Welcome to the twenty-first century. It is a time of desperation and death for the United States, a country where the words “And Liberty And Justice For All” no longer have any meaning. At the dawn of the millennium, Sentinels overthrew the government, after the Congress had ordered SHIELD and the army to shut down the fourth wave of Sentinels. Now, every citizen must be tested for the X-Factor gene, which causes mutations, and those born homo superior have been interned in “relocation camps.”
Jubilee walks through the dark city of Hollywood. She carries a list which identifies her as a human, but that is a lie. As known, Jubilation is a mutant and also one of the last free X-Men. Jubilee covers herself in a hood, hoping that the Sentinels scouting above her won’t notice her. She passes a lunatic crying about the Babylon, but Jubilee ignores his warnings and pushes the old man away. Jubilee realizes that things are getting worse every day.
She returns back to her hideout in the once Sunset Metro-Mall. Jubilee enters it, and recalls that food keeps getting more and more scarce, as does medical attention, and she has even heard that the European Alliance has chosen to nuke the U.S.! Jubilee goes deeper inside the mall, where she passes the disposed and disenfranchised, who make the mall their home. At least, she thinks, this is a good place to be anonymous. She recalls her hometown to be once a place where many tourists came, but hasn’t seen any since the earthquake in ’09.
Jubilee goes to her friends, Synch and Leech. Synch asks her how things went. She explains that nobody questioned her I.D. card at any of the checkpoints, and that the power dampeners McCoy built for them are still holding up. Synch agrees, but they’ll only work as long as they don’t use their powers, which keeps them safe but also helpless. Leech is glad that at least they’ll have something to eat, and asks his boss what she got. Jubilee brought some canned vegetables, a pack of nutrient bars, some vitamins and a new water purifier. Synch doesn’t mean to be nostalgic, but he would give anything to actually walk through this mall again, and fill his cart with tons of food like in the old days.
Synch remembers that, back when he was a kid, he used to sit in school and daydream about seeing places like New York and Los Angeles, but now those cities are husks, and there are no more schools. Leech is glad with what they have. Synch notices Jubilee looking a little ragged, and gently touches her check, asking if she’s alright. She claims she is, but was wondering about the other X-Men, namely Peter, Ororo, Kitty and Rachel. She can’t help but think about the fact that if, they were with them during the Raid, things might have turned out differently.
Everett agrees, but they also could have ended up being prisoners as well, or worse: death like Sam and Kurt. At times like this, Jubilee wishes that Logan would be still around. Everett encourages Jubilee that he’s certain that, when the time comes, she’ll crank up a brilliant plan to burst everyone out of the camps. However, until that day, Everett doesn’t want to see Jubilee beating herself up over things she can’t control. Jubilee smiles that she knew there was a reason why she keeps Everett around. Suddenly, people around them scream and panic, and warn everyone to look up!
It’s a Raid! A couple of Prime Sentinels break through the glass window above them, and land before Jubilee. They are aware of Jubilee breaking the law with her fake ID card, and want to arrest or kill her if she resists. Jubilee thinks that if the Sentinels know she’s a mutant, she can use her powers on them. Leech distracts them using his absorbing powers, creating the diversion his friends need. While the Sentinels chase Leech, Jubilee and Synch prepare themselves. They combine their powers, but the Sentinels aren’t harmed by it.
Suddenly, strange magnetic powers destroy all of the gigantic robots! Jubilee thinks this must be their lucky day, but Everett suspects that “luck” hasn’t got anything to do with it. Jubilee recognizes the magnetic powers, and knows that there’s only one man capable of such control. And she hasn’t seen the man in years. She and Everett look up, and find… Magneto! Magneto explains that he came here looking for Jubilee, and needs her help finding Wolverine. And the lives of billions hang in the balance.
Moscow:
In bygone days, the Kremlin served as a symbolic heart of one of the world’s most powerful nations. Now, it is merely a backdrop for the gaudy neon advertising of Red Square, where the black market has become an institution that caters to any vice twenty-four hours a day, and pilgrims dare not travel alone at night for fear of being ambushed and sold to the genetic chop-shops which broker human body parts. Still, the scavengers and the junkies and bytheads give a certain foreigner a wide berth. For said man is no frightened, nervous tourist who made a wrong turn. This is a man on a mission, and won’t let anyone get in his way!
Wolverine walks silently through the town and enters the Dynamo bar, where mostly soldiers and former KGB agents visit. After taking down a security guard, Wolverine passes the visitors, who stare in awe at Logan, as they used to think he was dead. Logan walks over to the bartender, Bukharin, and wants to have a little talk with him. Bukharin stays calm, but clearly showing his metal arm, and recognizes him from the last time they spoke in Odessa. Wolverine explains that he’s looking for a woman, and hands over a photo of her to the bartender.
