24 years from now…
New York. The city that never sleeps. Especially these days. Sitting on the Statue of Liberty, Wolverine takes out his binoculars and scouts the entire city. He notices that the Sentinels are still running free. Logan hasn’t been in New York for years now. The main reason is because Logan and his people aren’t welcome there anymore… his people being the X-Men!
Logan snikts out his claws and glides down the Statue to the docks below, where he meets up with his team, consisting out of Cable, Juggernaut, Lady Deathstrike, Puck, Toad and Warbird. An impatient Juggernaut wants to know if they are going in, or not. Logan is ready. The team follows him and take speedboats across the river. Logan mentions that, today, these are all of the X-Men that’s left.
Puck takes a look at the bracelets around everyone’s arms, and asks for a confirmation if these things are really going to keep them undetected from the Sentinels. For the last time, Lady Deathstrike confirms that. Cable wonders what they are going to do if the bracelets do crap out, and if the Sentinels are going to detect them. Either way is fine by Cain, who’s ready for a good battle. Carol isn’t so sure. Logan remembers that some members of his team used to be old members of the team and some allies, but some were neither. But that doesn’t matter to him now as they’ve put all the old scores behind, pretty much because they didn’t have a choice.
Toad hopes they don’t have to fight the Sentinels at all. Logan tries to calm Toad down, joking that even if they get detected, it will be all over before they realize it. The group crosses the streets and safely make it pass the Sentinels. Puck recognizes the old Madison Square, as he was here back in 1994 when the Rangers won the Cup. Cable thinks that nobody wants to hear that story right now.
They enter the former glorious Stadion and Carol thinks they might be a little late. Logan remembers that bad blood among mutants seems to make less and less sense with things the way they are nowadays. All he can hope for is that everyone present at the meeting feels the same way. They make it to the meeting room, where tons of mutants are gathered!
Cain doesn’t like being there, as there are way too many unfriendly places. Logan tells Cain to just stay close to him. But, he knows that Juggernaut isn’t kidding. They’re only a hand grenade toss away from Gene Nation, who his team tangled with last week in Edminton. They are terrorists. Logan notices that Gene Nation’s leader, Sunspot, is looking at him. He thinks that the guy is obviously still aching for that little nip Logan gave him right by that necklace they wear in honor of Marrow. Logan remembers Zero and feels bad for him. Killing Marrow accomplished the last thing North wanted to happen, as she’s a martyr now. Logan notices Bobby whispering to Beak, and the other members of his group, Frenzy and Penance, seem amused by it.
Logan turns away from them, only to recognize more old scores: it looks like even X-Force made it to the meeting. Banshee, Black Tom, Cannonball, Domino, Meltdown and Omega Red pass their way. Sean suggests that they let bygones be bygones for tonight, at least. Taking a look at Omega Red and seeing him wear an X-Men uniform, Logan thinks they don’t have a choice there.
Speaking of bygones, Logan notices Chamber and his Excelsior group also staring at him. Excelsior are all Weapon X refugees, and Logan wishes Jono knew how glad he was when Jono finally broke free from the Program the way he did. And also how sad Logan was he had to lose his head to do it. Of course it would help if Jono was actually speaking to Logan, but he isn’t. Logan notices Jono still wearing his Chamber mask and his powers floating around inside it, and Cecilia, Diamond Lil, Random and Ricochet standing close to their leader.
Wolverine is approached by Archangel, glad that at least not everyone is after him and the X-Men. Logan jokes that Warren is late as usual. Warren jokes that at least his team, consisting out of Forge, Husk, Madrox, Rictor and Wolfsbane, are at least fashionable. Warren wonders if “the big guy” showed up already. Logan didn’t see the man, and thinks if the man was, the Acolytes, who are standing in a corner talking to each other, would be the first to know about it. Logan really hopes the guy can do what he thinks he can do.
Suddenly, he gets grabbed by behind by… Sabretooth! Logan notices that Creed brought his Brotherhood team as well, and for the occasion brought along Avalanche, Blob, Caliban, Hub, Mimic and Scalphunter. Logan thinks Creed wants to fight as usual, but warns that this isn’t the right time for it. Sabretooth threatens that they’ve always got time for a battle. Logan thinks that’s fine then and angrily snikts his claws open and everyone is ready to fight another. But on that very moment, a magnetic bolt gets thrown in the middle and everyone backs off. It’s Magneto! Logan jokes that Magnus still knows how to make an entrance and looks at him gracefully floating down.
