At the remains of Muir Island…
The X-Men are startled at Xavier’s revelation. Stunned himself, Beast states that they’ve got to get the Professor back to the Institute and do some tests. He thinks it can’t be as simple as this. Emma, having telepathically checked it out, confirms that Xavier is telling the truth. The Professor really is a Homo sapien now.
Vulcan releases Xavier from his holding grip, and grins that this is just perfect. Gabriel claims that he’s more powerful than all of the X-Men put together, and the Professor himself is now just a human. He also thinks it’s no wonder the X-Men could never found him: they never knew what they were looking for. Xavier guesses that’s right.
However, this situation doesn’t work for Gabriel. He wants Xavier’s pupils to see what happened, and feel the way he and his friends felt on that day. When Xavier defends that he can’t make himself into something he isn’t, Gabriel shouts at Marvel Girl that he wants her to fix this. Rachel refuses. Gabriel angrily states that Rachel will do as told, or else he’ll blow Xavier’s brains all over this island. Rachel reluctantly agrees, and asks Gabriel what he wants. He wants Rachel to link with Xavier, make him show what happened. Hearing this, Xavier replies that he doesn’t know what happened – he only knows what Scott saw. Gabriel wants Rachel to link him as well, so that everyone will know what happened. Rachel asks the Professor what to do, but he just tells her to do what Gabriel asks.
Years ago…
Gabriel reveals that he and his team were doomed before they landed on the island Krakoa, but they just didn’t know it yet. Upon arrival, Gabriel ordered his team to keep moving. They were soon attacked by Krakoa’s avatars.
Petra starts to panic a bit, and reveals to the others that she can’t hear the Professor’s thoughts anymore. Gabriel can’t hear the Professor anymore either. The Professor was still guiding him through the landing, but a moment later he was just gone. Gabriel uses his powers to protect an unaware Darwin from an attacking avatar. Darwin states that there is something about this place. That thing probably shut the Professor out. Darwin can feel the disturbance, and it feels like all of his senses are reacting at once.
Gabriel reminds his team that they have to keep moving. As they move further onto the island, Gabriel orders Sway to use her time replay powers to see if she can find a trace from the others. Sway tries it out, and projects an image of Cyclops trying to protect Jean, who is being dragged away by one of Krakoa’s avatars. Gabriel thinks that now they know in which direction to go. Petra believes that they should go back instead. He saw the same thing she did, namely that Cyclops’ optic blasts had no effect on the avatars. And they might also not be able to hurt them. For all they know, the avatars could be studying them right now. Gabriel reminds Petra that they came here for a reason. Petra remembers that, but she panics a bit now that the link with the Professor is gone. Gabriel’s eyes start to glow, and he angrily reminds Petra that they are X-Men now. She can never forget that.
Present time…
Vulcan states that he and his friends were running head-on towards destruction. After all, that’s what being an X-Man is all about. And they didn’t hesitate. Not once they saw Cyclops held prisoner by the avatars.
Years ago…
As Gabriel attacks the avatars, he orders Sway to use her powers to slow them down. He notices that their enemies are made out of rock, so Petra now knows what to do. Petra tries using her powers, but it’s just like before: she can’t feel the creatures. Gabriel tells her to try out something else instead, and to hit them with whatever she can feel. Gabriel angrily lashes out at the creatures, using his fire powers to pull them back.
He then orders Darwin to help him free Cyclops. Darwin does as told, but feels that the vines that are holding Scott are alive, and strong as well. Gabriel reminds Darwin to remember what the Professor taught him: to make his skin sharp. Sway uses her powers and sees that another avatar is dragging the unconscious Angel and Havok away. Petra sees that the avatars they destroyed are already crawling back together! Once Darwin has released Scott, Gabriel tells the rest of the team to take off. Petra uses her powers to create a rock wall between them and the avatars, so they have a chance to escape.
Present time…
Gabriel remembers how he and his friends ran, dragging Cyclops along with them for what seemed like hours. They all felt that the island began to affect them in the way it affected the captured X-Men. The island was starting to weaken them all.
