Jean sits on her bed, and says that it’s her birthday today. Scott, standing in front of her, smiles he knows that, hence the gift he’s holding. Trying to find the right words, Jean explains that’s not what she meant. She means, with all that’s happened recently... everything they’ve... she has been through, plus the things with the Shi’ar, Elliot Boggs... “uh,” Jean adds, everything that’s going on with Kurt and the fact that Dazzler left the team, she doesn’t know if she’s supposed to celebrate herself turning twenty. Scott tells Jean she could at least open his gift. Jean takes the gift, and says that she isn’t a teenager anymore, which should be a big deal, but... She stops her phrase right there, and thanks Scott for the present. She thinks it’s really sweet and appreciates it, but thinks opening gifts will have to wait until later.
At the very moment, outside the school...
Xavier rolls his wheelchair out of a limo and thanks the driver, Mr. Westerfield, for the ride home. As Westerfield drives away, Xavier starts going back inside the school, until a mocking voice holds him back. It’s Quicksilver! Pietro jokes that the fact the Professor is sneaking into the school after an overnight stay with a woman he barely knows. Pietro doesn’t want to overstep his bounds, but he must say he thinks it’s seems somehow beneath Charles. He wonders what Xavier’s students would think if they found him like this.
The Professor thinks his students would find he is an adult who can think for himself and make his own decisions. And he’s hardly sneaking. When he asks Quicksilver what he’s doing there, Pietro hands Xavier over a small box, mentioning it’s a special delivery from Nick Fury. Xavier accepts it and Pietro immediately leaves afterward.
Moments later, in Xavier’s study...
Xavier shares a video conversation with Nick Fury. He has opened the box from Fury and, inside, he found a gray bracelet. He asks Fury if it’s really just that, which Nick confirms. He explains that after learning of Charles’ plan to keep Jean at his school despite her recent – and past – episodes, he thought the bracelet was something Charles would need. He can assure the Professor it’s quite humane.
Charles doesn’t deny something like the bracelet is necessary, but he’ll admit he doesn’t like the idea of forcing Jean to wear this device. Fury suggests that Charles convinces the girl to wear it on her own. He mustn’t let Jean think she’s being forced. Fury also needs to ask Charles if he’s sure he’s making the right move here. He already had a couple of questionable students on his team. He really needs to know if Charles wants another one, and wants to know what’s between Charles and Jean.
The Professor states that he trusts Jean Grey entirely. Even more so than Scott. He tells Fury that, if his device works, he’s confident Jean will be able to interact with her fellow students without incident. Possibly, she can even take a more active role in the X-Men again. But Charles realizes only time will tell for certain.
Fury is confident the device will work. He explains it was developed for the Hulk... something to use on Banner if he began to transform. Unfortunately, the device wasn’t completed in time for him. One hit from this and Jean’s nervous system will shut down, rendering her unconscious. Nick adds that all they did was install a psychic trigger, which packs quite a kick. He asks Charles if he’s sure he will be able to use the device. Charles can assure Fury that when the time comes and he can’t activate the bracelet, he’s sure Jean will. Fury hopes Charles is right on that, and logs out. Charles sighs, and telepathically contacts Jean. He asks her to come to his study as soon as she has a free moment, because he needs to talk to her.
In the game room of the school...
With both Colossus and Shadowcat sitting behind them, Iceman and Rogue continue to play video games. Bobby corrects Rogue what she’s doing wrong in the game, but she claims she knows what she’s doing wrong. Bobby wants to do it for her, but Rogue shouts at him not to, defending she’s only trying to learn how to play the stupid game so they can do it together... not so she can watch him play. Bobby promises it will only take him a second, and tries to take the console out of Rogue’s hand. Moving gently closer to Rogue’s hand, he starts touching her glove.
Rogue freaks out because of this and leaves the room, starting to cry and shouting at Bobby not to touch her. Bobby doesn’t know what he did wrong, because he saw Rogue wearing her gloves, meaning it was safe. While Bobby follows Rogue outside, Colossus walks over to Kitty, who still sits in the couch, reading. Peter jokes they never have a dull moment around here, but Kitty ignores him. Peter tries to get her attention, and she apologizes for not responding. She doesn’t even know if she has a good book in her hands, because she has been... distracted. Peter goes to sit next to her, and asks if everything’s okay. Kitty claims things are fine, but she just had a lot on her mind recently. She has been thinking about some things and doesn’t think they’re important.
