While Charles Xavier lies in a coma, struggling
against the strange alien presence he feels inside of him, the X-Men all gather
around, despondent. Nightcrawler wishes there was something they could do and
Moira MacTaggert admits that they’ve tried everything they could. Cyclops storms
out in frustration and Storm asks Corsair if she could be the one to talk to
him. Storm approaches Cyclops, who expresses frustration over the X-Men’s
plummeting reputation due to their caper at the Pentagon a few issues ago. Cyclops
implies that maybe he should take over as leader again and Storm almost walks
away in anger. Scott apologizes, revealing that he’s really upset over Xavier’s
condition. Scott admits that Xavier is as much of a father to him as Corsair is
and that he’s terrified of Charles dying, stating how much he needs Ororo and
the others.
Inside, Lilandra gives what might be a final farewell
to Charles, and her tear falls upon his face. Charles, meanwhile, has retreated
far into his own mind, taking himself back to when a friend called for his help
in Israel 20 years prior. Charles is called to the site of a psychiatric
hospital treating survivors of the Holocaust. There he meets an interesting man
volunteering named Magnus (soon to be Magneto). Charles is presented with a
catatonic girl named Gabrielle Haller and attempts to reach into her mind.
Charles fights against the mental defenses trying to protect Gabrielle from him
and eventually breaks through, glimpsing fantastical recreations of her trauma
in the Holocaust, ending with her being turned to gold. Gabrielle snaps out of
her catatonic state and is put to bed to rest, while outside the news of her
awakening is overheard by a mysterious figure, with plans to report the news to
his leader!
Over the following weeks, the trio of Charles, Magnus,
and Gabrielle become increasingly close. Charles and Magnus discover they have
conflicting views of how mutants will be perceived; Magnus thinks mutants will
be hunted, while Charles has a more hopeful mindset. Charles and Gabrielle
enter into a romance, though Charles is unsure if this is the right course of
action. Just then, the hospital is attacked by a group of uniformed men.
Charles is grazed by a bullet and Gabrielle is captured and loaded into an
escape craft. The second escape craft is not so lucky, suddenly tearing itself
apart and killing the invaders while keeping everyone else safe. Charles sees
that Magnus was responsible, realizing that he’s a mutant as well. Charles then
reads the mind of a captured agent and discovers that they were attacked by a
group of Hydra agents, as well as where they are heading.
At the base of a mysterious cave, Baron Strucker leads
his men with the information taken from Gabrielle. They find Hitler’s secret
stash of gold, that was hidden away with Gabrielle made into a living map of
sorts for it, only able to strike once she awoke. Charles and Magnus sneak in
disguised as Hydra agents and rescue Gabrielle. Magnus deflects their
attackers’ bullets while Charles psychically makes their enemies attack each
other. Magnus crushes Strucker’s hand and buries him alive in the cave after lifting
Charles, Gabrielle, and the gold up out of the mountain. Magnus departs with
the gold, still at odds with Xavier’s vision. Charles then snaps out of his
coma, Lilandra’s love and support finally getting through enough to wake him
up, just as he had done for Gabrielle all those years ago. Shortly after, all
save Xavier, still too weak to travel, attend a farewell banquet for Lilandra
on her ship. Wolverine keeps sensing some kind of danger but can’t pinpoint it,
until the banquet is interrupted by the arrival of Deathbird! She names herself
as the new Empress and the X-Men are taken by surprise and all taken out, to be
used as new hosts for the Brood! To be continued!