Professor X gathers the X-Men to announce that
Kitty Pryde’s parents have made the decision to withdraw her from the school, opting
to send her to another school with students closer to her age. The X-Men react
in disbelief, but Xavier says there’s nothing he can do, prompting Kitty to run
out of the room in frustration. Hours later, Storm comes to comfort Kitty, who
is still sulking about the whole thing. Kitty reveals that the new school her
parents are planning to send her to is the Massachusetts Academy run by Emma
Frost, White Queen of the Hellfire Club! Kitty blames her parents’ impending
divorce for the decision and Storm tells her that change is part of life, even
when it hurts, and learning to accept that change is part of growing up. After
Xavier checks that Kitty’s parents aren’t being manipulated by Frost, the day
comes when Kitty is to head off to her new school. She shares a sweet goodbye
with each of the X-Men, especially Colossus, as the two share their first real
kiss, as a temporary goodbye.
Kitty heads off with Storm on the long drive to the
Massachusetts Academy. They reach their destination by the afternoon and Kitty
reveals she did a lot of research on Frost after their last tussle, concluding
that she and the rest of the Hellfire Club only do crime for kicks, being rich
enough not to need to. Storm waits in a lounge while Kitty gets settled in,
where she is suddenly surprised by Emma Frost, followed by a flash of light!
Not much later, Kitty says farewell as Storm heads out, driving a good distance
from the school before pulling over. Storm experiments and marvels at her
powers, before lighting a cigarette and placing a call to the Hellfire Club.
The call is answered by Sebastian Shaw as it soon becomes clear that Emma Frost
switched bodies with Storm as part of a plan to infiltrate and capture the
X-Men, and Emma tells Shaw it’s almost time for phase 2. Meanwhile, in a prison
room in the sub-basement of the Massachusetts Academy, Storm awakens to find
herself in Emma’s body and can’t believe the sight!
On the grounds of Xavier’s school, Nightcrawler and
his girlfriend Amanda Sefton share a stroll, not having seen each other in
quite a long time. Ther bliss is short lived as they are suddenly ambushed by a
Sentinel and Nightcrawler is knocked unconscious. Cyclops suddenly blasts the
Sentinel from the mansion and Wolverine arrives to aid Kurt and Amanda. More
Sentinels arrive, while Sebastian Shaw surveils the situation from the Hellfire
Club headquarters. Nightcrawler awakens and gets Amanda to safety while the
newly arrived Colossus and Wolverine tangle with the Sentinels. Wolverine is
temporarily blinded by one of them and Xavier guides him mentally. However,
just then, another Sentinel breaks through the ceiling and knocks out Professor
Xavier and Cyclops with a dose of nerve gas!
Emma, as Storm, draws near the mansion, seeing that
Shaw started phase 2 without her. The Sentinels start to overrun the X-Men,
until Nightcrawler saves the day, grabbing some plastique from the mansion’s
armory and rapidly teleporting, placing it all over the Sentinels’ legs. The
plastique explodes, incapacitating all but one of the Sentinels. “Storm”
arrives and explodes the last Sentinel with a lightning bolt, which knocks out
Wolverine when he shields Amanda from the explosion. The other X-Men question Storm’s
recklessness but drop their guards, allowing her to knock them all out with
lightning as well, capturing them for the Hellfire Club. Back at the
Massachusetts Academy, Storm, in Emma’s body, picks the lock to her room but
quickly gets overwhelmed by Emma’s psychic powers and the sudden influx of
thoughts she receives. She runs out of the building and remembers something
Jean Grey once told her about the difficulty of controlling her telepathy. Storm
concentrates on quieting the thoughts and runs to Kitty’s room. Her entrance
startles Kitty who tries to escape and Storm accidentally mind-blasts her when
she reaches out, meaning to save her, but perhaps killing her instead! To be
continued!