outskirts of the invasion forces
Even though Dr. Doom destroyed the two Scorpius ships that were part of his escort Magneto still has doubts about trusting him. He vanished right after they arrived and then shows up with the enemy’s army in tow. Doom points in the direction of his friends and tells Erik he’s killing his teammates every second he wastes.
Despite saying he wasn’t going to explain his actions, Doom lays it all out. He says he tricked the Scorpius so he could acquire a power source for the gateway. He dares Magneto to tell him Richards or that prickly fool, Nemesis, discovered differently.
With Magneto appearing to waver Doom begins to prepare his armor for an attack. Mags asks what he’s doing and Doom simply tells him to wound him. If he returns without damage it would look suspicious. “Make it bloody, Magneto.” Erik smiles, and says the plan is sounding better all the time.
Scorpius City
Wolverine, Thing and Scully are chained up and kneeling in front of the emperor. Having just defeated them the emperor is feeling winded. He boards one of the spider-jets and lifts off from the ground. He says he needs to regain his strength, but will return to the front line. He tells the Scorpius he leaves behind to remain with the captives.
Speaking of, the three heroes are conscious again. They discuss the embarrassment over their defeat, but Scully tells them the crystal orb in the emperor’s armor is very powerful. He could feel it in his belt. He supposes it must be the same alien technology, except about 1,000 times more powerful.
Scorpius detention center
Pixie and Lee discover the detention center. They don’t see any way in so Pixie takes hold of Lee and flies them both to the top of the building. They come across a skylight and peer down below. Lee probes the glass with her spear, but doesn’t think she’ll be able to break through. Pixie says they’re not, she’s just looking for a spot to teleport to.
They enter the prison center and plop down behind two huge guards. Pixie figures two guys like them must guarding something important. They’re spotted before they can make their move and come under a volley of gunfire. They dodge the attack and go on the offensive.
Pixie kicks one in the gut and douses the other’s face with magic. Forrester disarms the guard on the ground using her spear. Then Pixie grabs the other guard’s large sledgehammer and cracks him across the head with it. Both guards are down for the count.
outside the FF’s submersible
The vessel is sea worthy again and facing the warp gate. Standing there, Reed notices Nemesis’ attention is behind them. When he turns to see what he’s looking at, he spies the invasion forces of the Scorpius coming toward them, less than a mile away. “Yes, that does seem… inconvenient,” Reed exclaims.
They know right away they’re coming for the gateway. Reed pops open a panel on the top of the submarine and pulls out a couple of communicators. He hands one to Nemesis who asks why.
Reed says they’re about to be captured so he should turn his on and keep it broadcasting as long as possible, that way if their teammates are listening they might get some good intel. Nemesis wonders darkly just where their teammates are. Reed says that’s an excellent question and hopes they’re not in as much trouble.
Scorpius detention center
The steel doors to Cyclops and the gang’s holding cell are blown off the hinges. Pixie steps through the doorway holding that giant energy hammer, which is still smoking from the impact. “A gal and her energy hammer, a love story,” Lee jokes.
Scott never forgot the voice of his former lover. “Lee? Is that you?” he asks. Emma tells him it is his ex-girlfriend whom they came to rescue. “What an utterly whimsical delight,” she adds. Lee tells them there’s a big bunch of armored whimsy coming at them now so they better think of something. Pixie goes to their stalwart leader first, but he tells her to free Sue instead.
elsewhere in the city
A Scorpius commander stands looking over the newly captured prisoners when one of his soldiers comes running up in a panic. He hurriedly tells the commander the prison complex is under assault. Kill the prisoners, he commands. The soldier can’t believe he’d want the emperor’s trophies killed. The commander asks if he’d rather tell the emperor they escaped. “Execute them now!” he growls.
Five soldiers line up in front of Thing, Wolverine and Scully, each armed with a rifle. They take aim and are ready to fire when, suddenly, their guns come apart into pieces and lift into the air. “Finally, the calvary,” Logan remarks. Magneto, their rescuer, also frees them from their metal shackles and tells them to stop hanging around and start earning their keep.
Scorpius detention center
Dozens of troopers storm the detention center now that word has gotten out over the prisoners’ escape. They are all soon blown back by a giant explosion caused by Sue and a force field she erected. She yells she has a knock-out gas hangover and is very cranky. She tells Scott to show her what to smash next.
Emma tells Scott that whatever was blocking her powers is gone. Lee says the psi-field generator must have been nearby, which means the Kaddak can storm the city. Sure enough, both species of the Kaddak come busting through the walls. The non-powered ride on triceratops and pterodactyls, while the psi-powered fly overhead. The Scorpius flee in abject terror. With the psi-barriers down Emma gets into contact with everyone in Scorpius city, telling them they should get the hell out.
near the FF’s submersible
The warring party has already made its way to the submersible. Instead of fighting Richards and Nemesis surrender and are cuffed. Reed tells the emperor there is no reason to fight because even though the gateway is complete there’s no way to power it. The emperor stares down at Reed and says he will be powering the gate, after which his dimension will know the might of the Scorpius.