The Professor and Rachel telepathically move outside of Gabriel’s range. Rachel admits that she thought she could try to find something in Gabriel’s mind that could help them take him down. Xavier smiles that that’s exactly what he would have done. And, he’s got another idea. Xavier states that, since he can’t do this by himself anymore, he wants Rachel to take him with her and show him what she sees. When Rachel asks if the Professor can help her steer, Xavier claims that he can, but they’ll have to move quickly because Gabriel is too strong. Charles is afraid that, in this state, Gabriel could kill them all without much effort.
Years ago…
Cyclops wakes up, and wonders to himself why his powers aren’t working anymore. He takes a look at his rescuers, and remembers that they are all the kids from Moira’s lab he met earlier. He wonders what they are doing there. As Gabriel got Cyclops to the safety of the strato-jet, he told them about his team, while Sway used her powers to give him the necessary time. Gabriel explains to Scott that they aren’t just kids. They are full-fledge X-Men now, and they have been training for months now just to rescue him. Scott finds that hard to believe, as he realizes he can’t have been more on this island than just a few days.
Gabriel also tells Scott what the Professor revealed to him before they left on this mission. The Professor told him that he is a Summers brother, too! Scott is startled, but Gabriel explains that the Professor knew about this from the moment he met him, though he had to see the two of them together. Scott realizes that this is the real reason why the Professor had him train with Gabriel and the others. He is still shocked to discover he has another brother. Gabriel asks if Scott believes him, and Scott admits he does, because Gabriel’s powers seem similar to his.
Present time…
Havok shouts at Vulcan to wait a minute. Alex admits that he can buy some of this, but he thinks it’s impossible that Gabriel is his brother, because he is just a year younger than he is! Besides, he and Scott wouldn’t forget about having another brother all of their lives. Gabriel states that he knows someone who can make Alex forget anything he wants. Understanding, Alex wants the Professor to tell him right now what he did. The Professor asks Alex to stop, as it isn’t what he thinks. Xavier reveals that Gabriel… wasn’t born on Earth!
Even Gabriel is shocked to hear about this. Xavier reveals that he learned about this after he first believed Gabriel had died. He got the information from Gabriel’s father, Corsair, and Xavier begged him to never reveal this news to Scott and Alex.
Years ago…
Xavier has Rachel telepathically show the others what happened. Katherine Summers was two months pregnant when the Shi’ar kidnapped her and Corsair. The pregnancy was the reason why Corsair fought so fiercely to escape the slave pens, because he at first believed that Scott and Alex had both died during the abduction. Corsair just had to save his wife and child-to-be from Emperor D’Ken. However, when Corsair tried to strike at the emperor, he failed, and in return, D’Ken killed Katherine right in front of Corsair’s eyes. And he also killed the child she was two days away from delivering.
Gabriel was really believed to be dead. However, instead, his near-lifeless body was placed in an incubation-accelerator. This was a common practice for the slave-breeding among the Shi’ar at the time. Within weeks, Gabriel was old enough to be of use to his masters, and the emperor’s man on Earth, Davan Shakari, required many slaves. So, with the use of a spaceship, Gabriel made it back to the planet that should have been his home in the first place, only to eventually be found by doctor Moira MacTaggert.
Present time…
Vulcan is stunned. He always knew that aliens were involved in his past, but this is just… wow. Xavier asks Gabriel if he sees it now. There has already been so much tragedy in his life, and nothing more has to be added to it. Gabriel angrily slaps Xavier into his face, telling him to stop trying to persuade him. All Xavier has done now is giving him someone else to hate.
Xavier tries to tell Gabriel that he doesn’t know the path he’s going down. Gabriel angrily tells Xavier to just shut up, and show the X-Men what else happened. Xavier agrees, and shamefully admits that it will be a sight he thought he’d never shared with anyone. He asks Rachel to find Scott’s true memories about Krakoa, though they aren’t in Scott’s mind. They are in Xavier’s instead. Scott can’t believe the Professor just said that. Xavier knows, but he hopes that at least Scott will understand.
Years ago…
Cyclops is back at the school. The others wasted no time and immediately went back trying to rescue the other X-Men. Scott meets up with the Professor and explains that he tried the kids not to go. They probably didn’t realize the island was already affecting them so much. Xavier tries to calm Scott down and wants to see what happened.
