(halfway across the Multiverse… somewhere in the Atlantic)
The team’s ship has landed next to a waterfall that empties into the ocean. Dazzler tells the team that it’s a big new world out there and then asks if they are ready for it. Hercules, addressing Dazzler as “woman,” tells her to stop stalling. Standing at the door to the ship, she tells him her name is Dazzler and that she’s waiting for clearance from Sage.
Standing at her computer terminal, Sage says that she has just finished the third sweep of the area and isn’t detecting any brain waves or tech threats. Behind her with his arms folded, Cyclops tells her that it’s a bad idea. Dazzler replies that when he’s in charge he can call the shots. But right now she’s in charge and they’re going swimming. With that, the door opens and she, Kurt, Howlett and Hercules dive out into the lake below.
Dressed in nothing but swimming gear, they splash around in the water whilst Cyclops looks down at them from the ship. Dazzler yells for him to come in and asks how many realities it’s been since he had a bath. Dressed in his long, blue, Civil War coat and hat, he glares at them and says this is a new world and, for all they know, there’s an evil Xavier out there they are supposed to kill.
Dazzler looks up at him and tells him that Sage would have sensed anyone fitting that description in the vicinity. But he’s right about one thing, he should be more on his guard. With that, she fires a small beam of light at him, causing him to lose his footing. He falls from the ship but somersaults in the air and lands perfectly on the ground below. Kurt, however, appears behind him and teleports all of his clothes off except for his underwear. Dazzler tells Kurt that, although they don’t have an employee conduct policy, it’s generally considered disrespectful to steal someone’s clothes. He apologizes but Howlett points out that Dazzler is the one staring at the near-naked Cyclops. Unable to take her eyes off him, she says that she isn’t staring, she’s just… staring.
Cyclops smiles and chuckles a little. He jumps in the water and fires his optic beam near Dazzler, causing a big wave to head towards her. Using her light powers, she blasts herself out the way and tells him he’ll have to be faster than that if he wants to catch her with her pants down. She disappears underwater and then resurfaces and realizes what she just said. She starts to say it didn’t come out right but is suddenly cut short when she sees Cyclops. His back is covered in long, linear scars. She says she didn’t realize about the scars but he tells her it’s okay; they’ve all got scars.
She asks him what his story is and he bluntly tells her he doesn’t think she’s got what it takes to lead the team. She tells him she figured that out but she meant his story story… Where is he from? She guesses that he was a soldier in the Civil War. He turns away and says there wasn’t anything civil about it. The monsters had it coming; they used to whip him every week. Then they’d whip him every day when his mom died. He wasn’t making any trouble but they could tell he was thinking about it. They could see it in his eye. He says they were right. When his powers activated, he destroyed the slave-owners house and fled captivity. He thought it was the devil inside him but Colonel Fury and Dr. Xavier found him and explained that he was special, a mutant and his country needed him.
He was recruited and trained alongside other people with special abilities like War Machine and Storm. The Confederates thought they would win the war in two years but instead they lost in two weeks. Fury and Xavier trained them well, he probably killed six thousand men but he didn’t give a damn until he saw the looks from the men on his own side. They were terrified of him.
Cyclops says he is talking too much and gets out the water. He supposes everybody has a story like that. Kurt, Howlett and Hercules all agree but Dazzler says she hasn’t. Surprised at the others admissions, she looks around at them. Kurt says he just tried to revenge-kill a whole planet of robots. Hercules, picking fruit off a tree, says it sounds almost as much fun as what he and Howlett went through. Howlett turns to him and says they don’t need to hear about that but Hercules says it’s a good story full of adventure, heroism and romance. Howlett comments on the romance aspect and adds that it was also full of reckless abandon.
They were their world’s greatest heroes and the day they slew the worst monster who ever threatened the Dominion of Canada was the day they revealed their love. It didn’t go over so well. They gods had always been polyamorous but Zeus didn’t take too kindly to any god other than him consorting with mortals. They were cast into the Pit or Tartarus, where thousands of souls clamored for the taste of fresh blood. They killed the souls for three years straight. It might have been four, it’s tough to say.
Dazzler seems shocked at the story and Cyclops picks up on that and tells her that’s why he doesn’t understand how she’s in charge. They need someone who’s proved they are prepared to do what must be done. Howlett interjects and says that maybe they need someone who’ll keep them from going too far. Hercules chucks Dazzler some fruit and says that they should give the little lady a chance. She reiterates her names Dazzler and thanks him for the confidence.
