Scott Summers a.k.a. Cyclops stares at the five young people before him and his first thought, the one that really sticks, is that he has lost it. After all that he has been through, all the people that crawled inside his head, all the hard choices he has made, all the things he has done in the name of his mutant people - maybe he has just lost control of himself.
Magneto stands nearby and frowns, while Cyclops wonders if he doesn’t know the difference between fantasy and reality anymore. Then, as he sees the original X-Men - Beast, Marvel Girl, Angel, Iceman and himself - standing before him, he thinks of all the mutants he knows with telepathic and mind control powers - Mastermind? Mentallo? Emma Frost? A red flare of optic energy surges behind his visor, and Scott wonders if Emma has been lying about not having her psychic powers anymore.
Scott recalls that Emma made it clear that she is angry, ‘Even though I’m the one who should be angry’ he thinks to himself. ‘Maybe the White Queen has finally shown her true self. But if it was her, she wouldn’t let me think this’ Scott decides, before wondering if it was Xavier, that perhaps Xavier cannot be killed, and maybe he is inside his head right now. ‘Maybe Xavier is right in front of me and he’s not allowing me to see him. He’s only allowing me to see what he wants me to see. He wants me to see myself’ Scott decides. ‘He wants me to see who I was when he loved me. When I was everything that he wanted me to be. He wants me to see the original X-Men. He wants me to see us when we were pure. When we didn’t know any better. When we didn’t know what the world was really like‘.
Scott continues, thinking ‘But I know, in my heart that Xavier’s dead. And I know, if I really think about it, I know that no matter how angry Emma is - she would never do this’. So, Scott knows he has to really think about who would do this - who would punish him this viciously. He thinks about shape shifters - about Mystique. But he knows there would have to be five shape shifters, and they would have to be fantastic. ‘No. Somehow this is real. I am looking right at myself. I’m looking at the original X-Men. And they are looking right at me with such utter contempt. Damn it! I feel it in my bones. This is real. And there they are trying to figure out why I am standing next to Magneto. How could this be?’ Scott wonders.
Cyclops knows that his teenage self could not possibly fathom a world where Cyclops, leader of the X-Men, is an ally to a once mutant terrorist Magneto. He wonders who did this, who brought this nightmare, before realizing that Jean is in front of him. ‘There she is. Alive. Exactly how she looked when I first fell completely in love with her. So gorgeous. So…’ his thoughts trail off, as Jean Grey - Marvel Girl - suddenly shouts ‘Stop!’, while the present Cyclops thinks to himself that it’s her, it’s really her. ‘Stop talking!’ Marvel Girl exclaims. ‘What’s - no one is talking!’ Bobby “Iceman” Drake points out, while the young Cyclops turns to Jean, confused, and Magneto declares that this is an abomination. ‘Who would do this? Step forward! I want to meet the person who thought this was -’ Magneto is interrupted by Cyclops who thinks: ‘Oh my God! Look at her! Everything I ever wanted in life and she’s right -’ Jean screams ‘SHUT UP!’ and knocks Cyclops and Magneto away with a blast of telekinetic energy.
Everyone watches in shock, while Jean covers her head, and the present Cyclops lands head first on some concrete stairs nearby. The past Cyclops rushes over to Jean, who surrounds herself in telekinetic fury as she reveals ‘He did it. I hear his thoughts. He killed the Professor!’ But the present Cyclops tells Jean by “speaking” into her mind that he loves her, and he would never-- ‘Stop!’ Jean tells him, and uses her telekinesis to knock his visor off. Cyclops’s optic power darts about, and beams of energy strike the ground where the original Angel, Beast and Iceman are blasted backwards. ‘Stop!’ the past Cyclops calls out, releasing optic blasts, he fires them at his present self, who returns the blasts, which clash together in spectacular display. Eventually though, as their powers are forced against the other, the younger Scott falls.