Cyclops reveals that he took the strato-jet up, trying to reconnect with Xavier’s mind along the way. Scott was trying to fly above the island’s influence, and he could see Gabriel and the others below him. They were about to enter the jungle, but didn’t get that far because Krakoa’s avatars had already met up with them again. Scott could feel what happened. The island was so angry at Gabriel and his friends, but in another way than before. It was like Gabriel had hurt Krakoa because he had rescued Scott.
Krakoa revealed itself. The girl, Sway, was torn into pieces. Krakoa was rampaging like a walking volcano. Nothing Gabriel and his team tried could even touch Krakoa, and Krakoa’s flames enveloped them all! Scott saw how the creature killed them. Scott watched the whole thing happening, and then he ran. He doesn’t know what he could have done. His powers are gone, and Gabriel and the others didn’t even hurt Krakoa.
The Professor tells Scott that he did the right thing. Scott panics, realizing that he let his own brother die. He fears about what might be happening to Jean and Alex now. The Professor claims that there is still hope, and asks Scott to listen to him.
Present time…
The Professor reveals that Scott wouldn’t listen. He was hysterical, and had a good reason to be that way. So, the Professor claims that he did what needed to be done. He let Scott sleep, while he used Cerebro to see what he could find. Cerebro informed Charles that Jean and the others were still alive, though their energies were very weak. However, there were no signs of Vulcan and his team. The images that Scott showed in his mind were true, and Gabriel and his friends were all cut down. Xavier felt ashamed that he had gotten his young students all killed. Moira, of course, was beside herself.
Years ago…
Moira shouted lots of angry words at Xavier. She warned him that the kids weren’t ready! Xavier says he knows, leading Moira to ask what Xavier is going to do now. Xavier explains that the other X-Men are still on Krakoa, so he needs to find a way to save them. Moira believes that Xavier can’t be trusted around these children. Xavier knows that Moira is angry, but he can’t just leave his team to die out there. They’ve already lost too much. Moira worries about Scott, and how he’s going to live with this, knowing his own brother died to save him. Xavier admits that he decided that’s something Scott doesn’t need to know. Moira can’t believe her ears.
Present time…
Scott doesn’t believe that this is how it happened. He believes that it was Krakoa himself who let him go. Xavier is afraid that isn’t true. Scott remembers that Krakoa spoke to them. Xavier admits that isn’t true. He enhanced Cerebro’s powers, and was finally able to maintain contact with Scott when he went back there. And Xavier made everyone think Krakoa was sentient, when it was really just a collection of impulses. He lets the X-Men hear how Krakoa really screamed.
Gabriel angrily states that Xavier is more devious than he gave him credit for. Xavier shamefully admits that he was desperate and was only trying to save his team. Gabriel doesn’t want to hear about it. He guesses that the only question left to answer is why he isn’t dead. Rachel can tell Gabriel that. Gabriel isn’t dead… because of his friends.
Years ago…
When Sway was killed, her body released the last of its mutant abilities, slowing time around everyone. Next, Petra’s natural reflex as she was being incinerated was to make the ground swallow the team. Before Gabriel or anyone else realized it, they were down far below the surface, in a small cavern Petra’s dying efforts created. Both Gabriel and Darwin were both almost drained of their powers. They were surrounded by the remains of their friends. And that’s where Gabriel and his friends were when Krakoa was rocketed into space by Jean, at death’s door, trapped in a chunk of rock.
Present time…
Gabriel is amazed that he remembers all that. He remembers dying. Rachel tries to calm Gabriel down, explaining that he didn’t die because something about Krakoa affected both him and Darwin. She explains that Darwin’s mutant power was to adapt and survive and, instinctively, he converted himself to pure energy, and bonded to Gabriel. Darwin kept Gabriel alive out there for all those years. That’s why Gabriel was using both Sway’s and Petra’s powers without realizing it. Darwin had absorbed remnants of them through Krakoa, and has been holding it all together inside Gabriel. Since Gabriel is confused at this, Rachel touches Gabriel’s head, stating that it’s time for Darwin to wake up.
