroying the fabric of time and space by being here’ Magik remarks.
‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’ Kitty exclaims. Cyclops tells Kitty that she does good work here, that they all do, but that they are days, weeks, months away from a push-back on their own people, and they have to be ready. Magneto steps forward and points out that new mutants are popping up all over the world, and with that will come confusion that will lead to fear that will lead to hatred. ‘With that will come a series of violent attacks on our people’ he adds. ‘It always does. We can train you to fight back and fight for each other’ he offers. ‘At the New Xavier School’ Cyclops reveals. ‘The New Xavier School?’ Quentin Quire asks. ‘Summers, this is weird. Even for you’ Kitty declares. ‘And in terrible taste’ Iceman points out. ‘That’s what I meant’ Kitty adds, while Storm tells Cyclops that he really should leave. ‘Xavier School? All right, you son of a -’ Wolverine begins, raising a fist, before Marvel Girl approaches him, and, calling him “James”, quietly asks him ‘What will that do?’
Cyclops announces that everyone here has a choice. ‘Stay here and know that we, as your fellow mutants, will protect this school from all comers. With everything we have’ he declares. ‘We don’t want your -’ Kitty begins, but Emma interrupts, stating that the New Xavier School is where they will train to fight and fight back hard. The Stepford Cuckoos look at their former mentor, while Cyclops turns to the young X-Men from the past, ‘We tried being messengers… we tried being pacifists… we tried hiding in plain sight. We tried everything but letting them know what we really truly are. What Xavier trained us to be’ he announces. ‘What is that, Scott?’ the present Beast asks as he walks over to his former friend. ‘Warriors’ Cyclops replies. ‘Who will do anything for what we believe is right’ Cyclops adds, before pointing out that Hank is the poster boy for that. ‘Really?’ Hank replies, frowning.
‘You’re not?’ Cyclops asks, telling Hank that he does whatever he thinks is right - no matter what the cost to space or time, no matter what the cost to their future or past. ‘We are fighters’ Cyclops declares. He points a finger at the Beast, reminding him that since they were kids, they have fought with everything they have. ‘And I say we remember that and we take this huge second chance our people have been given and we fight for our right for all of us to live in this world because if we don’t… who will?’ he asks. Hank narrows his eyes and glares at Scott.
Cyclops then turns to the original X-Men, ‘Jean, um, me, all of you. It is good to see you. I don’t know how long you plan on staying here. But you should go home’ Cyclops tells the young X-Men. ‘Really’ Magik adds.
Cyclops tells them that he looks at them and that he wishes he still saw the world as simply as he did back then - he really does. The young X-Men listen intently as Cyclops tells them that he knows his words seem scary, and he knows seeing him with Magneto must seem insane to them, but that he has learned through experience that the world won’t help them. ‘We have to help ourselves’ Magneto declares. ‘Ask your friend Hank McCoy how the Phoenix ended up in us in the first place’ he suggests. ‘Then see if you’re so willing to blame me for this thing you know deep down I would have never done’ he adds, as Magik casts a teleportation spell, and a brilliant blue light surrounds the four renegade X-Men. ‘Anyone who is ready to come with us… we will be back later to take you to your new life. Think about it. That’s all I ask’ Cyclops suggests. As the four X-Men fade out, Cyclops past and present look at each other. The Stepford Cuckoos look intrigued. The present Beast frowns while the past Angel looks thoughtful. Emma Frost stares at the young Jean Grey, who frowns back at her.
And, as quickly as they arrived, the renegade X-Men have vanished. ‘Rrrrhate him!’ Wolverine growls, clenching his fists. ‘What did that mean? What about the Phoenix?’ young Cyclops asks, confused. Kitty explains that Tony Stark accidentally dropped the Phoenix on him. ‘The cosmic force I told you about’ she reminds him. ‘The Phoenix drove me crazy and then I killed Xavier’ young Cyclops remarks. ‘I know you’re trying to reconcile this but -’ Kitty begins, but young Cyclops interrupts, and tells Kitty that is different from what she told him. ‘No, it isn’t’ the present Beast declares, revealing that the present Cyclops reveled in that power. ‘He, just like you heard then, he sees himself as the one to make things the way they should be… according to him’ Beast explains. ‘And you don’t?’ young Cyclops frowns.