Just then Doom lands behind the emperor, clutching his arm in pain courtesy of his “battle” with Magneto. “I see we have our gateway,” Doom exclaims. The emperor doesn’t like Doom’s use of the word “our.” He then supposes Doom is going to tell him he’s taken out the last of his former teammates. He points an accusing finger at Doom and suggests he thinks him a fool.
Stretching out his right arm the emperor grabs von Doom and envelops him amongst the roots of his arm. Raising Victor into the air he tells Doom he has no value now that his friends have all been captured. You will not be joining the invasion of your home dimension, he concludes.
Despite being greatly outnumbered and in the emperor’s grasp Doom boasts there will be no invasion. He blames the emperor’s overconfidence and claims he already learned all he needs to know about him. “Doom’s plan has worked perfectly,” he declares.
The emperor doesn’t take kindly to those words. He brings Doom down to his snarling face and mocks him. He finds Doom’s arrogance almost admirable. So distracted is he with Doom the emperor doesn’t notice the rest of the X-Men and FF arrive on the scene. His realization comes when Magneto smarmily asks for Doom to be put down.
Knowing the emperor will not submit Logan snikts up. He looks over at his friend, Grimm, and urges him to say it. Since Logan seems to enjoy it so much, Thing obliges with, “It’s Clobberin’ Time!” With one left hook the rocky hero punches the emperor to the ground, the shock freeing Doom from his grasp.
The battle begins all around them. Soldiers and ships join the fray. Magneto easily destroys the vehicles with his magnetic prowess while the others, including Lee and Scully, deal with the foot soldiers.
It’s not long before the emperor has seized five of the heroes in his root-like mandibles. He’s also grown to incredible size, his whole body tree-like. He screams that he will destroy them all and then brings a giant root slamming down near Cyclops. Scott calls out to Sue who erects a shield between the remaining heroes and the emperor. He tries putting his fist through the invisible wall, but is reverberated back.
Sweat beginning to trickle down her face, Sue remarks how powerful he is and says she can’t hold it much longer. Doom says he has a plan, but they need to work together.
The emperor still screams at them, calling them insects and telling them they’ll all be destroyed. An optic blast interrupts him mid-rant.
Meanwhile, Doom creates a spell and has the Invisible Woman contain it within a sphere. He tells her not to release it until he gives the signal. He then hands the encased-spell to Wolverine who starts backing up against a sideways, outstretched Reed. Thing also helps pull him back. Logan says it looks like another fastball special to which Grimm jokes it’s more like a slingshot special.
When the elasticity reaches a certain point Reed tells Grimm to let go. Logan ends up soaring toward the emperor’s head. As he makes contact he shoves the spell down the emperor’s gullet. *GAAK* is the choking sound the emperor makes as the spell goes down his gullet.
Now distracted with his spell snack, Doom takes the opportunity to remove the power orb from the emperor’s armor. As he leaves he gives Sue the signal. She releases the shield around the spell and it explodes from within the emperor’s body. Pinkish light pops out from various holes and orifices of the Scorpius leaders.
As the emperor’s lifeless body slowly falls into the sea, Doom remarks on how the emperor always bragged the orb allowed him to be one with the planet. He drops down at Reed’s location, who tells him he’s won the day, but they still don’t have a power source for the gateway. On the contrary, Doom argues, he can feel the power within the orb. He explains it’s a conduit for the power of the entire planet. The good Dr. seems to be enjoying the power flowing from the orb a little too much.
Nemesis does some readings on the red artifact and concludes it will generate enough power for a one-way trip. Nemesis suggests they get the hell out of there. The only problem, Scott sees, is Doom who seems too eager to keep the orb. Scott tells him point-blank he’s not keeping it. “You dare to tell me--,” Doom starts, but Reed chimes in and agrees the orb is too powerful to bring back. Doom caves in, but doesn’t look happy. He suggests they destroy it then.
Scully tells him to wait, that the orb needs to stay. He’s going to stay behind and protect the natives from what remains of the Scorpius. Lee is surprised at this announcement. He walks over to her and holds her arms, telling her he’ll need someone to wield the orb as he already has the belt. She jokingly tells him she’s the brains of the outfit so there’s no way she’s leaving him.
Scott looks over at Lee and asks if she’s sure, after all they came here to rescue her. Emma is quick to back-up Lee’s decision, but it’s Scully who wants her to be sure most of all because the last ship sailing out of the dimension is leaving.
Bermuda Triangle
The submersible makes it through just fine this time, but without any new passengers. The heroes gather out on the deck and breathe in that fresh 616 universe air. Emma comments on Lee being heroic, but says her body is in no shape for a bikini. “Was she wearing a bikini? I didn’t notice,” Scott replies.
Reed interrupts the two lovebirds and says how glad he was they got to go on a little adventure together. He’s surprised they haven’t done it more often. Sue says she’d prefer not to get gassed and imprisoned next time. Scott agrees on both points.
Thing pats Logan on the back and says he’ll see him back at Avengers mansion. “We are both on way too many teams,” Logan shoots back.
Magneto and Dr. Doom have a conversation of a different sort, both former villains working on the side of angels. Mags is surprised Doom gave up the orb so easily. He says he knows what it’s like, and it’s not easy. Isn’t it, Doom fires back. “I guess heroism just comes more naturally to some of us than to others,” Doom snides before lifting off into the air leaving Magneto behind.
