Iceland,
where Magneto aims the Blackbird at the Inhumans and mutants who battle
each other on snow-covered terrain, while Storm hovers in the air,
“possessed” by Mosaic.
Queen Medusa tells herself that this isn't about Terrigen – Havok told her. It's about Emma. Emma and Scott.
As the young Ms Marvel moves towards Emma Frost, Emma exclaims 'Just look at them all. This is perfect'.
Up
on a hillside nearby, the royal Inhumans have arrived. Medusa is
surrounded by Black Bolt, Crystal, the Human Torch, Karnak, Lockjaw,
Reader, Flint, Synapse, Naja and Frank McGee. 'MUTANTS!' Medusa shouts.
Magneto hears her and turns to the royals, using his power to move the
Blackbird towards them. 'Crystal. Johnny. If you please' Medusa asks her
sister and lover. Crystal directs shards of ice upwards towards
Magneto, while the Human Torch launches a fireball towards the
Blackbird, causing it to explode. A large chunk of ice slams into
Magneto as Crystal exclaims 'That's for destroying my ship'.
The
mutants regroup as Iceman, Rogue, the female Wolverine, Old Man Logan,
the Stepford Cuckoos, the time-displaced Beast and Angel and the
Sentinel called Cerebra gather around Emma, who tells them that they can
still win this, that Black Bolt can't use his voice. She adds that
Magik and Nightcrawler will bring reinforcements, so they just need to
hold on. Emma turns to the Cuckoos and instructs them to take control of
the non-royals and turn them to their side. She reminds them that it
worked in Madrid, so it should work here. Emma adds that she will take
Johnny Storm and soon his little mind will become hers. 'And then...
well, no one likes the smell of burning hair, but needs must' Emma
remarks. Rogue tells her that she thought they were here to rescue
Forge, not kill Inhumans. 'Oh, Rogue, you poor naive dear... it was
always going to be both' Emma replies as she and the Cuckoos take over the minds of the Human Torch, Inferno, Grid and Quake.
'Gah!
Johnny! What are you doing?' Crystal exclaims, throwing up a deflective
elemental force field around herself and Medusa to protect them from
the flame funnel he directs at them. Quake knocks back Frank McGee,
while Grid attacks Reader and Synapse. 'That's not Johnny. Emma has him.
She has them all' Medusa explains.
Through Storm's eyes, Mosaic
sees what is transpiring below. 'What the hell?' he wonders, before
deciding that he will try to cool things down. But as he start's to use
Storm's power, Naja leaps at Storm. 'Naja! Wait! I'm not Storm, I'm
Mosai-' Mosaic tries to call out, but Naja knocks Storm unconscious.
An
instant later, Magik teleports into the battle with Psylocke, Archangel
and Glob Herman. 'They took out Storm? Not good' Archangel remarks,
while Psylocke sees that Magneto has been taken out, too. 'What are we
supposed to do?' Glob asks. 'My God, could it be any more obvious? Fight
them!' Emma shouts. Magik and the others enter the battle, and Emma
walks away from them, 'What do they need? Engraved #$%&$%
invitations?' she mutters to herself.
Suddenly, Black Bolt leaps
at Emma, but Emma spins around and shoves her diamond-hard arm through
his chest. 'What?' the Human Torch utters, while Black Bolt hangs from
Emma's arm, and Emma tells him that he was too slow, but that he
shouldn't lose sleep over it, as most are. Suddenly, Emma is knocked
over and Black Bolt falls from her arm as Lockjaw teleports on top of
her, with Karnak riding Lockjaw. He tells Emma that she is flawed.
'Flawed? Flawed? I'm perfect, you weird little -' Emma replies as Lockjaw quickly teleports away with Black Bolt and Karnak.
Another
portal opens and Colossus and Havok appear. Colossus tells Havok that
this is completely out of control. Havok remarks that Colossus sounds
surprised, and remarks that he isn't, as it was Emma's idea right from
the start. Havok then unleashes a powerful energy blast.
Psylocke,
Old Man Logan and the female Wolverine back Medusa, Reader and Frank
McGee up against an ice-covered slope. Psylocke tells Medusa to give it
up. 'I have a sword. You can't beat me with hair' she points out. 'Oh?'
Medusa replies, wrapping her around Psylocke's waist, she pulls Psylocke
in close to her, and with hair bound around her own arm, Medusa punches
Psylocke's face. 'You'd be surprised' Medusa replies. Medusa stands
over Psylocke as Reader, who goes up against Wolverine, tells her that
they need to go, as they are losing. 'They keep teleporting in more
mutants, and those damn psychics can turn our own people against us!'
