The Mutant Genesis simulation:
Great, this guy, young Cyclops, dressed as adult Cyclops in civies sighs, as he and the rest of the first team (Kitty, Prestige and, surprisingly, Longshot) face Magneto. Nothing will stop him from dominating the world for the safety of mutantkind! Magneto or more to the point the simulation booms.
Rachel, dressed in her Hound outfit, criticizes that she doesn’t remember Magneto sounding so arch. Kitty Pryde, dressed in the prison outfit of the future, reminds her that those simulations killed Bloodstorm.
Rachel becomes frightened. She points to a crackling machine and warns it is about to fire. Kitty turns to Longshot and asks what this is. He shrugs and points out those simulations are taken from X-Men history. Why does she ask him?
The problem is Kitty and Rachel were both off the team at that time. Tell that to their uniforms, Rachel remarks dryly as their looks change. She now wears the orange and blue outfit her mother Jean Grey wore at the time. Scott wears the outfit of the adult Cyclops from the same era and Kitty is back in her blue Shadowcat outfit.
As Cyclops blasts Magneto, Kitty reminds Rachel tht they have to defeat Magneto. And not get killed, both agree.
Magneto lashes out at Longshot and turns against Rachel next. No! Cyclops cries and unleashes a full strength optic blast. Get away from her! he shouts as he destroys the simulation What was he thinking? he pants. What was she thinking? Kitty asks what he is talking about. They shouldn’t be working with him, he babbles as he looks away. He knows people can change. But no one can change that much. Is he saying his team is working with Magneto? Rachel demands. Yes, he admits.
Team Two (Logan, Storm, Iceman and Angel) are facing Frost Giants in an Asgardian Wars simulation and complain that Mojo is throwing them against their history for ratings. They agree he is crazy.
The setting changes as do their Asgardian outfits. They now seem to be in Genosha. Storm is dressed like a mutate prisoner, Logan like his younger self in the brown and tan Wolverine outfit, Angel like Archangel, and they are facing Magistrates.
Young Iceman asks what this place is during the battle. Genosha before it got nuked, is Logan’s curt reply. And these guys are magicians? Angel asks. Magistrates, Storm corrects as she fights some of them. And their buddies, the Press Gang, Logan warns as he sees the superpowered allies of the Magistrates. Too bad print is a dying medium, Angel jokes as he flies toward an unassuming-seeming portly man. Storm warns him not to come close to Wipeout. To his detriment, Warren learns the reason why a moment later, as Wipeout neutralizes his power and he falls. “Sorry suckers,” Punchout laughs and breaks Warren’s neck.
Iceman flips and shouts that he’s gonna kill her. He ices up but is immediately fired at by Magistrates. Logan finds himself skewered from behind by Hawkshaw’s weapon. Storm electrocutes him. She lands at Logan’s side and promises she will get him out of here. He groans she needs to look out. Too late as she is shot by the Magistrates.
Plot twist! Mojo exclaims. He knows what they are thinking. They’d never kill their golden geese. These guys are big sellers. They’d never take them off the table. Wrong! Just look at all these examples! He points at computer screens showing X-Men (Colossus, Xavier, Nightcrawler) dying in the past.
Majordomo whispers something to him. Briefly, Mojos stops smiling, then regains his grin and suggests they look at how the other teams are faring.
Team 3, led by Jean Grey, is trapped in the Inferno simulation. Battling demons, Colossus wonders aloud how they beat this demonic invasion the first time. One of the demons hisses: “you are one of us, brother!” Slicing him, Jimmy Hudson opines he was referring to Hank.
Jean orders them to keep their focus. The whole point of this is to mess with their heads. Her voice trails off as she sees a woman who looks like an adult version of her, dressed in the same skimpy outfit. It’s like looking into a mirror, Madelyne Pryor the Goblyn Queen smirks. A cracked funhouse mirror, but isn’t that what Mojoworld is? Nothing fun about this, Jean replies stoically. She has seen enough Goblin Queens to last a lifetime.
Madelyne goes for her throat, while assuring her that lifetime is going to be shorter than she thinks. She lifts Jean up easily, mocking Jean wishes she could be her. All the Jean without the baggage. Is it any wonder Scott loved Madelyne more? No! Jean groans.
Team 1 on the Asteroid X simulation:
Kitty remarks of course Magneto is alive. No one ever stays dead.
Tell him about it, the watching Mojo mutters.
But for Scott and the others to actually throw in with him… Kitty continues. Her mom’s judgment was never state of the art, Rachel points out. It’s complicated, Scott tries to explain. No, it really isn’t, Kitty insists. It’s Magneto. Scott retorts that he heard Charles Xavier made Magneto headmaster one time. It’s nowhere close to being the same thing, Kitty snaps.
She notices Longshot has been silent and his flying cameras are pointed at them. What is he doing? Kitty demands. He suggests they pretend he isn’t here. He explains that audience share is the coin of the realm in Mojoworld.
Rachel asks if everyone else is feeling that? They experience another shift to a time closer to the present. Rachel and Kitty are now wearing their recent costumes and Scott is dressed as Phoenix-Cyclops. Kitty states this feels familiar. Not pleasantly so.
Plot twist! Mojo announces. They’d never kill their golden geese. These guys are the big sellers. They’d never take them off the table…
At the Xavier Institute, Nature Girl, Eye Boy and Anole are watching the broadcast. And he’d never have thought he’d be hoping Mojo tells the truth, Anole comments. They should be out there, a frustrated Nature Girl remarks. Anole points out the others have crowd control well in hand. Eye Boy chimes in that nobody can get though the forcefields. They are stuck here waiting. Not easy when your friends are dying. Trevor refuses to believe that.
Elsewhere:
Team 1 find themselves in an Avengers versus X-Men simulation.
Things have actually gotten worse, Kitty sighs. Longshot points out the Avengers are on their side but one of Hawkeye’s arrows convinces him they are not. Kitty gets blindsided when Captain America’s shield hits her head. Stand down, miss! Captain America orders Rachel. She was totally going to but then he called her miss. Her eyes flare as she telekinetically lashes out at him.
Team 3:
What did she just say? Marvel Girl asks the Goblyn Queen. It’s no wonder Scott loved her more, Madelyne replies. Jean hits her, her blow empowered by her telekinesis and the Goblyn Queen goes down.
Beast asks her if she feels that. The corporeal sensation that prefaced their preternatural alteration of surroundings and garments. Only half understanding, Jean replies she thought so. It feels like something is happening.
A moment later, they are all wearing their current outfits and seem to be in a wilderness that looks like the Savage Land. Colossus explains to Jimmy Hudson what the Savage Land is. They discuss whether that will mean battling dinosaurs, until Hank points at a worse problem. They see what appears to be a mash-up of their worst foes: Brood, Stryfe and a Sentinel empowered by the Phoenix. When did they fight these guys? Jean asks. Never is the reply.
