At the end of last issue, the new X-Men came face to
face with the original X-Men, as Steven Lang declares his victory and his plans
for mutant extermination. A furious battle erupts as the original X-Men mean to
kill the new ones. After getting kicked by Beast, Nightcrawler inquires to
Cyclops as to why they are now fighting amongst each other, before getting put
down hard with an optic blast. Wolverine tries to carve up Iceman before Angel
throws him into Colossus. They retaliate with the “Fastball Special” as
Colossus throws Wolverine at their enemies, claws out, before Colossus overcomes
Havok’s energy blasts in impressive fashion! Storm tries to reason with Jean,
inquiring why she’s turned against her friends. Jean replies with disgust,
distracting Storm so Polaris can get the drop on her. Storm is rescued by a
sonic scream from Banshee, who says they have to start working as a team.
Wolverine decides to get to the heart of the matter
and heads straight for Professor X. Wolverine demands answers when Professor X
suddenly stands up and knocks Wolverine to the ground with a punch! Wolverine
is then assaulted by Jean’s telepathic powers. With his mind overwhelmed,
Wolverine lets his instincts and senses guide him, finally realizing what’s
really going on. He makes his way to Jean before plunging his claws into her,
to everyone’s shock and horror! It is then revealed that the original X-Men
were robots all along, a new breed of Sentinel, called the X-Sentinels. Steven
Lang reacts with frustration and disbelief, detailing how he came across the
notes for the Sentinels and planned to use the apparent X-Men themselves to
destroy mutantkind, for the ultimate irony.
Having had enough, Cyclops blasts his way out of his
confinement, before freeing the real Jean Grey, Peter Corbeau, and a still
unconscious Professor X. Lang runs to his flying gunship and attacks Cyclops,
as the video screens behind show the X-Men destroying the other X-Sentinels.
Cyclops fires back at Lang and Jean jams his controls with her telekinesis. In
an act of desperation, Lang turns the thrusters to maximum. This causes him to
lose control of his gunship, however, and he careens right into the screen,
seemingly dying in the huge explosion! The other X-Men locate Scott, Jean, and
the others amid the chaos and realize that they’ve got to get off the base,
which could blow at any moment!
They all make it to the shuttle they arrived in, but it
seems all is in vain. Corbeau reveals that the computer designed to guide them
through the solar storm was destroyed in the crash. The hole in the shuttle
would make it impossible for him to fly the shuttle himself, as he would
succumb to the radiation. With no pressure suits, there’s no one who could
survive the solar flare and pilot the ship safely. With a heavy though
determined heart, Jean realizes that she can do both. She psychically absorbs
Corbeau’s flight knowledge so that she can fly the shuttle, while reasoning
that she can keep the radiation out with her telekinesis.
Cyclops tries to talk her out of it and she’s forced
to mindblast him to keep him from interfering. Wolverine as well tries to talk
sense into Jean and she blows up at him, telling him to get into the life cell
with the others. Finally, she says goodbye to Storm, before sealing the hole
with her telekinesis and beginning the journey back to earth. Nightcrawler
holds the desperate Cyclops back, tearfully admitting that it’s too late to
stop. The longer the journey goes, the more difficult it becomes, before Jean’s
shielding fails and the radiation starts to get through, as she cries out for
Scott! To be continued!