He claims to have never seen the woman before, but Wolverine knows that Bukharin is lying, as the photo was taken in this bar. Logan can smell Bukharin getting scared, and warns him to better rethink his answer, or else things will get rough. Bukharin understands, and explains that he saw the woman speaking to two Georgian engineers involved with Hydra’s failed Tunguska project. Before that, Bukharin had never seen this woman, as not a lot of Japanese woman stop by in his bar for a drink. After that, Bukharin explains she never came back. He wants to know who the woman is. Logan takes a serious look on his face, and tells Bukharin that he’s better of not knowing it. But, Logan promises that, if he finds out that Bukharin lied to him, he’ll come back to tear of Bukharin’s other arm as well.
Wolverine goes out of the bar, and senses the trail getting closer. He knows that Amiko is still alive, but hasn’t a clue how she got involved in Hydra business. As he continues his quest, Logan notices that, suddenly, the streets have gotten empty real fast, which normally takes a lot. This means that there’s a danger out there for him. Logan is proven correct, as Hand ninjas fall out of the sky!
The ninjas are angry with Logan, as they know he has traveled a long way, asking the wrong questions. And now, they want to make Logan pay by killing him. Wolverine admits he’s surprised that the Hand sect is still around, after what Elektra did to them. Logan snikts his claws open, along the way remembering that the Hand tried to get him using Amiko before, so maybe they are trying it again? The ninjas shout that the time of talking is through, and open the battle. Logan defends himself, and after a short battle pushes the ninjas away from him, demanding to know where Amiko is, as he knows she’s still alive.
Wolverine hesitates. He realizes that this was too easy, and that the ninjas aren’t part of the Hand at all! Suddenly, a mysterious, hooded woman sneaks up on Logan, and tells him he’s correct about his discovery, but too late to do anything about it. Wolverine wants to know how the woman could sneak up on him like that, but suddenly recognizes her. The woman touches Logan’s head, and uses her powers to drain away his consciousness. While using her powers, the woman explains that, in another life, she and Logan were friends, but that woman is dead now. She feels sorry for having to do this, but promises Logan that soon, he won’t remember anything of what happened today, as after she stops the absorption, Logan’s mind will be wiped clean!
As Logan feels his entire life breaking apart in the psionic onslaught, he tries to hold onto the memory of the one person who meant the world to him. The one person Logan thought he had lost, and hopes to find again. He is talking about Amiko, and remembers how delicate she was when Logan rescued her after her mother’s dead. And yet, Amiko was so strong, as she didn’t even cry when Logan picked her up. He promised the dying woman that he would take care of Amiko, away from harm. A promise Logan would give his life for to keep. But despite everything Logan did, Amiko died. And so, also something inside Logan died on that day. But then the photos started arriving, anonymously. Logan hoped that Amiko was still alive, and immediately started searching for her.
The woman stops her absorbing, and informs her partner, Midnight, she succeeded. Midnight wants to know what her partner is going to do with her men. She explains that the ninjas served their cause, as she wanted to use them to make Logan believe he was fighting members of the Hand. Midnight suggests that they leave then, and let the scavengers pick Logan’s adamantium bones up.
At the same time, but a continent away under the tunnels, Magneto, Jubilee, Synch and Leech have a meeting. Jubilee has a problem giving the location of Wolverine to Magneto. Jubilee won’t do it, as despite in his days with the Brotherhood or the Acolytes, Jubilee remembers Magnus being in odds with the X-Men a lot of times, and is in many ways responsible for the state the world is in. Magneto won’t deny those facts, but thinks that once unimaginable alliances might be necessary now. Jubilee still won’t buy it, and will never forget the way Magneto years ago horribly ripped the adamantium skeleton out of Wolverine’s body, giving Logan a lot of pain and it took a lot of time for him to recover.
Magneto defends that, if Wolverine had the chance at that point, he would have killed him, and Magnus doesn’t see the need to apologize himself for that. Jubilee wants to know why Magneto is there. He explains that the world is not only on the blink of political anarchy, but environmental chaos as well. He has noticed the unending rainfall flooding the southern California deserts, and the seismic activity that has devastated southern Europe. Magneto has discovered that these disasters are caused by men and women who want to jumpstart the Armageddon. Jubilee thinks that, seeing the bad state the world is in, that might not be such a bad thing. But Magnus isn’t joking.
