Due to Binary’s explosive exit last issue, the X-Men
now have to deal with the sudden decompression and avoid getting sucked out
into space! Colossus shifts armor to block the hole with his body as best he
can, while Nightcrawler teleports with Lilandra to the bridge. There, they try
to divert more air to the hangar to increase the X-Men’s odds. Wolverine cuts a
piece of the floor loose, before becoming dislodged and slamming hard into
Colossus. Cyclops then blasts the chunk of floor so that it perfectly plugs the
hole, returning the artificial gravity to normal. Meanwhile, on Earth,
Moira MacTaggert and Stevie Hunter discuss the situation, neither having heard any
news on the X-Men in weeks.
Moira heads to talk to Professor X about a new mutant
named Karma that Reed Richards wanted his help with. Charles quickly and
succinctly declines and is surprised when Moira offers no pushback. Moira’s
tired of fighting and suggests sending the girl to Magneto or Emma Frost’s
Massachusetts Academy. Xavier balks at the idea, but Moira points out that
young mutants need someone to guide them, and Xavier admits that he feels
responsible for what happened to the X-Men and doesn’t want to endanger any
other young mutants. Moira reminds Charles of her son, Proteus, and how much
better things could have turned out if she’d asked Charles for help. After a
time of contemplation, Charles Xavier picks up his mission once more, and calls
Reed Richards.
Back out in space, Storm flies along in the shuttle
she ran off in, at war with herself over what to do, whether to try and kill
the embryo within her or not. Storm then starts to change into a Brood and the
transformation is almost complete when her shuttle flies by a galactic core,
stars and planets crammed into a relatively small area of space, the power and
energy they give off allowing Storm to temporarily reverse the transformation.
Storm then decides on a third option, gathering energy from the core and
exploding it outward, destroying the ship and killing the embryo within.
Afterwards, Storm floats through space, apparently dead as well. Back on the
ship, Wolverine, Cyclops, and Lilandra make the joint decision that they’ll use
their remaining time to head back to the Brood world and pay them back for what
they’ve done, killing as many as possible. The decision is a difficult one for
Cyclops, but he ultimately agrees with Wolverine.
Later, Wolverine finds Nightcrawler praying, which
initially surprises him, but Kurt says that his faith provides comfort during
difficult times. Kurt offers the same for Wolverine, but he turns it down,
choosing to believe only in what he can see, which initially saddens Kurt, but
Logan reinforces that he’s not alone because they have each other. Meanwhile,
Kitty Pryde has a nightmare in which she attends her own funeral and is dragged
into the coffin by the dead/Brood her. She awakens and is comforted by Colossus
as best he can. Kitty offers herself to Colossus, since they’re going to die
anyway, but Colossus declines, saying it would not be right and that things may
still work out. Each of the X-Men then begin seeing visions of Storm in various
incarnations and ages. Shortly after, their ship is swallowed by an Acanti, one
of the living creatures the Brood use for their ships. Storm appears once
again, looking more normal after having had difficulty appearing correctly to
the X-Men and reveals that she has become one with the Acanti! To be continued!