Picking up right from last issue, the X-Men find
themselves navigating the Drake Passage, between Antarctica and South America,
in the midst of the worst storm in a hundred years. Colossus tries rowing
through the intense tides, while Wolverine and Nightcrawler wish there was more
they could do. Cyclops asks Banshee for any possible ideas but he comes up
empty. Wolverine suggests that Storm use her powers to calm the raging weather
and she reveals that she’s been doing just that but that even her powers have
limits and she passed them long ago. Eventually, they are found and brought
aboard a passing Japanese ship. Cyclops thanks the crew for the rescue and asks
to contact home but is told that all outside radio communication is forbidden
given the sensitive nature of the ship’s mission. The X-Men have no option but
to remain with the ship until it returns to Japan.
Meanwhile, in Westchester, Jean Grey prepares to leave
the mansion forever, not being able to bear the memories, thinking that Scott
and the rest of the X-Men are dead. She’s seen off by Lilandra, who
contemplates her own feelings on the X-Men’s passing and her relationship with
Charles Xavier. She brings Charles breakfast, finding him depressed and lost in
thought. He expresses regrets at ever forming the X-Men, as his thoughts drift
to the beginning. He reminisces about his youthful romance with Moira MacTaggert,
the two even contemplating marriage. However, things fell apart when Charles
got drafted and Moira broke off the engagement while he was overseas.
Charles traveled the world to ease his sorrows,
eventually finding himself in Cairo. While there, he got pickpocketed by a
young girl, prompting him to chase after her. After a lengthy chase, he uses
his powers to gently stop her and retrieve his wallet, musing how he only
realized years later that the girl was a young Storm, during her street thief
days. Just then, Xavier experiences a strong psychic attack that knocks him for
a loop. He enters the establishment where he could sense the attack originated
from and waits, letting his attacker make the next move. He is soon greeted
telepathically by the owner of the establishment, a man named Amahl Farouk. The
two share an immediate intense hatred, with Xavier opposing Farouk’s usage of
his powers for personal gain.
The two begin a telepathic battle on the astral plane,
with Farouk using his powers to warp the battlefield to his choosing. Both
manifest gladiator attire to battle each other with, with each attack on the
astral plane being reflected on the participants’ real bodies. The longer the
battle goes, the more Xavier feels he is at a disadvantage, playing by Farouk’s
rules. He stops expending his energy on the fanciful illusions and instead
focuses his raw mental energy. Farouk continues to change forms, each more
horrible than the last, but Xavier remains unperturbed, eventually firing all
of his mental energy at Farouk. In the real world, Farouk collapses, as Xavier
simply walks out, but with a renewed purpose, knowing that he must bring humans
and mutants together, to work in harmony against such creatures as Farouk.
Charles continues to mourn over the X-Men and Lilandra offers for him to return
to her world with her, which he hesitantly accepts. As an epilogue, we check in
with Jean at Kennedy International Airport, where she runs into Misty Knight,
who’s off to Japan to help her partner Colleen Wing with something. Jean says
farewell to her as the reality of everything hits Jean again, leaving her
feeling lost and alone, with no one to turn to.