The Acolytes are thrilled to discover that their Master hasn’t forsaken them and is the one who will safe them. Magneto calms them down and promises that he truly does has returned. Logan remembers that Magneto spent all those years in space. And as much as Logan hates to admit it, they need him. There isn’t anybody left. Not with both the power and the clout to get them mutant factions to stop fighting each other and to concentrate on the one thing they should all be fighting instead.
On that very moment, the Acolytes start transforming into Nimrods! The roof gets ripped open, and more Sentinels reveal themselves! Everyone wants to run away, but Magneto refuses to do that. Never again they shall run. From this day forth, Magneto wants the Sentinels to be the ones running. He magnetically floats up and starts fighting and destroying the robots until none are left.
And so it went. The mutant race had its Messiah again. Now came the hard part: making the world take a good look at what Weapon X was really doing. Most of humanity didn’t know the full extent of what was happening on their planet, or even worse, some didn’t even care. Weapon X saw to it that people were all over each other’s throats now worse than ever before. With the loss of mutant agents, sleeper and otherwise, they fed the flames of humanity’s distrust of mutants through various techniques, in the likes of assassinations, which most notably is the death of Nick Fury, acts of terrorism in the form of blowing up buildings, and in some cases, mass genocide which the Children were mostly responsible for.
Anti-mutant sentiment once again became the order of the day in front of the White House. First with the general public, then eventually with former human allies. Logan remembers a battle between his old X-Men team and the Fantastic Four. But even those former allies fell out of order when Weapon X convinced the government that all super-powered beings not controlled by the Program were a menace. A contract was signed which gave the Sentinels the permission to drove out the resistant heroes. And it’s those heroes Magneto has chosen to become once again allies.
A few hours later, at the Baxter Building, situated at the Blue Area of the Moon…
Wolverine and Warbird share a meeting with the gathered forces of the Fantastic Four and surviving Avengers. Their help is needed. The world needs their help again. Carol thinks that what her husband is trying to say is that the government may have wanted heroes gone, but the people didn’t. Ben isn’t so sure about that. Daredevil believes that, even if that was the case, he thinks Carol and her husband are missing the major point. Quicksilver agrees. He thinks there’s a trust issue among them, especially when it comes to his father.
Spider-Man agrees as well. He believes that Bin Laden must have been unavailable because the mutants are coming to them. Peter still can’t believe they never caught that terrorist. Logan calms everyone down by saying that they all know him and his wife. They have fought together side-by-side more times than he can count, so Logan can’t really see the heroes believing everything they accuse them off. But, Logan adds, whatever issues the heroes might have with Magneto, they can talk that out with the big man themselves.
Magneto enters the building! He hopes that everyone can put their pasts aside and recognize that they’ve got a unique opportunity going on. Magnus reveals that, through an old associate of his, he has acquired the codes to the very center of the Sentinel operation, namely New York City. He opens a computer screen and reveals a map. Magneto’s plan is that the heroes attack the Manhattan headquarters and he shall lead the attack in Staten Island. The other three boroughs will see invasions led by Wolverine, Archangel and Pietro. Pietro isn’t surprised to hear that.
Magneto speeches to the Avengers and the Fantastic Four that, once, they were the greatest heroes the world has ever known. But that was all taken away from them by a force that will soon conquer the very people they once swore to protect all those years ago. He asks them if they really can sit idly by and let it all just happen.
The Empire State Building, the Sentinel Control Center…
The Director gets lead through the hallways by a doctor calling himself Nathan Milbury, claiming he’s new around here. They enter a computer room controlled by Sauron. He recognizes Milbury and mentions he had been meaning to speak to him about some missing mutants. Sauron stops talking when he notices the Director is also present and wants to know what he wants. Malcolm tells Sauron he knows exactly what. Sauron is guessing that Mastermold blames him for what happened at the Garden but he doesn’t know how he was supposed that was going to happen.