Reader calls out. 'No! They attacked our home, Reader! We have to show
them here and now – never again!' Medusa responds. Reader's
visor lights up as he tells Medusa that they have no choice, as Black
Bolt is down, and even if he wasn't, he doesn't have his voice. 'We
don't have the numbers!' Reader exclaims – when suddenly, a large
blimp-like aircraft appears through the nearby Terrigen Cloud.
'Don't
suppose that thing's on our side?' Old Man Logan asks as he battles
Frank McGee. 'Sorry, Bub. That's Ennilux' Frank McGee announces. Looking
up at Ennilux, Medusa declares that it is Ahura – her son!
On the
deck, Ahura can be seen with Forge, Iso, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur
and several Ennilux soldiers. 'For Inhumanity! For Ennilux!' Ahura
shouts, as Ennilux opens fire, blasting down to the snow-covered
landscape below and striking Archangel, Nightcrawler, Iceman, Psylocke
and Colossus, who urges everyone to get to cover. 'Hello, mother' Ahura
calls out as he is lowered on a platform towards Medusa. Medusa thanks
her son, and adds that she didn't think he would get involved. She asks
him what convinced him to finally commit Ennilux to the Inhuman cause?
Ahura reveals that he almost didn't – as he thought his parents could
handle themselves. 'I might have been a bit generous there' Ahura
remarks, adding that this isn't really about the Inhumans. 'It's about them' Ahura points out as he motions to Old Man Logan and Wolverine, who have been taken down by Frank McGee and Reader.
'What?
The X-Men? I don't -' Medusa starts to reply, but Iso rushes over to
her and tells her that this isn't what she thinks, informing her that
the mutants didn't attack them for revenge – or at least not completely.
Iso reveals that the Terrigen saturation levels are reaching a critical
point in Earth's atmosphere, so if the mutants can't destroy the cloud
now – they will die. Watching as the battle rages, Medusa asks why the mutants didn't just tell
them this, as they would have found a solution, and it didn't have to
become this. Iso explains that the mutants didn't think they had time to
negotiate, and weren't sure she would agree to destroy the cloud.
Moon
Girl stands in front of Medusa and holds up a small device. She tells
Medusa that when they found all that out, they went to Ennilux and asked
Ahura to help her and Forge make this. 'It's a teeny tiny Terrigen
eater. Press the red button, you get a chain reaction. Bye-bye,
Terrigen... everywhere' Moon Girl announces, while Medusa looks at the
device.
Emma watches some distance away from the battle as the
Terrigen Cloud moves in closer. 'Here it is, my darling – the end, at
last' Emma utters. 'I'll see you soon' she quietly adds.
Iso tells
Medusa, who holds the device, that it is too big a call for them, and
that they have only been Inhumans for a little while. 'You understand
what this will mean to our people in ways we just... can't. The decision
isn't ours to make' Iso explains. 'You're right, Iso...' Medusa
replies.
'No... NO!' Magneto shouts as the Terrigen Cloud engulfs Cerebra and moves inches away from him.
'...it's mine'
Medusa realizes as she clicks the button on the Terrigen eater device. A
red beam is emitted from Ennilux towards the Terrigen Cloud. The
mutants and Inhumans shield their eyes from a brilliant light that
follows as the Terrigen Cloud begins to vanish – eventually clearing
from all over the planet Earth.
Storm wakes, and looks up at the
sky 'By the Goddess... it's over' she utters as everyone around her,
including Sabretooth, Magneto, the time-displaced Jean Grey, Beast and
Angel, Crystal, Iceman, Gorgon, Karnak, Emma Frost, Ms Marvel, Inferno,
Quake and the Human Torch stands and looks.
'Why are you all
stopping? We can end them!' Emma Frost screams, with Iceman, Mystique,
Rogue and Colossus nearby. The time-displaced Cyclops watches as Storm
flies over to Emma and tells her that it is done – they have achieved
their goal. 'No, Ororo. We most certainly have not. These alien Inhuman
monsters just get to walk away? Absolutely not!' Emma declares,
reminding Storm that they killed Cyclops, and asks her if she has
forgotten that. 'Where is our revenge for that?' Emma asks. Cyclops
steps forward and announces that it is a lie, and informs Storm that
Cyclops died long before Madrid, and that Emma made them think he was
still alive – everything they saw was really her. 'Black Bolt didn't
kill Cyclops. He died in an accident, before we knew that Terrigen could
hurt mutants. Before anyone knew' the young Cyclops explains.
