Proteus bares down upon Storm, the hurricane she
whipped up doing nothing to push him back. She attempts to fly above him, but
he manipulates reality once more, causing the ground to hit her like a tidal
wave, leaving Storm unconscious and helpless. Nightcrawler wants to help but
Wolverine remains uncharacteristically paralyzed by fear. Just as Nightcrawler
is about to teleport to Proteus, even knowing he can’t defeat him, Proteus is
suddenly stopped by a warning sniper shot. Moira MacTaggert turns out to be the
shooter, positioned atop a nearby knoll. Moira lines up her next shot to kill
Proteus, before she is suddenly stopped by Cyclops. She retaliates, hitting him
with her gun butt by surprise, causing Cyclops to hit his head on a rock on the
way down, knocking him out. Moira checks on Cyclops and then predicts where
Proteus is heading, as she heads off to arrive there first.
Later, the X-Men all reconvene, with the ones who
faced Proteus struggling to pull themselves back together. Cyclops notices that
Wolverine is particularly shaken up and takes measures to try and snap him out
of it. Cyclops does this by picking a fight with him, even pouring a drink in
his face! This has the desired affect and Wolverine attacks Cyclops, while
Cyclops times every move perfectly so as to keep Wolverine off-balance and keep
himself from getting killed in the process. Banshee tells Colossus to break up
the fight, but Phoenix holds him back, saying to let Cyclops play his hand.
Cyclops keeps Wolverine off-balance, even bouncing his beam off of Colossus to
hit Wolverine, flipping him over into Nightcrawler. Nightcrawler teleports
above Cyclops, fearing he’s been possessed by Proteus, only to be left wide
open to get blasted. Storm has had enough and fires a couple lightning bolts
before Cyclops stuns her as well.
Cyclops finally decides to reveal his ploy, calling
for a truce and revealing that all of this could be considered a session in the
Danger Room! He wanted to test those who faced Proteus, to make sure there
weren’t any lasting psychological effects, being particularly worried about
Wolverine, while also making sure his skills were still sharp, after having
been taken out by Moira so easily earlier. Wolverine states a newfound respect
for Cyclops while they try to get back on Proetus’ trail. Meanwhile, Proteus
has now taken possession of a young woman, hoping that this will throw the
X-Men even further off his scent. Hours later, Moira reaches Edinburgh, and
stops in to see her husband, Joe MacTaggert. She tells him about their son,
born after his and Moira’s violent falling out. She warns that their son is
likely coming to kill him and he throws her out.
Unbeknownst to both of them, Proteus has reached there
as well, and quickly confronts his father, in his own unique manner. Back with
the X-Men, Phoenix suddenly feels Joe MacTaggert’s psychic death scream as his
son possesses him, revealing that he gains power with each new body. Jean
levitates everyone, flying straight for where Proteus is, as he, now in his
father’s body, goes to capture Moira. The X-Men spot Proteus from the air and
send Colossus down first, being the one mostly likely to be able to get to
Proteus. However, before Colossus can reach him, he turns gravity 90 degrees,
sending Colossus and everyone else on the block tumbling down the street. The
rest of the X-Men land but before Phoenix can unleash her power, Proteus grabs
Moira, warning that if they get too close, he’ll kill her. Although Moira is in
danger, Cyclops knows that Proteus must be stopped, no matter what it takes! To
be continued!