The clock rolls back to a recap of the end of UXM #96.
Storm battles against the creatures spawned by the cairn that bridges the
dimension of the N’Garai to ours. Storm ultimately destroys the cairn and
seemingly seals the connection to the N’Garai dimension. Seasons pass and the
battle goes forgotten, until the present day, when a demon of the N’Garai makes
its way out and kills an unfortunate young couple. At the Xavier Institute,
it’s Christmas Eve, and we find Kitty Pryde studying up on the blackbird and
its ignition sequence with Professor X. The X-Men then prepare to leave for a
night out, and Wolverine introduces Mariko Yashida, his love, to Xavier.
Nightcrawler surprises Mariko with a playful kiss under a mistletoe, and
Wolverine lashes out, getting restrained by Colossus, while Nightcrawler
teleports out of the way. Xavier calms Wolverine, who apologizes, realizing his
killer instincts won’t fade so easily. Kitty lightens the mood by giving
Colossus a peck, utterly embarrassing the large Russian, and they all head out
for their night out. Angel is the last to leave, leaving Kitty all alone in the
mansion.
The reality of being all alone hits Kitty and she
tries calling her parents to no avail. The phone then rings again and she
answers to find Scott Summers on the other line. She tells him that everyone
else is out, which he finds odd but wishes everyone the best. Scott has been
making his way around since leaving the team and procures a job on a boat with
a woman named Lee Forrester. Meanwhile, Kitty tries working out in the Danger
Room, when she suddenly hears an alarm coming from Ororo’s attic garden. She makes
her way up there to find all of the plants dead, when she is suddenly surprised
by the N’Garai demon, who had made it’s way to the mansion! Kitty runs, with
the demon one step behind, tearing through the mansion as they go.
Kitty tries outsmarting the demon by phasing down to
the floor below where she can find a phone. She reaches the phone, but the
demon jumps out at her before she can call. The demon swipes at her and she
phases, but Kitty discovers the hard way that the demon can still hurt her even
while phased. Kitty then tries to lure the demon to the Danger Room, hiding in
the control room and hoping to ambush it with the Danger Room’s defenses when
it comes in. The demon proves more intelligent than anticipated and barges
right into the control room, lunging at Kitty and knocking both of them into
the Danger Room. The defenses activate and target the demon while Kitty phases
through them, staying one step ahead of the demon.
Kitty notes that fire seems to affect the demon and
has an idea. She makes her way to the hangar, speeding down the tunnel in a
monocar. The demon follows and derails the car, forcing Kitty to make the rest
of the journey on foot. She enters the blackbird, running through the ignition
sequence that she was studying at the beginning of the issue. Just as the demon
reaches the blackbird, she starts the engines, blasting the demon with the
afterburners and completely demolishing the hangar in the process. She makes
her way through the rubble, certain the creature is dead, when she suddenly
sees a clawed hand lunging at her! Hours later, the others make their way home,
and Kitty jumps into Peter’s arms, overjoyed to see him. She’s then surprised
by the arrival of her parents, who Professor Xavier had arranged to fly in to
surprise Kitty. After Storm asks Kitty about her attic, Kitty admits that she
may have destroyed a bunch of the house fighting a demon, the charred remains
of the monster still left in the hangar. An impromptu test of Kitty’s
intelligence and abilities that she passed with flying colors.