Iceman moves towards the present Cyclops on an ice-sled and asks ‘What happened to you, man?’, while Cyclops is kneeling down, covering his face. He mutters ‘No, no, no’. Magneto raises a hand towards Iceman, and using his magnetic power throws a bicycle at his ice-sled, subsequently knocking Bobby from it. ‘Stop this!’ Magneto declares. ‘Oh no’ Heny McCoy a.k.a. the Beast remarks as he looks around. Magneto goes over to Cyclops, and contacts Illyana Rasputin, but Warren Worthington the Third a.k.a. Angel flies over to him. ‘Illyana. Get us out of here NOW!’ Magneto orders, and before Angel, Beast or Iceman can intervene, Magneto and the present Cyclops vanish in a blaze of blue energy.
‘He ran away? Magneto ran away?’ Iceman remarks. ‘Since when does he do that?’ Angel asks. ‘This isn’t the future. This planet is backwards!’ Iceman remarks, while Angel declares that he can’t believe Scott attacked them like that, not to mention that Magneto was hugging him. ‘Cyclops is a @$%# and Magneto is a coward? This is our future?’ Iceman asks, while Angel reminds everyone that he told them they shouldn’t have come here. ‘He threw a bicycle at me!’ Iceman complains. The past Cyclops sits and frowns, while Beast picks up Marvel Girl, who seems to have lost consciousness, and suggests to his friends that he thinks it is in their best interest that they depart post-haste.
Nearby on the campus, ‘Benjamin?’ a voice calls out, and a red-haired woman rushes over to Benjamin, asking him if he is okay. ‘I -’ Benjamin, a tall young man with black hair and baggy clothes begins to reply, while his friend asks him what is going on. Benjamin tells her that he has no idea. The red-haired women exclaims ‘You turn into a mutant and the fricken X-Men show up and start beating the hell out of each other?’ Benjamin finds it strange that the X-Men are leaving, as the Blackbird takes off into the sky. His friend remarks that this is crazy, and Benjamin wonders if they were here for him. His friend tells him that it looked like it, and Benjamin agrees.
His friend adds that she thinks this means Benjamin is actually a mutant. ‘I mean, that was Cyclops’ she exclaims. ‘Two Cyclops’ Benjamin replies as they regroup with other protestors at the campus. ‘Yeah. What was that?’ Benjamin’s friend wonders. A guy walks up to Benjamin and holds his mobile phone up to start recording him. Benjamin asks him to get that out of his face, but the other man shouts ‘Dude, you’re gonna be famous. Like rockstar famous’ and Benjamin just frowns.
Meantime, at the Weapon X facility, two newly discovered mutants examine their mysterious surroundings. ‘Are you okay?’ the young woman called Eva calls out to the young man known as Christopher, who is covering his mouth as if he is going to be sick and replies that he is trying not to throw up. ‘Yeah, I’ve never been magically transported by a mutant sorcerer before today either’ Eva remarks. ‘Just give me a sec’ Christopher tells her. Eva then introduces herself as Eva Bell, and Christopher reveals that his name is Christopher Muse, and tells Eva that he loves her accent. ‘Yeah, Aussie…all Americans do’ Eva replies. Christopher informs Eva that he just found out he is a mutant, and Eva reveals that she did too.
Christopher smiles at Eva and explains that he isn’t sure what he is doing here, and Eva replies that she isn’t either, but has nowhere else to go. Christopher reveals that he is wanted by the police. ‘I’ve never stolen even a candy bar in my life and now I’m wanted by the police’ he mutters. ‘Yeah, me too’ Eva announces .Christopher tells Eva that he didn’t know he had powers, and asks Eva what she does. ‘I don’t even know if I could say it out loud without screaming’ Eva tells him. ‘What?’ Christopher asks, before Eva announces that she is told she tops time. ‘How do you do that?’ Christopher asks. Eva tells him that she doesn’t know, and Christopher exclaims ‘That sounds pretty amazing!’
