The Brood have caught another Acanti on a planet
called Madrizar when Binary flies in a demolishes the place. Binary quickly and
mercilessly dispatches the Brood before being forced to mercy kill the caught
Acanti. She flies back out into space, where she runs into an astral projection
of Storm, just as the others did last issue. Storm leads her back to the Acanti
that swallowed the ship last issue, explaining that she has bonded with the
creature. Inside, Binary reunites with the X-Men and Storm gives more details
on everything going on with her and the Acanti. Storm explains that the Brood
captured the Acanti leader, the Prophetsinger, and turned its corpse into their
throne city. However, the Prohpetsinger’s soul remains tied to the city, and
the Acanti can never be truly free until the soul is released, in order to pass
to the next Prophetsinger, the very Acanti they currently inhabit. Storm
explains how she provides direction and consciousness for the fledgling Acanti,
while it in turn heals her body. She suggests that they take up the task to
save lives rather than end them, remembering their true calling.
Cyclops suggests having Storm and Binary divert the
Brood, while the rest sneak in to free the soul. Wolverine instead suggests
that he and Carol do the dirty work while the rest stay on the ship, thinking
that any of them could change at any time and disrupt the mission. Cyclops then
challenges Wolverine to kill them right now if he’s so worried, since he feels
he’ll have to do so anyway. Wolverine hesitates for a moment before popping his
claws, prompting Kitty Pryde to break up the fight, saying that they shouldn’t
quit until the end, deciding to use Scott’s plan. The next day, Storm and
Binary, inside the Acanti, swoop down to draw the Brood out to them while the
rest beam down to the planet, Kitty even making a Star Trek reference that goes
over Scott’s head. Meanwhile, the Brood Queen is alerted of the X-Men’s arrival
telepathically, with the revelation that one of the X-Men’s transformations has
secretly already begun, creating a traitor in their midst! The Brood Queen
orders that the X-Men be taken alive and relatively unharmed.
Storm and Binary fight the Brood out in space, while
on the planet, Wolverine leads the others into the catacombs where they quickly
encounter problems of their own, getting attacked by the natural creatures
there. Wolverine notes that something seems to be off about Cyclops, and how
they’re sniping at each other like they did in the old days. Unseen by the
rest, Kitty is grabbed by a creature and thrown into a wall, which she phases
through, ending up in a large nest of some kind with Brood skeletons all around.
Kitty decides she’d rather not stick around and looks for an exit, while
unknowingly being followed! Out in space, Binary and Storm start to get
overwhelmed by the Brood when they’re suddenly saved by the arrival of a ship
that Storm recognizes belongs to the Starjammers!
Meanwhile, Wolverine keys in on Cyclops’ scent and
realizes what’s been going on, tackling Cyke and revealing that he was the
traitor, his transformation already partly begun! The Brood Cyclops blasts
Wolverine and Colossus while Nightcrawler and Lilandra get blasted from behind
by the recently arrived Brood, the X-Men suddenly downed in an instant! While
the Brood Queen preps the rest for transport, Kitty remains on the run, though
severely worn down. Just as she is at the Brood’s mercy, she is saved when the
Brood chasing her are incinerated by the being that had been following her, a
small dragon-like creature! Kitty finds the dragon to be friendly when another
Brood blasts at them, blasting a hole in the wall which reveals a bright light!
Kitty and the Brood find themselves drawn to the light, feeling compelled to
walk into it, which is quickly followed by a scream! Not far away, the Brood
Queen has the X-Men captured, when Cyclops begins to fight his transformation,
causing his optic blasts to fire uncontrollably! Wolverine takes the
opportunity to jump in front of the blast, freeing him and allowing him to
knock out Cyke. Wolverine threatens to kill the Brood Queen which causes the
other Brood to drop their weapons and free the other X-Men.
They continue through the catacombs, where they
eventually find Kitty exiting the bright light, and they enter the chamber
housing the Acanti’s soul once more. They find that the Brood Queen and the
infected X-Men are starting to infect the chamber, when the Brood Queen stabs
Wolverine, badly poisoning him, while the infected X-Men’s transformations
start, slowly turning them into Brood! Binary arrives before Wolverine can do
anything too hasty and uses her powers as a conduit to free the Acanti soul and
transfer it to the baby Acanti bonded with Storm. This also has the added
effect of purging the Brood from the X-Men’s systems, leaving them normal and
whole once more! They beam up into the Starjammers’ ship just before the planet
explodes where they all receive treatment for their various injuries. Storm is
revealed to be back to normal, no longer bound to the Acanti and everyone
celebrates before Wolverine points out that it’s not quite over yet. Before the
Brood Queen died, she boasted of one more embryo that would directly threaten
the earth, and Wolverine posits that it can only inhabit one person…Charles
Xavier! To be concluded!