Anole looks on as the Beast looms down over young Cyclops, and tells him ’You should have done everything in your power to contain and control your - himself and exorcise that power. Instead you jumped at the chance to abuse it and now you are so surprised that it didn’t work out’.
‘Tony Stark accidentally put me in that position’ young Cyclops replies. ‘Tony Stark loaded the gun… you pulled the trigger’ Hank tells him. ‘Not me. He, not me’ young Cyclops points out. ‘Fine’ Hank mutters. ‘This isn’t what you said’ young Cyclops remarks, pointing at Hank. ‘It is exactly what I said’ Hank replies, pointing out that Cyclops is putting together an army to fight the humans and using Xavier’s name to do it. ‘That fight will be the end of our ability to live peacefully among the -’ but young Cyclops interrupts him, ‘Stop it! Just stop it!’ he shouts. He then turns and walks away, while everyone watches him.
‘Back to class’ Wolverine tells Armor, Glob Herman, Match, Quentin and the other students who stare at young Cyclops. None of them move, until Wolverine shouts ‘NOW!’
Meantime, at the Raft, Rykers Maximum Security Installation, where SHIELD officers look at up a helicopter which lands on the prison. Maria Hill, the harsh high-ranking SHIELD leader emerges from the chopper, but the agents aim their weapons at her. She tells them to be at ease. ‘On your knees! Hands on your knees!’ one agent orders, as others approach her and cuff her. ‘I am Acting SHIELD Director, Maria Hill! You called me here!’ Maria reminds the officers. ‘Grab her weapons!’ another officer calls out. ‘I said, at ease!’ Maria shouts, while another agent uses a device to scan her. ‘She reads clean. Sorry, Director’ the agent remarks. Maria frowns and asks to be shown what happened here. ‘She - she came in here with Victor Creed… Sabretooth. She looked just like - just like you’ an agent explains. ‘Damn’ Maria utters, wide-eyed, as she looks at the dead bodies, now in body bags, lining the corridor of the prison cells.
One of the SHIELD agents informs Maria that they believe it was Sabretooth and not a shape-shifter, and that he is the one who killed all of these men. ‘The security footage is unsettling’ he explains. Maria asks who they got and how many escaped, to which the agent reveals that there was just one. ‘All this for just one prisoner. Who?’ Maria enquires. ‘Her alias is Mastermind, ma’am’ the SHIELD officer reports. ‘Mastermind was a dude’ Maria points out. ‘This is his daughter. One of them’ the officer replies, announcing that, according to the files, she can make you see things. ‘And as you can see there…’ his voice trails off. ‘A shape-shifter came in here with Sabretooth and took Baby Mastermind?’ Maria asks, looking thoughtful as the agent tells her that intel says Lady Mastermind used to be an X-Man.
Back at the Jean Grey School, Wolverine, Storm, Kitty, Iceman and the Beast have gathered in a library with Marvel Girl and the young Iceman, Beast and Angel. ‘I couldn’t read their minds’ Marvel Girl laments. Gazing out a window, Storm explains that Magneto’s helmet lets him dodge a psychic attack, from way back in his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants days. Kitty supposes that Magneto has the entire team outfitted with tech to dodge Marvel Girl after their last encounter. ‘Damn. We could’a had their base of operations. Just like that’ Wolverine points out, while Kitty suggests that they are probably hiding out on Utopia somewhere. ‘It’s the first place we’d look. He’s at the last place we’d look’ Storm remarks. Juggling some snowballs, the young Iceman calls out ‘Or maybe the last place we’d look is the first place he thinks we’d look’. Storm, Wolverine and Kitty just stare at him. ‘Shutting up now’ young Iceman mutters.