Eva tells Christopher that it sure doesn’t feel amazing, and asks him what he does. ‘I think I, kinda, heal people’ Christopher replies. ‘Like heal their wounds?’ Eva asks. ‘Yeah, I mean, so far’ Christopher tells her. Eva turns to Christopher and exclaims ‘Wow. That’ - that’s almost biblical’. Christopher turns away and mutters ‘Yeah. Biblical’ and asks Eva if she would think any less of him if he tells her that he is completely freaked out. Eva puts her hands on Christopher’s and tells him that he is her new best friend. ‘Good. Because I think I don’t have any anymore’ Christopher replies. Eva reveals that her family bailed on her, or so she thinks. ‘I don’t understand what I did that was so -’ Christopher begins, when suddenly, the chamber is filled with a brilliant blue light, as Illyana “Magik” Rasputin teleports in with Cyclops and Magneto.
‘What happened? Scott?’ Illyana calls out, but Magneto tells her to give Scott a moment. Scott walks away, and Illyana asks if it was an ambush. Emma Frost enters the chamber as Magneto announces that it was the X-Men. ‘They were there? How did they -?’ Emma asks, but Magneto declares ‘The original X-Men’. Emma asks him what that means.
Eva and Christopher watch the renegade X-Men discuss the recent encounter, as Magneto explains that it was the original five - the original teenagers. ‘Scott as a young man. And Jean Grey’ he adds. ‘WHAT?’ Emma gasps. ‘Jean Grey is here. And they are none too happy’ Magneto states. ‘I’d imagine not’ Emma remarks, before Magneto asks her if she did this. Emma turns away from him, so Magneto shouts ‘ANSWER ME, FROST!’
Eva and Christopher look scared, and Emma turns back to Magneto, ‘Did I do what?’ she snaps, grinning nastily. ‘Did you do this?’ Magneto asks once more. ‘Are you getting crazy again?’ Emma snaps, before turning and walking up a flight of stairs. However, Magneto suggests to her that she leave Cyclops alone for a while. ‘Did you get the new mutant?’ Magik asks, but Magneto just turns and walks away from her. ‘So that is a no?’ Magik asks. ‘Jean Grey. That’s all I need’ Emma mutters, exasperated, while Magik wonders who would do such a thing.
At the Jean Grey School, the present-day Beast lies on a table in a laboratory. The present day Iceman stands nearby, while Kitty Pryde is on the phone to Reed Richards, again, and tells him that she doesn’t know why he hasn’t picked up, but that they really need him here. ‘Hank McCoy is in a bad way and you are one of the only people I can think of who can help’ Kitty says, before hanging up her phone, and remarking that she hopes Reed is okay. ‘Why wouldn’t he be okay?’ Bobby asks. Kitty points out that it is not like Reed to not answer a call for help, and because after what happened today, she doesn’t take anything for granted. ‘Yeah, I just talked to myself as a 16-year-old boy’ Bobby mutters.
‘And whose fault is that?’ Kitty asks. ‘There you go. I knew that was coming’ Iceman replies, as Kitty reminds Bobby that it was his idea. ‘Hank’s last words in fact were this was your idea. “Let Scott Summers see what he has become” And now we have Jean Grey running around’ Kitty declares. ‘That was insane’ Bobby agrees, adding that Jean looked so great. ‘Bobby’ Kitty exclaims. ‘You know what I mean’ Bobby tells her, while Kitty wonders what Scott thought of himself.
On Flattop Mountain in Colorado, the young X-Men have landed the Blackbird and Scott sits away from his friends, staring out over the landscape, while Hank is trying to wake Jean. ‘Please don’t have had an aneurysm. Please. I will never forgive myself’ Hank thinks to himself, when suddenly, Jean sits up. ‘What happened back there?’ Bobby asks as he rushes over. ‘You were reading Scott’s thoughts. I mean old, evil Scott’ Warren points out, but Bobby declares that she just fainted. ‘No, she was clearly hearing something we couldn’t hear’ Warren protests. ‘Stop! Just stop! And stop thinking!’ Jean calls out as she struggles with all the thoughts that are buzzing in her head - the thoughts of other people. ‘Please make it stop’ she whispers as she hunches over. Eventually, she manages to clear the thoughts from her mind.
