The X-Men, accompanied by Lilandra and the Greys return to the mansion following their adventure in space, expected my Moira MacTaggert. Wolverine is itching to get out of the clothes he stole from the Imperial Guard member known as Fang. Moira tells Nighcrawler off for teleporting into the house because of the stench it leaves behind. Before she can finish Banshee grabs her and kisses her passionately as Professor Xavier watches on.
As the X-Men go their separate ways Storm flies up to her attic room to tend to her plants. She talks to each one as if it were a person and then conjures up a summer shower in the room to water them all, and give herself a shower in the process. As the shower builds in intensity there is a small flash of lightning followed a rumble of thunder.
The thunder is heard in the lounge of the mansion by John Grey who is there with his wife Elaine to talk about what has happened to their daughter Jean. Scott who is in the room with Jean whispers that they look scared stiff, Jean says that she is not surprised because a huge chunk of their lives has been turned upside-down and they no longer know their own daughter, she also comments that at times she no longer knows herself.
flasback
She then flashes-back to a few hours earlier when she and the X-Men were still countless light years away on the M’Kraan world to after her experience within the crystal when she saved the universe by sealing the rogue neutron galaxy within its stasis field. Although they had saved the universe, the Imperial Guard still following their emperor D’Ken’s last command intended to kill them. It was then that Lilandra ordered them to stop saying that the Imperial Guard is sworn to serve the empire, and now she is it’s ruler. She is stopped however by a councillor of the Shi’ar high council who informs her that although D’Ken is mad and she is next in line for the throne she is still considered a traitor by the law for leading a rebellion against her brother. Although they know she was correct in her actions they still have to iron out a few legal problems before she can be crowned.
Meanwhile Phoenix is talking to Corsair of the Starjammers, he pleads with her not to tell Scott that he is his father saying it would be better for all concerned if the truth never got out. Phoenix tells him he is wrong, but he is insistent despite saying he loves Scott with all his heart and that he is all a father could wish for. With that the Statjammers are beamed up aboard their ship. Storm comes up to Jean and tells her she heard what Corsair said and that he had no right to ask such a thing of her. Phoenix tells her she couldn’t turn him down having seen the horrors he lived through in his mind. Ororo still thinks she is doing wrong saying that if she were Scott and she found out that Jean knew all along that her father was alive she would hate her for it. Jean merely tells her it is a risk she’ll have to take. With that the gateway is powered up and the X-Men are ready to go home.
Back in the present Jean’s parents ask her if they can go talk somewhere private. Scott offers to come along but Jean says that it would be better if she were alone with her parents. Scott says he understands but ponders that he also needs to talk to her about how things have changed between them.
Moira and Sean enter the room and Scott asks them if either of them have seen his brother, Alex. Moira tells him that he and Lorna Dane wanted some time to themselves after they were freed from Erik the Red’s mind-lock by Charles so they went to help Jamie Madrox repair the lab on Muir Island.
Interlude: An unknown person is looking at a computer screen and says that they should establish primary contact in two hours.
Upstairs in the mansion Nightcrawler is on the phone with his girlfriend Amanda Sefton and arranges to go and see Star Wars with her that evening. He teleports to Piotr’s room where ‘Peter’ Rasputin is trying to write a letter to his parents but he is finding it hard to share his experiences and says he would much rather see his parents than write. Kurt invites him to join him and Amanda on a double date with Amanda’s friend Elisabeth. Kurt jokes that he loves the film Star Wars because half the cast look like his relatives. Peter says he would like to go but he has already arranged to go on a picnic with Moira and Sean.
Kurt then teleports to the living room where Scott is still sitting and brooding. Nightcrawler asks if he is intruding, Scott says he is not. He is watching Jean in the garden explaining to her parents about what happened aboard the Space Shuttle and her transformation into Phoenix. Nightcrawler states that they are taking it hard, Scott is cold in his response calling Kurt ‘Nightcrawler’ and saying that all life isn’t ‘swashbuckling adventures’. Kurt responds by pointing out sharply that while he may not have had to deal with optic beams he has been blue and furry since he was born. He says that everyone is what they are and wishing and feeling sorry for your self won’t change that and if you tear your guts apart every time you feel down you’ll destroy both yourself and those who love you. Just when Kurt seems to be getting through to Scott, Sean interrupts and invites them both to the picnic. Kurt says he’s got a date and Scott also passes saying that Kurt has given him a lot to think about. He already seems to take some of Kurt’s points to heart as he already makes a point of addressing Sean y his given name instead of ‘Banshee’.
Sean goes through into the other room where Moira, Piotr and Ororo are waiting. Wolverine also announces that he would like to join them as he needs a lift to the river because it’s been awhile since he’s been hunting. This outrages Ororo who is shocked that Wolverine would take the life of an innocent animal for sport. Wolverine is insulted because he said nothing about killing, he merely sneaks close enough to the animal to touch it. Ororo apologizes for misjudging him and Wolverine bitterly shoots back that he could care less. They’ve all been misjudging him since the day he joined.
Interlude : Members of the Canadian branch of S.H.I.E.L.D are in a plane tracking "Weapon X", they sense that his course is changing but that they will be on top of him before he knows what has hit him. In the shadows there is a costumed man waiting…
In the forest Wolverine is tracking a doe as he has been for the past hour, suddenly the doe senses something and runs away, Wolverine is sure it isn’t him. All of a sudden the ground beneath him erupts and a glowing costumed figure, the costume patterned after a stylised maple leaf, rises into the air, he is James MacDonald Hudson a.k.a Weapon Alpha. Wolverine recognizes the man and the fact that he has been sent from the Canadian agency for which he used to work. Weapon Alpha says that he has been sent to retrieve him but Wolverine says that Jimmy was there when he resigned, he is free-agent now and that’s the way he likes it. Weapon Alpha takes this as a challenge and the two start to fight, something they have obviously done before in the past the battle suit James is wearing however gives him super-strength and flight.
A few miles up the road the other four are enjoying the picnic, Sean and Moira are swimming in the lake and Ororo and Peter are talking about how nice it is to have a day to relax after their recent battles however Storm is unhappy about having to wear a bikini feeling she would much rather be naked. Piotr reminds her of an embarrassing event in the Mansion’s swimming pool. She replies that she will never understand this land’s strange taboos. Piotr tells her of his homeland and it is obvious that he loves it dearly. They are interrupted by Woverine being thrown into a tree. Piotr goes into the bushes to face Weapon Alpha who is angry that there are witnesses. He tells Piotr to stay out of the fight because his business is with ‘Weapon X’ alone, Piotr however refuses to let the man take Wolverine and transforms into Colossus and punches Weapon Alpha into a tree.
Weapon Alpha is about to fight back when he is attacked by Storm’s lightning bolts. He sends an energy bolt towards Storm but Colossus stands in the way, the blast reflects off his armored body and hits Moira who falls into the water. Sean dives after her but she is unconscious. He then charges at weapon Alpha and cuts loose with so much power his sonic beams are liquefying anything they hit. With that Weapon Alpha decides to escape rather than enter a fight with super-beings he knows nothing about. He takes to the air, only to learn that two of them can fly. Finally using one of his suit’s tricks he disappears into thin air leaving behind the puzzled X-Men. When asked whether he knew the man, Wolverine replies that they once were like brothers. And this isn’t the end - the fight will continue…
