The X-Men are cutting down some old trees on the
mansion’s lawn when they suddenly see the firebird energy signature of the
Phoenix fill the sky! Storm and Rogue then spot Cyclops falling through the sky
and fly up to catch him. Cyclops frantically tells the others that Phoenix has
returned, and Professor X summons them all to his study. Cyclops tells of his
experience confronting Madelyne the previous night and Xavier attempts to use
Cerebro to find her and assess how real the danger is. However, as soon as
Xavier attempts to use Cerebro, he receives massive feedback, nearly
electrocuting him! Nightcrawler teleports Xavier to the medical wing while the
others question how this could have happened. Kitty Pryde then discovers that
the safety locks on Cerebro were disengaged!
It’s then that Phoenix rises from out of Cyclops,
having seemingly returned once more! Dark Phoenix easily counters everything
the X-Men try to throw at her. Wolverine elects not to fight and Dark Phoenix
vanishes, claiming she has other business to attend to. The X-Men then try to
contact any help they get, starting with the Starjammers. They get through,
only to find that Dark Phoenix has killed everyone but Corsair, who tells them
to say goodbye to Scott for him before he is seemingly killed as well! The
shocked X-Men then try calling the Avengers. Captain America answers but is
seemingly killed as well mid-call and the X-Men look outside to see that
Phoenix has apparently nuked the whole city, leaving them very much alone!
Later, in the medbay, Storm and Nightcrawler attend to Cyclops, who suddenly
seems to slip out of his body, his ethereal form feeling that he’s about to
die. Scott encounters a blinding light and a woman who tells him that it’s not
yet his time. He only realizes that the woman is his mother, just as he awakens
from the strange dream-like state with a start!
Cyclops, now awake, realizes what must be going on and
who must be responsible and so sets up some countermeasures to hopefully aid
him later. Ten minutes later, Cyclops encounters the X-Men, but Storm generates
a wind to sweep him right into Colossus, who slams him hard into the ground.
Scott realizes that they think he’s Dark Phoenix and has no choice but to fight
back, using some judo and the momentum from an optic blast to topple Colossus
into the others. He decides to run when attacked by Lockheed, not knowing the
extent of the dragon’s abilities, but is tackled by Kitty, throwing them off
the balcony. Kitty instinctively phases and she and Cyclops fall into the
Danger Room on the floor below, right where he wanted them. Cyclops gives Kitty
a nerve pinch when she solidifies and Nightcrawler gets zapped when he tries to
use the Danger Room’s controls, Cyclops having tampered with them earlier!
Cyclops then uses the portable module he set up to
reconfigure the Danger Room to look like the Savage Land, needing every
advantage he can get to outmaneuver his teammates. Meanwhile elsewhere in the
mansion, Madelyne Pryor comes to dressed as Dark Phoenix. Mastermind introduces
himself to her, revealing himself as the perpetrator of this whole event! He’s
been watching over the X-Men for months, subtly influencing things here and
there, everything part of his plan for revenge! He admits that he was going to
use whomever Scott was dating to enact his plan, but the fact that Madelyne
looks exactly like Jean made his job easier and was the icing on the cake! He
ultimately plans to get them to kill her, thinking she’s Dark Phoenix, a
terrible blow that they’ll never recover from! Meanwhile, Cyclops uses the
terrain to his advantage to keep Wolverine and Colossus off his heels. He
enters the homestretch, running for the door out of the Danger Room, and uses
Storm’s hesitation to take her out as well!
The final bit of his plan falls into place, as he’s
able to anesthetize Rogue with “Wizard of Oz” style poppies generated by the
Danger Room. He leaves the Danger Room with Rogue and shuts down the whole
house, forcing Mastermind to come and find him. Cyclops takes Rogue to the
medical wing, where he wakes her up and forces her to absorb Xavier’s mental
powers. He guides her through everything, using things he learned from Xavier
and Jean, and has Rogue establish a mind-link between all the X-Men, thereby breaking
the illusion. “Dark Phoenix” then pops up again, but it no longer fools them,
when Cyclops is suddenly shot in the arm, indicating that Mastermind is in the
room! Storm then generates a massive tempest, flooding the whole wing, even at
risk to the others and leaving Mastermind defeated. She stops Wolverine from
killing him and Scott attends to Madelyne. Some weeks later, Scott visits
Jean’s grave, in order to say goodbye one last time. Later that day, present
and former X-Men, as well as friends and family, gather for Scott and
Madelyne’s wedding. In a beautiful ceremony, Scott and Madelyne are wed, ready
to start their new life together!