‘Jean?’ Hank calls out, and Jean replies that she is okay, sarcastically adding that it is a great day to find out she is an untrained psychic. Bobby asks if they can go home now, and Warren agrees, suggesting they go home and forget this ever happened. ‘Forget this happened?’ Scott asks as he gets up and turns to his friends, announcing that he will never forget this happened, and that he doesn’t want to forget this happened. ‘Well I do. I don’t see any good coming from this’ Warren points out, while Scott asks Jean if she is okay. Jean just frowns at him, and Scott stares back, while Hank declares that he is not leaving this place until he is sure that he will live, so he wants to go back to the mansion. ‘NOW’ he tells everyone. ‘We’re not going to go after Magneto and evil Scott?’ Bobby asks. ‘Get in the plane, Bobby’ Scott scolds his young teammate, while Warren remarks once again that they shouldn’t be here.
At the same time, the present Cyclops sits on the side of a hill and looks out over his surroundings. ‘Not now, Emma’ he calls out when he realizes Emma is approaching him. ‘I just want you to know I didn’t do this’ Emma replies. Scott tells her that he knows, and Emma asks him if he knows who did, but Scott replies that he doesn’t. Emma points out that Scott knows the difference between real and not real, and asks if it was real. ‘Yes’ Scott confirms. ‘She was just standing right there’ Emma tells him. ‘Yes’ Scott replies. ‘Her and the young you’ Emma remarks. ‘Yes’ Scott says once again, before Emma asks him what they want. Scott tells Emma to go away, but Emma replies that she is serious and adds that if they know what the original X-Men want, then they know who did this.
‘They wanted to see me for themselves what I have become’ Scott tells Emma, so replies ‘So. If that’s the motive then all we have to ask is who - who has the wherewithal and technology?’ to which Scott announces ‘Hank McCoy’, and Emma tells him that is who she was thinking also. ‘Why? ‘Scott asks. ‘Because you killed Charles Xavier. And he can’t kill you back so he’s going to punish you’ Emma declares, and Scott grimaces.
At the Jean Grey School, Ororo “Storm” Munroe and Wolverine a.k.a. Logan are on the school grounds as Storm reports that the Blackbird transponder isn’t signalling, so they can’t find the original X-Men. ‘It’s Hank McCoy. Pretty sure he can figure a way to throw the transponder out the window’ Logan points out, before Storm tells Logan that she is going to look for them. ‘No. you wait. Wit till we find a lead’ Logan orders. ‘Every second they are out there -’ Storm begins, while a glow approaches in the night-time sky. ‘You’re yelling at me like I did this -’ Wolverine interrupts. ‘I’m yelling at you because -’ Storm begins to reply, when the Blackbird lands, and the original X-Men emerge from it. ‘Hey! Who’s in charge around here?’ Hank calls out. ‘Me’ Wolverine and Storm reply in unison.
The original X-Men stride past them, with Hank announcing ‘With all due respect I will be attending to my medical situations’, adding that he has some theories as to what is happening. ‘Please do me the courtesy of not getting in my way’ Hank tells them. ‘Uh -’ Storm begins, flabbergasted, while Wolverine remarks that he thinks he found them.
‘Hi. Guys, I’m going to need to see all of my latest medical files. I want to see all the information about the secondary mutation that turns me furry and blue’ Hank calls out as he and his teammates enter the lab where Kitty and the present Bobby are monitoring the present Hank. ‘GAAGGHH!’ Bobby exclaims, so Kitty screams, too, before telling Bobby that he has to stop screaming every time they walk into the room.
Kitty tells the past Beast that she doesn’t know his password, to which he quickly replies ‘Ednanorton’. ‘Ednanorton?’ Kitty asks, and Hank explains that it is his parents’ names.
‘I’m looking at myself again’ Iceman exclaims as he stares at his past self. Suddenly, the present Beast opens his eyes and looks up at his past self. ‘There I am’ he utters, while the past Hank informs everyone that he is awake. ‘You are…a…good looking…’ Hank begins, when suddenly, the monitor starts beeping furiously. ‘What’s happening?’ Jean asks, before the past Hank announces that he is going into cardiac arrest. ‘HANK!’ Kitty screams, while the monitor beeps even more furiously, and Hank reels in pain….