Meanwhile...
Jean enters Xavier’s study, and he welcomes her to take a seat. Jean does, and the Professor asks her how she’s feeling. A bit angry, Jean explains that, if Charles is asking if she’s thinking about killing him and enslave the world, the answer is no. She’s feeling fine. Whatever it was inside her seems to have gone away... again. Jean thinks that, as long as the Professor keeps that girlfriend of his away from her, she’ll be fine. Xavier defends that Lilandra isn’t his girlfriend, though Jean knows the Professor would like Lilandra to be his girlfriend. Charles asks Jean to stay out of his mind, warning she may not like the things she could find in there.
Jean states she doesn’t need to enter Charles’ mind to know about those things. Charles continues that this isn’t what he called her in for. Jean wants to know the real reason. Xavier shows her the bracelet he got from Fury, and wants to discuss Jean’s willingness to wear it.
At the same time, in the Danger Room...
Wolverine and Storm are training together, with fight simulations of the Liberators. While slashing his claws through Colonel Al-Rahman, Logan warns Storm to focus on Loki because he’s the one with the power. He’ll try to keep the others occupied. After giving Perun a powerful electrical shock, she promises to do that. However, the Crimson Dynamo sneaks up on Logan, and punches him. Logan flies towards Storm, and they both fall on the ground. Storm gets on top of Logan’s body and asks if he’s okay. Logan reminds Ororo of his healing factor and asks how she’s doing. Storm smiles she’ll live.
Ororo and Logan silently lock eyes, ready to kiss. However, Storm interrupts, by asking her “buddy” if he wants to go ahead and finish the program she worked so hard to write. That’s fine by Logan. Storm gets up and is ready to give it another go. Logan snikts his claws out again and tells Storm to this time pick up the rest of the Liberators with a tornado or something. He’ll be gutting Loki!
Elsewhere at the mansion...
Kitty walks alone through the large hallways, and sighs. Jean walks over to her and Kitty asks if she saw the Professor. She looked in his study but wasn’t there. The door was closed and, when she called out, she didn’t hear anything but went in anyway. She hopes that’s okay. She asks Jean if she knows where he is. Jean tries to calm Kitty down and asks if she’s okay. Kitty looks down, and says she just really needs to talk to the Professor. Jean thinks Xavier went down to the infirmary to check in on Kurt. If not, she’s sure the Professor will be back in his study at some point. She suggests Kitty could just leave a note. Kitty doesn’t want to, and mentions she’ll just talk to the Professor later.
At the infirmary...
The Professor has entered Nightcrawler’s mind. He sees an unpleasant memory from Kurt’s Weapon X days. In the nightmare, he kills a security guard. After taking the guard’s helmet off, Kurt discovered that he just killed a beautiful woman, and mourns for her loss. Charles talks to the real Kurt, and tells him he’s here to help, and asks Kurt if he will let him help. Kurt furiously shouts at the Professor to go away.
Charles leaves Kurt’s mind, and sighs. He takes Kurt’s hand, and promises he’ll fix him. He knows Kurt isn’t an evil person... just confused. He won’t give up. A bright, blue light suddenly surrounds the room, and a voice tells the Professor he’s very touched by all this. Charles looks around and sees a big man standing behind him, who carries an equally big gun! The man apologizes in advance to the Professor for having to do this... but Charles Xavier has to die!
Xavier quickly uses his powers to slam the mysterious visitor against a wall, and demands to know who he is and how he can block his telepathic powers. The man smiles that that’s a secret. He takes out a small device from his belt, and throws it at the Professor. The device attaches itself on Xavier’s head, removing all of his powers! The man gets back up and tells Charles he doesn’t need to worry, as the device only works temporarily. The man with the metal arm points his gun at Xavier’s head, promising the device will work long enough.