Jean points out that Scott Summers seems genuinely as disappointed in Wolverine, Storm and the others as they are with him. ‘I noticed that too’ young Angel adds. Young Hank asks if any of the students will go with him. Kitty reports that the Stepford Cuckoos will probably go, as they were only here in the first place because of Emma. ‘Oh well, no more creepy crazy identical triplet stares’ Iceman points out. ‘Quentin Quire? Just to be a little -? Kitty suggests. ‘Oh well again’ Iceman remarks.
Wolverine tells his friends that under normal circumstances, this would be an amazing opportunity. ‘To send someone in under-cover’ Storm remarks. Present Iceman states that Emma Frost is one of the strongest psychics on the planet. ‘I said under normal circumstances’ Wolverine declares. ‘When have we ever been under normal circumstances?’ Iceman asks. ‘Never’ Kitty, Logan and Storm reply in unison.
Jean gazes out the window while Kitty states that whatever anyone decides, they have to let them do what they want to do, as everyone has their own path to follow. Jean sees young Cyclops walking across the grounds, when suddenly, ‘Uh-oh, SHIELD is on the line’ Kitty calls out as they get a video-call. ‘Uh-oh’ Wolverine mutters. ‘Yeah, I know, I just said that’ Kitty remarks. ‘What is SHIELD?’ young Bobby asks.
Maria Hill’s image appears via hologram, ‘X-People’ she calls out. ‘What’s the problem, Director Hill?’ Kitty asks. ‘You wouldn’t happen to know where Raven Darkholme is? She’s not on staff there or anything?’ Maria asks. ‘Mystique? No’ Iceman replies. ‘No’ the Beast agrees. ‘No’ Kitty declares. ‘Are you sure?’ Maria asks, while the Beast asks what has happened now.
‘For starters, Regan Wyngarde has been broken out of prison by Raven Darkholme and your good buddy Sabretooth. And it seems that they have wasted no time in going on a country-wide bank robbing spree that will put them in the record books’ Maria reports. She continues, announcing that there are lot of dead civilians and SHIELD agents which means that there is a real problem. ‘If I knew where the hell Captain America was I would be telling him…but I don’t so I’m telling you’ Maria adds, before asking once again, for the record, so that they are clear: ‘None of you have been in contact with Raven Darkholme?’ ‘Not recently’ Wolverine tells him, but Kitty remarks ‘That’s, uh, not true exactly’. ‘Scott…’ Jean utters, turning away from the window.
Outside, the sky glows red, and Cyclops turns as a blue energy appears - the renegade X-Men have returned. ‘You’re still here? Why don’t you go home?’ Cyclops asks his past self. ‘I mean, back to your time’ he adds. ‘We voted to stay’ young Cyclops explains. ‘Why?’ the present Cyclops asks. ‘Because now we know what happens to us when we go home. We know that Jean dies and we know that Xavier dies. And we as a group don’t feel we are going to do what we set out to do…so we’re going to stay here and do what we set out to do’ young Cyclops declares. ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ Emma exclaims. Wolverine, Storm, Kitty, the past X-Men and several students gather around now, as Cyclops asks the renegade X-Men ‘You wouldn’t take a second chance if you were given it?’
‘No one gave you anything. You’re stealing it’ Emma points out. ‘As promised, we have returned. So…who among you will answer the call?’ the present Cyclops asks. ‘We will’ a voice calls out, as the Stepford Cuckoos break away from the other young mutants. ‘Celeste, “Mindee” and Phoebe Cuckoo’ Cyclops states. ‘It’s gotta be better than here. Anything would be’ one of the girls remarks. Cyclops adds that he was hoping the Cuckoos would continue their training with them. ‘Is there anyone else?’ he asks. Kitty and Wolverine give each other side-ways looks, while the young Jean, Warren and Bobby all look at each other. Energy begins to flow around the renegade X-Men as Magik prepares to teleport them away. ‘We’re staying here to do what we set out to do as X-Men. What you’re offering…isn’t it’ young Cyclops declares, pointing at his present self.
Suddenly though, ‘I’m coming with you!’ a voice calls out. ‘No’ the past Cyclops calls out as he turns to the direction of the voice. ‘Oh no’ Kitty adds. ‘You - you can’t do this!’ Wolverine exclaims….