Rachel uses her telepathic powers, and suddenly Darwin floats out of Gabriel’s mouth, causing him to scream in pain immensely! The Professor asks Rachel what she just did, and Rachel explains that felt another consciousness inside Gabriel, so she separated them. This is what the Professor wanted her to do: she found Vulcan’s weakness.
Wolverine states that Rachel just said the magic word, and snikts out his claws, ready to kill Gabriel. The Professor asks Logan to wait with that because Gabriel is still too dangerous. Demonstrating this, Vulcan uses his flames against Logan, though he manages dodges them. Logan exclaims that they’ve got to take Vulcan out now that they can, because they may not get another shot.
Emma asks Scott what to do, and Cyclops feels that whatever Vulcan did to him is wearing off because his powers are coming back. He also believes that Logan is right and that they’ve got to take Vulcan out, no matter who he is. As Scott fires an optic beam upon Gabriel, the other X-Men start attacking as well. Logan quickly slices through Vulcan’s uniform and he tells Colossus to punch him, which Peter does.
Havok also uses his powers on his brother, but the Professor tells the X-Men to stop because they’ll kill him. Wolverine defends that they may have to do just that, because Vulcan isn’t the same kid he trained anymore. Logan performs a Fastball special with Kitty and throws her at Vulcan. She phases through Gabriel’s body, causing his powers to go out of control. Vulcan screams and collapses.
Peter tends to Kitty, as she looks hurt. However, Kitty claims that she’s alright, just a little hurt but she’ll recover. Scott tells Gabriel to give it up, and not make them take it any further. Almost breathless, Gabriel can’t believe that this is who the X-Men are today. He can’t believe he wanted to be a part of them. Vulcan quickly stands up and angrily lashes his full powers on the X-Men. He shouts at Scott and Alex that they aren’t his brothers, and flies away.
The Professor tries to stop Gabriel, but he can’t hear Charles anymore. Rachel can’t catch Gabriel either. Not at the speed he is flying. Emma tells Rachel not to bother, because Gabriel’s mind has left the stratosphere anyway. When Scott wants to know what that means, Emma explains that Gabriel is heading into space, to where he came from.
The Professor asks Scott if he’s alright, reaching out to him, but Scott angrily shouts at the Professor not to touch him. Xavier ashamed begs Scott to let him explain. However, Beast interrupts and tells the Professor to look down. It looks like Darwin’s skeleton is alive. Xavier is speechless…
One week later…
Beast and the Professor are studying Darwin’s body at the lab. Beast admits that he has never seen anything like this. He means this shouldn’t even be possible. Xavier admits that he has given up trying to define the word “possible.” In this world, at least. Beast agrees with that, but still, this is unprecedented. Darwin is growing a body from pure energy! And he’s already got brain function.
Beast believes that Darwin knows what’s going on, at least on some degree. Xavier remembers that reactive evolution was Darwin’s mutant power, so nobody can say what the boy can survive and what he cannot. Also, Darwin was exposed to the same burst of mutant energy that pushed Gabriel past the omega level. Xavier believes that could be responsible for this rebirth. As the two walk out of the lab, Beast wants to know if the Professor will make it today. The Professor thinks he will, and thanks Beast for asking. They leave to get changed.
Not much later, all of the X-Men and some guests mourn for their loss. Siryn cries for the loss of her father. The Professor walks up to Scott, and admits that he was hoping they could talk today. Scott promises they will talk, because he has something to say. Scott realizes that he has known the Professor all of his life, and trusted him for most of it. Scott also always knew that the Professor wasn’t perfect, because he had his secrets and such.
The Professor realizes that he betrayed both Scott and Alex, but wants to explain. Scott knows why the Professor did what he did, and some part of him can understand it. But it doesn’t change what happened. Nothing can. So, Scott asks the Professor to leave. He isn’t welcome at the Institute anymore. Xavier defends that this is his home, and he won’t just leave like that. Scott tells the Professor that he will. He runs the Institute now and, besides, the Professor isn’t a mutant anymore. He doesn’t belong here. The Professor is shocked to hear this.
Meanwhile, deep in space…
As Vulcan angrily soars through space, he can only think about two things: his father Corsair, and the man responsible for his problems: D’Ken Neramani…