'Emma – tell me that's not true. All those months of distrust and fear... Alchemy's death... why?'
Storm asks. Emma tells her that it is what Scott would have wanted,
that she knew him better than anyone else, that she could read his mind
even when she wasn't reading his mind. 'It's what he would have wanted'
Emma declares, adding 'So is this' as she presses a button on a small
device, and there is a loud BOOM in the sky overhead.
Storm and
the others look upwards as several objects are thrust towards the
snow-covered terrain, landing near the Inhumans and mutants, forming
large craters in the snow. 'Medusa? What should we do?' an Inhuman asks.
Archangel and Old Man Logan stand ready, as Logan mutters that it is
never over. Suddenly, a large hand emerges from one of the craters – and
four large Sentinels pulls themselves up onto the snow. Emma Frost
stands in front of the Sentinels and exclaims 'Mutants live in fear.
It's almost our defining characteristic. Everything wants us dead.
Sentinels in particular. An entire class of machines, designed solely to
exterminate us'.
One of the Sentinels lowers a large hand to the
snow and Emma steps onto it, looking at Storm and Cyclops, she explains
that you can flip a switch or two, make a few adjustments and suddenly,
your mutant-killers get a taste for Inhumans. She supposes that their
species aren't all that different when it comes right down to it. The
Sentinel raises its hand as Emma calls out 'Fear, Medusa...tell me how
it tastes'. Suddenly, the Sentinels open fire at the large blimps
overhead, and Ennilux bursts into flames. Emma laughs as she watches the
flames and destruction, and wonders why she didn't start with this. A
large surge of energy is directed to the ground, and Ahura leaps for
safety, but Inferno is frozen in fear, so Logan lunges at him. 'Down,
you idiot!' he exclaims, pushing Inferno into the snow. Inferno looks up
at Logan: 'You... you... saved my life! But I set you on fire!' Inferno
reminds him. Logan tells the young Inhuman that he remembers. 'Wasn't
the first time, won't be the last' he remarks, adding that life is too
long for grudges.
Ahura looks shocked, and exclaims 'Those
zeppelins... they were full of my people... she just killed all those
people!' to which Logan tells him that he knows. 'Let's make sure it
ends there!' Logan suggests as he runs towards two of the Sentinels who
are blasting eye beams into the snow.
As Storm blasts some
lightning towards the enemy Sentinels, Forge is standing near Cerebra
and Forge informs the Sentinel that he thinks he recognizes those
things, that Emma got into his head and made him build them. 'I never
meant... I would never have...' Forge's voice trails off, as Cerebra
tells him not to worry, and offers to destroy them all for him – but an
instant later Cerebra explodes, destroyed. 'CEREBRA!' Forge calls out.
Magneto
hovers near Emma and levitates shards of scrap metal. 'Thank you,
Erik. Extremely kind' Emma tells Magneto, who replies 'Of course. After
all, it's like I always tell people... Emma was right...' Magneto's eyes are blank – as if he was being mentally manipulated.
The
Sentinel assault continues, while Medusa, the Human Torch and Black
Bolt huddle behind some rocks. Medusa tells the others that she needs to
get up there, as Frost can't get through her psychic shields, so if she
can take her down, this is over. The Human Torch offers to fly Medusa
up and drop her right on top of Emma, but Medusa tells him that when
things are dark they need to inspire – and Black Bolt extends a hand to
Medusa. An instant later, Black Bolt takes to the air, flying upwards
and carrying Medusa with him. Moon Girl, Frank McGee, Karnak, Mosaic,
Gorgon, Inferno, Ms Marvel, Crystal, Quake and Reader all look up and
watch. 'Medusda' Moon Girl utters. 'And Black Bolt. Together. That's...'
Karnak begins. 'Beautiful' Cystal declares.
Black Bolt flies away
after dropping Medusa on the head of one of the Sentinels. 'Frost!'
Medsua calls out. Emma turns and looks up at Medusa and remarks 'Should
have expected you'd want the big, dramatic finish'. The Sentinels
continue to blast at the ground below, as the mutants and Inhumans rush
towards the Sentinels. 'Such a drama queen' Emma tells Medusa. 'No. Just
a queen' Medusa scowls, while shards of metal controlled by Magneto
slam into two of the Inhumans down below. Suddenly, the Sentinel that
Medusa and Emma are standing on is blown apart – by the Human Torch.