On the ship, Sage suddenly radios down to the team and tells them they are going to want to see this. Back on board, the team take the ship and go underwater. They see a huge structure built into the underside of the landmass they were just on. Sage tells them the first scans showed it as part of the island’s mineral composition, but it’s a World War II era hull. As the team stares at it, Dazzler asks if their Xavier is picking up any evil-Xavier thoughts. He says he hasn’t yet but instructs her to look down into the depths of the ocean as he thinks they may have a hint of where one’s been. She sees a dilapidated Big Ben lying crooked on the ocean floor. She is startled to realize that they are in an underwater London. Xavier points out that there are Nazi banners strewn on the structure but instead of the swastika there is an “X.”
Before they have time to think about the situation, the ship is violently shaken, enough to crack the class in the windows. The whole ship is ripped out of the water and taken high into the sky. A voice screams for Xavier. The voice belongs to a Japanese version of Namor, who yells that the Great Atlantis and Imperial Japan will have their vengeance and Namor will have his head. He rips open a hole in the ship and exposes the crew within. Hercules jumps out and says their heads are spoken for but he can have a foot. He swings on the debris and slams Namor in the face with his feet, sending the attacker reeling backwards.
Wiping blood from his lips, Namor says he didn’t realize any of the gods had survived. He then decided to rectify that by punching Hercules in the chest, slamming him into the side of the ship. Before he can do any more damage, he is hit in the face with an optic beam and a blast of light. Dazzler and Cyclops confront him and tell him that they are not his enemy. Still enraged, he calls them liars and demands Xavier shows himself. As Howlett recovers, Hercules Dazzler tells Namor that it’s complicated but their Xavier isn’t his Xavier. She says that they are hunting evil Xaviers, so her guess is that they are hunting the same one. She suddenly realizes that Namor has disappeared, but he quickly reveals himself by pushing the ship downwards and slamming it into the ground.
Standing over the injured Dazzler and Cyclops, he points his spear at them and tells them to stop lying. He calls them “Nazis” and starts to continue his speech when he suddenly spots something that surprises him. He grabs Cyclops by the scruff of the neck and looks at his closely. He comments that he is black, to which Cyclops retorts that Namor is a Chinaman, so what? Namor lets Cyclops go and says he is Japanese and Atlantean. He asks Cyclops why someone who looks like him works for Xavier.
The team’s own disembodied Xavier appears and tells Namor that he is clearly not the Xavier he is looking for. Namor asks who he is but, before an answer can be given, he is blasted in the back with a beam of green energy. The team look to see that realities Xavier riding on a hover board. He is wearing Nazi-like clothes but, instead of a swastika on his sleeve, he has the same “X” symbol they saw earlier. As he brandishes a scepter that crackles with green energy, he agrees with Namor in wondering who the team is. Speaking to their Xavier, he says he should kill him and his friends outright but he likes his face.
Dazzler and Cyclops leap into action at seeing Xavier and start blasting him with their powers. Xavier just floats in front of them deflecting the energy blasts with an invisible shield. Xavier asks if they think he is the biggest threat they will face today. Namor, meanwhile, launches himself up into the air and away from the fight. As Dazzler and Cyclops continue their attack, the head-in-a-bottle Xavier tells them to stand down. Dazzler asks what is he talking about, as this guy is in a Nazi SS uniform. As Howlett unsheathes his claws, Kurt asks if Nazis are bad. Howlett asks if he had any on his world and Kurt tells him he didn’t. Howlett just replies to get him a little close and he’ll show what he does to Nazis. Kurt teleports him right up to Xavier and Howlett stabs him through the chest. Xavier grabs Howlett’s face and blasts him with green energy.
Kurt quickly teleports him away to a worried Hercules. As Dazzler and Cyclops continue their attacks, Xavier addresses them and says that, based on the scattered thoughts and images from their minds, he understands their cause for concern. But he assures them they don’t know the whole story. He points behind them to a number of hatches opening up from the ground. He says the hatches are to their final sanctuary, deep inside the island fortress he has hidden five hundred and thirty innocents. The last survivors of a drowned world.
Xavier tells the team they have brought his worst enemy to his doorstep and he will not rest until every one of them is dead. With that, Namor rises out of the ocean amidst a swirling mass of water. Huge waves begin to rise up around their little island as Namor readies for an attack. Xavier asks them to make their choice before the tsunami hits. The team’s Xavier yells that they have to help him as the water crashes around them. Hercules, still referring to her as “woman,” asks what they should do. Dazzler yells for the last time that her name is Dazzler and she hates Nazis.