Shadowcat jumps on the man’s back and panics for the Professor’s safety. The man falls on his knees and recognizes Shadowcat, telling the girl she’s making a huge mistake. Kitty jokes that she disagrees, because her attack seems to be working. She phases the man, and tells him that now the only thing she needs to do is make him solid again, and the fun can really begin. Kitty lifts the man up in the sky and, when almost reaching the ceiling, makes the man solid again and drops him hard on the ground. Kitty goes to stand on the man’s metal arm, and electrical sparks come from it. She asks the man that, since he knows her name, he knows what her powers do to machines as well.
The man mentions he’s got another machine up his sleeve, and wants to see what it will do to her. He takes out something that looks like a knife, and sticks it through Kitty’s stomach! Kitty falls on her knees and wants to know what he just did to her. The man explains Kitty has been hit by a power dampener. He suggests she doesn’t touch it, or even try to remove it, because the dampener is the only thing keeping her from bleeding to death. The man apologizes to Kitty for doing this to her.
Jean runs into the infirmary as well, and fears for Kitty. She telepathically calls out to the other X-Men and demands they run to the infirmary at once. The man throws a power dampener on Jean’s head as well, and she collapses. The man gets up and curses his arm, as not even the ejector seems to be working. The man kneels before the fallen Jean and apologizes to her. He thinks she’ll be out just long enough for him to finish the job. He knows she isn’t going to understand, but he has to do this.
Colossus angrily shouts at the man to get away from Jean and gives him a hard punch in the face. The man still stands, surprising Peter. He wants to know how he did that. The man claims he has his armor to thank for that, and jokes he’s full of surprises. He moves his hand, and plants start coming up from the ground and start wrapping themselves tightly around Peter, until he can no longer move. Suddenly, the man gets hit by an optic blast from... Cyclops! Scott tells his opponent he doesn’t know who he is, but promises he won’t stop shooting his beam until the man is dust. The man remains unimpressed. He moves his metal arm up. The beam hits the arm and ricochets against the X-Wing, causing it to explode! Both the X-Men and the mysterious white-haired man fall on the ground.
Wolverine and Storm arrive, and Logan hopes the man isn’t leaving yet. He takes a look at the man’s face, which looks familiar to Logan, thinking they know each other from somewhere. Whatever the case, he hopes the man still has some fight left in him, because he doesn’t want to do this quick. The man gets back up on his feet and promises Logan there’s plenty left for him. Logan is glad to hear that.
The man places a bracelet around Storm’s arm. She freaks out by it, but stops screaming when she realizes the device isn’t hurting her. Ororo thinks it must be broken or something. Logan, getting hit hard by the man, suggests that in that case, so Ororo ignores the device and gives him some help, as he could sure use it. Storm starts firing some lightning bolts, but the man simply knocks her in the face! Wolverine points his claws real close to the man’s face, telling him he just made a big mistake. He starts slashing his claws through the man, but somehow... Wolverine gets hit through his chest... by three claws himself?!
The mysterious foe reveals his own set of adamantium claws to Wolverine! He mentions he doesn’t pop the claws for just anyone. He has gone through thirty years without a healing factor to make him better than Logan could ever hope to be. “It’s over, bub,” the man tells Logan.
2nd story:
This is a story about Doug Ramsey. People call him a prodigy. A wonder. A genius. He’s a student at Chicago’s prestigious Academy of Tomorrow. Not because he’s a mutant (which Doug isn’t) but because he’s better than just about anyone when it comes to languages. It doesn’t matter if the language is spoken, written, transmitted or encrypted... if Doug can get to it, he can process and spit it back out any way he wants to. But right now, all Doug wants is to find the right words that will keep the gunman standing in front of him from sending a bullet into his head!
Five days ago...
Doug is jogging on the school grounds.
Meanwhile, in their room, Havok, Sam and Sunspot are busy discussing some things. Sam tries to make a point to Alex, who knows what he’s about to say. But, Alex adds, more than anything, they need to be sure no one’s going to... he stops talking when he sees Doug entering the room, and says hi to him. Doug asks what’s going on. “Nothing,” Alex tells him.
Four days ago...