'Johnny!' Medusa gasps as she and Emma are flung into the air. 'Who
knew, Medusa? I can be inspiring, too' the Human Torch calls back. With
Emma distracted as she plummets down to the ground, Magneto becomes free
of her mental control. 'Frost. You took my mind you took my mind. I
will tear you in -' Magneto calls out, until he is shunted aside by a
blast of energy from Havok. 'I'm sorry, Erik. Another time' Havok tells
him.
In her diamond form, Emma finds herself tangled in Medusa's
hair, unable to break free. 'You gave the order. You told Black Bolt to
kill Scott' Emma exclaims, reminding Medusa that she was in her head,
she saw what Medusa was thinking – that it would be so much simpler if
Cyclops was dead. Storm electrocutes one of the Sentinels, while Medusa
tells Emma that she must have seen how much she loathed herself for
being unable to find any other way. 'But now I know the truth. And so I
ask you, Emma Frost – even though that diamond form keeps you out of my
head... what am I thinking now?' Medusa responds, her hair tightening around Emma's throat.
Emma
lets out a groan, before a small chunk of diamond drops to the snow. An
instant later, Medusa is blasted away, and her hair pulls back from
around Emma, releasing her. Emma looks over to Havok: 'What in the –
thank you' she tells him. Havok, carrying a small teleport device, goes
over to Emma and tells her that he is not doing this for her – he is
doing it for Scott. 'This is what I owe him. And this is where
that ends' Havok announces, as Medusa watches Havok activate the
teleport device and disappear with Emma.
Later, on Muir Isle:
Storm,
Old Man Logan and the time-displaced Jean Grey stand around the cell
holding the Beast. Storm tells him that she doesn't know what to say.
The Beast points out that he is still alive, and so are the rest of
them, which means that the Terrigen problem was somehow beaten.
Elsewhere, Medusa thinks that forgiveness is hard, and notes that she
has reached out to McCoy, who replied with a very short note, blaming
himself, whether that is warranted or not. Storm frees the Beast from
the cell and the Beast tells her that whatever decisions she made, they
were, apparently correct. 'And we all get to live with them' he adds.
Storm doesn't respond. Medusa suspects that the Beast may be done with
all of this for a while – time will tell.
Medusa knows that Emma
Frost has gone to ground. She is not surprised by this, as the X-Men
want her as badly as the Inhumans do, but there aren't many safe havens
out there for the White Queen. Medusa suspects that Emma will give
herself away eventually, though, as from what she has seen, Emma Frost
has a hard time of letting things go.
Elsewhere, Emma sits in a
large arm chair, fire raging in the fireplace in front of her,, a black
helmet with a large red X across the front sits on a table. Emma stands
up and reveals a red-spiked black costume with long cape, and puts the
helmet on over her head.
Then there is Medusa. In New Attilan, she
sits on her throne, her people kneeling before her. There is no
question in Medusa's mind that she did the right thing, as their
species' ability to transform through Terrigenesis does not outweigh the
lives of even a single mutant, much less all of them. But many Inhumans
did not understand – years spent telling their children of the glory of
emergence into their true forms... which they now will never see. Three
children look upset – one of them cries. Being inhuman used to mean
change. Now, they are what they are and nothing more. It had to be done,
and the weight of it had to land on her, as she is the queen – or she was.
Medusa has abdicated. Medusa looks over to Iso who is surrounded by
Inferno, Karnak, Triton, Moon Girl and Ms Marvel. Medusa has given Iso
her authority over New Attilan, as Iso has earned the people's trust.
Medusa knows that Iso will govern well, but recalls Iso saying something
to her about elections! Medusa looks closely at Iso and realizes that
these will be the first elections in Attilan in two hundred centuries.
Medusa wonders if perhaps the Inhumans are not finished with change
after all.
Medusa steps onto a balcony as the sun sets over New
Attilan. She has been thinking about the why of everything Emma Frost
did. Medusa thinks it is simple – Emma lost her love and it drove her
mad. 'Love is dangerous' Medusa thinks to herself as she sees the Human
Torch, looking out over the city. 'Medusa? What -' Johnny begins as she
grabs his face and puts her lips close to his. 'Goodbye, Johnny. And
thank you. For all of it' Medusa tells Johnny.
She thinks this is
why she tends to choose duty, but now though, even that is gone. Johnny
watches Medusa walk away, telling herself that for the first time, there
are no expectations of her.
'No rule, no ruling, no rules' Medusa
smiles to herself. For the first time she can remember, anything can
happen. Wearing a long purple dress, Medusa leans up against the bar at
the Quiet Room. It looks like a shard of diamond is on the bar, as Black
Bolt stands behind it, and he and Medusa look at each other and
smile.
