Having taken his mother Moira MacTaggert hostage,
Proteus twists the city of Edinburgh to his will. The city warps, everything
changing and going topsy-turvy, while the X-Men do their best to keep civilians
out of danger. We get a quick recap of the events up to this point, before
Proteus turns his power upon Moira, torturing her by changing her shape to his
will. The city returns to normal, giving the X-Men a chance to breathe, and
demonstrating that Proteus can only affect one target at a time. Cyclops begins
to formulate a plan, to get Proteus to burn out his current host body while
denying him any new ones. Storm starts off their plan by whipping up a dense
fog to blind Proteus, knowing he needs visual contact with his targets.
However, Proteus reveals that he’s gotten a psychic fix on Storm and encases
her in a pillar of amber! Wolverine breaks her free, even knowing it’ll leave
him wide open.
However, before Proteus can act, he’s shot in the
shoulder by Banshee, helping in any way he can right now. Proteus retaliates by
opening the ground underneath Banshee and dropping him into a deep cavern
before closing it up again! Cyclops blasts through the ground and Nightcrawler
heads down to retrieve Banshee. Proteus begins to close them in again and
Nightcrawler takes a gamble and teleports the two of them straight up as far as
he can go, where they’re caught by Polaris. Nightcrawler and Banshee are left
very weakened from the ordeal, but are otherwise alright.
Meanwhile, Proteus makes his way with Moira to the
less inhabited street gardens, heading for Edinburgh Castle. He’s intercepted
by Phoenix, who assaults him with a furious attack, before he fights back,
making Jean feel as if she been buried in the ground for a year. Wolverine
jumps out and furiously slashes Proteus for hurting Jean, just as Cyclops and
Havok arrive. Though worried about Jean, Cyke knows he has to stay focused on
the task at hand, while Wolverine thinks he’s just being cold and uncaring. Wolverine
grabs Moira to move her to safety up the cliff while Cyclops and Havok blast
Proteus from either side, further weakening his current body. He slips away and
is able to grab Moira away from Wolverine again, leaving Wolverine to fall from
the high cliff! Cyclops pulses his optic blasts to slow Wolverine’s fall,
allowing him to land safely, before he sends Colossus after Proteus.
Atop Edinburgh Castle, Moira asks Proteus what his end
goal is, while Proteus simply wants to use his power and lash out with the only
thing he’s known: hatred. Just then, Colossus arrives, un-armored, and tosses
Proteus into the wall, which destroys his host body, revealing his true energy
form. Proteus lights a swirling fire around Colossus, while torturing him with
the memories of his brother’s shuttle crash. Colossus reveals Proteus’ fatal
mistake, his desire to toy with his enemies, as he shifts to his armored form
and plunges his fists into Proteus. What results is Proteus completely coming
apart, his energy dissipating and scattering to the four winds, in a truly
mesmerizing display of light! The other X-Men make their way to the castle,
where they find Colossus consoling the grieving Moira. Wolverine congratulates
Colossus on his performance while Banshee embraces Moira. Though the nightmare
is over, the X-Men know that only once Moira has healed some from this ordeal,
can this truly be called a victory.