The Director doesn’t believe that, reminding Karl that New York is his jurisdiction. And he also has a prior relationship with Magneto. So Malcolm doesn’t understand how Sauron could let those mutants pass undetected. Sauron hesitates, but doesn’t reply to the question. Malcolm understands and tells Sauron that he wanted to be the one coming to him, for old times sake. Sauron laughs at that statement, finding it rather strange Malcolm would say that, as he finds himself thinking about the old times more and more these days.
Sauron was thinking what it was like the first time he actually siphoned off a mutant, but he thinks Malcolm knows what people say about eating your favorite food every day. Now, Sauron can’t stand the taste of it anymore. Although he knows one wouldn’t think that, when they look at his fat stomach! Sauron asks Malcolm if he remembers the days when he wasn’t that heavy and he could fly? Malcolm didn’t even need that life support breather to stay alive. He was Sauron, the master of the skies! Even Sauron, the pterodactyl-man! He even fought both the X-Men and the Avengers. He was a force to be reckoned with. But now Sauron feels like a nursemaid to the Sentinels and he doesn’t see the fun in that. He feels tired of it all. The Director understands, and takes out a gun, pointing it towards Sauron’s head. Sauron concludes that he truly appreciates Malcolm coming to see him. The Director releases a shot!
Later that night, a terrible newsflash is released throughout the world, which has been dubbed “Massacre of the Marvels” as all of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four have been murdered! A day that should have been a celebration, as the heroes had returned for the first time in years, instead turns into a day of mourning. The news mentions that while certain mutants have captured Staten Island, apparent attacks on the Sentinel Headquarters in Manhattan went horribly wrong. And now, the heroes are all dead.
Magneto hopes that the souls of the heroes rest in peace. Wolverine thinks that somebody tipped off Weapon X. He fears that somebody set the heroes up. Magneto agrees, thinking it might have been Sauron. After all, the information Magneto received from Lykos could have been nothing more than a ruse. Wolverine thinks he knows the truth now: it was Magneto who killed the heroes! He thinks the heroes were right about Magneto all along and that was the reason why Magnus pulled Pietro back, because he didn’t want to send his own son into a massacre.
Magneto turns away, claiming he did what had to be done. Magneto thinks that people are now finally starting to wonder if the Sentinels have gone too far, showing Logan a Daily Bugle newspaper that reports the death of the heroes. It’s all over the radio and TV broadcasts. Magneto shouts that before this massacre, nobody cared about the Sentinels because only mutants got hurt. But now, with their heroes gone, Magnus believes the humans will finally pay attention and care.
Logan won’t let Magneto get away with this. Magneto corrects that it’s not a question of “not” anymore, but one of “must.” Magneto believes he must get away with this, for the sake of mutantkind. And he thinks Logan understands that. Magneto believes that Wolverine more than anyone knows that sometimes you must pay a high price to accomplish a greater good. And if Logan truly believes otherwise, Magneto gives him the permission to slice right through him. Magneto thinks Logan knows that he’s more than capable to stop him, but this time he swears that he won’t lift a finger. He asks Logan where he thinks he’ll be most of value. The choice is his.
Later…
A gathered team of Wolverine, Magneto, Sabretooth, Sunspot, Banshee, Chamber and Archangel attend a meeting with the media. Magneto urges his fellow mutants to remain hopeful and to not let the sacrifice of the heroes be in vain. The Sentinels have to be warned that their reign of terror is over!
Punta Arena, Argentina…
Fantomex listens to the interview in a bar and orders a drink. The bartender wonders why Fantomex wears that goofy outfit of his, since carnival has been over four months ago and a few countries away as well. Fantomex partly takes off his mask so he can drink and thinks this is the way the bartender, Juan, is going to play it. Fantomex thinks that’s funny, as by the accident and face, the bartender doesn’t look like a Juan. He looks more like someone he knew a long time ago. The bartender claims innocence and that he has never seen Fantomex before.
Fantomex smiles with an evil grin, thinking that might be true in the life “Juan” is living now. But, Fantomex thinks, he thinks “Juan” dished mutant death sentences instead of drinks. He asks the bartender if he’s correct, and the bartender is revealed to be none other than… Brent Jackson?!