Doug tries to invite a schoolmate called Robert to a Goth band’s opening, but the kid claims he can’t go because he’s got homework to do.
Two days ago...
Doug walks into Cannonball’s room, who is sitting behind his computer and has Alex standing behind him. Sam just tells Doug everything’s cool, and asks how he is doing, not noticing the sad look on Doug’s face.
Last night...
Doug sits on his computer, and enters the hard disk of Havok’s computer. There, he finds some folders, including one which reads “Targets.” Doug opens it, and is shocked when he reads the folder’s content...
Earlier today...
Doug meets up with Emma in her office. He wonders if mutants feel more comfortable hanging around with other mutants than with regular humans. Emma would hardly call Doug “regular,” as she finds him quite exceptional. Doug admits he’s starting to feel like an outsider. Like he doesn’t belong. His friends are keeping things from him. And he can kind of understand that, realizing they probably just wants to protect him. But Doug doesn’t really like being left out.
Emma wants to know Doug means with “his friends trying to protect him.” Doug claims he doesn’t really know, adding that he’s just babbling. He thanks Emma for listening to him, and for letting him unload all of this. He thinks he’d better leave, believing she must have better things to do. Emma gets up and places her hand on Doug’s shoulder, telling him she always has time for her favorite students. She just wants to remind Doug that friends are very important, and he shouldn’t let them slip away.
Later that night...
Havok, Sunspot and Cannonball are all wearing ski masks over their heads and reach a building. Alex asks his team if they are ready. Roberto powers up, and proclaims they sure are. Sam is ready to do this. Havok uses his powers to blow a hole into the building’s wall, and they all step through it.
Once they are gone, Doug appears from behind a wall and is confused about what’s happening. He checks the hole out, and further inside the building finds a silent alarm. He thinks his friends probably didn’t see that and knows they’re in trouble. Doug goes inside the hole as well, believing there must be a control panel nearby he can trick into reporting a false alarm. Doug goes deeper inside the building, and enters a lab, where he finds Havok, Cannonball and Sunspot attacking lots of scientists!
Doug takes a closer look around, and it looks like they’re dealing with a drug lab. On that moment, Doug gets hit on the head by a gun! He gets pushed against a wall and sees several gunmen in front of him. Their leader demands to know what Doug is doing there, adding he probably thought the lab wouldn’t have reinforcements. The gunmen realize they are dealing with mutants and thinks they want to die if they are messing with them.
Sam, Alex and Roberto overhear the noise on the other side of the room and can’t believe their eyes when they find Doug in danger. The gunmen point Doug at the mutants, shouting at them to give up or else their friend will die. Alex asks Doug what he’s doing there, though Doug asks back why Alex and the others couldn’t just tell him they were doing this. Alex doesn’t see why they should have. It’s not like Doug could have joined in. But that’s not Doug’s point. He calls Alex and the others his friends and they should have told him. Roberto thinks Doug doesn’t get it: he’s only human, and not like them! He can’t...
The gunmen interrupt and shout at the mutants to shut up. However, a moment later, all of the guns start floating through the air. Emma and Lorna enter the room, with Lorna using her powers to move the guns away. Emma informs Lorna that, if these men do anything other than leave, she has her permission to fire in self-defense. She asks the boys who wants to explain this disaster.
Sam and the others take their masks off, and are at a loss for words. Alex tells Sam it’s okay, as he doesn’t have to say anything. It was his idea, after all. Alex explains to Emma that they did this because she won’t let them assist in local emergencies anymore. It’s like, every time someone attacks the Academy, they have their butts handed to them. He feels they need to be able to protect themselves. That they need to learn how to fight. And, Alex defends, what better school is there than the real world?
Emma understands, but thinks in that case, Alex and the other two would like to be transferred. She tends to Doug, apologizing it turned out like this. She asks if he’s alright. Alex, bleeding from his face a bit, replies that he’ll be alright. Sam can’t believe it. Roberto believes this means Doug narked them out. Alex just looks at Doug quietly. Doug tries to explain himself, claiming it’s nothing like that, but he can’t find the right words. He falls on his knees, ashamed...