Jubilee apologizes, and wants to know why Magneto would need her or anyone’s help, seeing he is the “master of magnetism.” Magneto admits that, for this particular mission, the stealth of Wolverine is needed and not his storm. Jubilee reveals that Wolverine is in Russia, looking for Amiko who died a few years back in Japan. Recently, Logan received photos of a woman who looked like Amiko, if she would have lived on to this day. Jubilee realizes that Amiko is practically Logan’s own daughter, so its understandable he went after her. Magneto agrees, as he has also kids and would do the very same thing. Though Jubilee told Magneto where Wolverine is, she didn’t give him his exact location. And she won’t give that up so easily. Therefore, she’ll join Magneto on his journey and help him, but, in return, Magneto will have to help her free the captured X-Men.
Magneto agrees, and claims they can be airborne within the hour. Synch thinks Jubilee is risking her life here, as Magneto is the most wanted man! Leech suggests that he and Everett tag along as well, guarding Jubilee’s back. Jubilee thinks they can’t, as she can take care of her own, and won’t risk Everett and Leech being captured as well. Besides, they need to make contact with the resistance in Portland. Jubilee insists on doing this, as saving the world is part of her job. Everett wishes Jubilee good luck, and hopes she won’t get killed. Jubilee, not got with goodbyes, promises she’ll come back, and she and Everett kiss.
Later, an unmarked jet wings its way west over the pacific through a turbulent region that pilots have named the “Shock Corridor,” because the freak electrical storms make it impossible for normal craft to navigate it safely. This particular aircraft however, is not being piloted by an electrically-vulnerable computer. Instead, it is held aloft and guided by the concentrated magnetic powers of Magneto! Jubilee, sitting aboard eating, wants to ask something. She remembers that, the last time Magneto and the X-Men faced each other, he had disappeared. Then, he resurfaced in Africa and everything went wrong. Jubilee wants to know what happened in Genosha. Magneto angrily powers up even more, and shouts at Jubilee that, if she values her life, she’ll never again ask him that question!
Washington, DC…
The Pentagon now serves as the headquarters for the high Sentinel trinity. Baron Zemo walks over to the three fourth wave Master Mold Sentinels, to whom all Sentinels are linked, and get instructions from. The Master Molds are aware that two of their Sentinels have been destroyed, possibly by Magneto. He orders Zemo to go arrest the humans at the mall, suspecting that they’ll bring them to the X-Men and eventually to Magneto himself.
Zemo doesn’t see the use, as his Thunderbolts are fighting non-mutant threats to national security. He suggests that the Sentinels send out their other hounds to get them, as, Zemo claims, his people would be better suited tracking the Canadians who blew up the Chicago processing center. The Master Molds simply respond Zemo not to question their motives, and do as told. With an angry look in his eyes, Zemo agrees.
Moscow, hours later…
With Jubilee driving a motorcycle and Magneto flying above her, they are getting closer to Wolverine’s location. She’s certain because she modified a tracking unit on her bike, which she ripped from a Sentinel they destroyed. It’s not Cerebro, but it’ll do. Magneto admits that Jubilee is a resourceful woman, but wonders if she isn’t afraid the machine might be used against her. Jubilee doesn’t think so, as she programmed the machine to self-destruct the second someone besides her tries to use it. She thinks Wolverine should be around the next corner.
They stop in an alley, where they find a war zone and a lot of scared people talking about an animal. Jubilee knows it’s about Logan. Suddenly, a savage Wolverine jumps from the rooftops, with his claws open and aiming to Jubilee! Jubilee apologizes for it, but uses her powers on Logan to push him away from him. Since Magneto is aware that Logan has his adamantium skeleton again, he uses his magnetic powers on Logan and traps him against a wall. Jubilee mentions to Magneto that he doesn’t know the price Logan had to pay to get the skeleton a second time, as the first time almost drove him insane. Magneto explains that one of the reasons he needs Wolverine is because he is a survivor. Jubilee tries to talk to Logan, but he doesn’t even recognize her, and keeps growling. Magneto thinks he knows the only woman who can help Logan.
Somewhere in North America…
Shinobi Shaw sarcastically smiles, and enjoys the world disasters like earthquakes and hurricanes going on everywhere. He wishes that his father would be here to see it, but finds it ironic that the Sentinels Sebastian built proved to be his downfall. Midnight and her partner return, and enter Shinobi’s room. He asks his queen how things went, and if Logan recognized her. The woman takes her hood off, and is revealed to be… Psylocke!
She explains that the mission was successful. Logan didn’t know who she was until the very end, but didn’t fully understand why they are enemies now. Psylocke concludes that Wolverine will still see her as Elisabeth Braddock, and not as… the Red Queen!
Shinobi thinks this is a good reason to open a toast. He wants to drink to the end of the world, and… the rebirth of the Council of the Chosen!
