After being on the run from the Hellfire Club all
night, we find Kitty Pryde running down a Chicago back-alley, a car hot on her
heels. Just before it can reach her, Phoenix pops up out of nowhere and utterly
demolishes the car, scaring Kitty just as much as her pursuers. Her frights
don’t end as Nightcrawler suddenly teleports in front of Kitty, before
scampering up a wall with her to safety. Phoenix is soon joined by Cyclops and
Dazzler, both of them stunned and a bit afraid of Jean’s immense powers, while
Scott also notes a definite character shift, and not for the better.
Nightcrawler then signals the others up to the roof and tells them that Kitty
dove right through the roof to escape him! Cyclops sends Jean in to look for
her, being the most normal looking of the current group. Jean quickly finds
Kitty, and though Kitty is hesitant at first, she soon collapses from gratitude
once learning that she’s been found by the X-Men. Kitty and the others compare
notes before Jean mind-scans the henchmen, discovering that the Hellfire Club
is behind recent events, shocking her due to her supposed ancestor seen in her
hallucinations having connections to the Hellfire Club, though she doesn’t
share her worries with Scott.
Awhile later, a car containing the supposedly captured
X-Men approaches Frost Enterprises and is let through the initial gates.
Emma Frost is skeptical that the X-Men were really captured so easily and arranges
for an escort to meet them, while she attempts to mind-probe Storm for more
information. While attention is on the car with the “captured” X-Men at the
front, Kitty phases through the wall in the back and frees Wolverine. Kitty
tries to bring him up to speed, when she is suddenly blasted from behind by one
of the guards, which Wolverine doesn’t take kindly to. Back with the car,
they’re told to wait for the escort and the X-Men realize this is as far as
their trojan horse will go. Jean stops controlling the henchman and they blast
out of the car and begin to make their way through the headquarters. Emma Frost
is alerted of the intruders and orders her men to take care of things. Before
Emma can continue torturing Storm, Phoenix appears and challenges Emma,
telepath to telepath.
The other three continue to make their way through,
until Nightcrawler pulls a neat stunt by rapidly teleporting so as to deck
three of their attackers practically at once. They are then reunited with the
others, with Cyclops relieved to see that Kitty isn’t too hurt. Another guard
appears with a high-powered rifle and Colossus shields the others before taking
him out, leaving Kitty quickly enamored. Wolverine leads the others via Storm’s
scent to where she’s being held, where the battle between Phoenix and Emma
Frost is raging in full force. Storm looks on in awe and horror as it’s clear
that Phoenix is just toying with Emma, her power building in intensity. Emma
tries one last ditch effort to fight back, causing the entire lab to explode
just as the others reach there! Cyclops desperately digs through the debris,
until Pheonix bursts, unharmed, from the rubble with Storm, though Emma
apparently wasn’t so lucky.
Professor X then joins his students, having hung back
to observe, before suggesting they make a hasty retreat. The scene then changes
to outside Kitty Pryde’s house where the group says their goodbyes to Dazzler.
Xavier offers her to join the X-Men, but she declines, feeling that kind of
life isn’t for her. Nightcrawler then drives her to the airport, and Kitty’s
parents come out, her mother relieved that she’s okay and her father furious at
Xavier. He tears into Xavier about her safety and what he thinks of his school
until Jean has had enough and suddenly Mr. Pryde is happy and agreeable. Scott
notes that this shocks Xavier as well and Jean admits that she psychically
compelled Mr. Pryde in order to give a peaceful resolution to things. Scott and
Ororo discuss their worries about Jean, with Scott noting that she never would
have used her powers against an innocent person like this before. Ororo concurs
that there’s a dark side to the Phoenix that’s been showing itself more lately,
and they have to figure out who or what’s been encouraging this change, before
it’s too late!