At Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, the recently
formed New Mutants are watching TV together when the X-Men suddenly bust in,
much to their shock! Not recognizing the X-Men, the New Mutants go on the
attack, with Cannonball blasting himself and Colossus out of the mansion!
Cyclops tries to quell the others while Kitty Pryde sneaks into the mansion to
head for Professor Xavier. The New Mutants continue to fight back, as Wolfsbane
jumps on Nightcrawler and Sunspot and Karma both attack Wolverine. Meanwhile,
Kitty finds the Professor, though something is clearly very wrong! The X-Men
finish the fight, Wolverine taking out Sunspot and Nightcrawler teleporting
away from Wolfsbane to take out Karma and Mirage. Kitty then comes
flying out from the hallway and lands hard on the floor.
Professor X makes his appearance just after and the
X-Men watch in abject horror as Xavier painfully transforms into a new Queen of
the Brood, their worst fears now true! Cyclops blasts the new Brood out of the
mansion where it’s quickly found by Colossus. The rest arrive to find Colossus
struggling against the Brood, until Wolverine is able to cut off its stinger.
The Brood continues to fight off the X-Men until it is stopped by the arrival
of Binary and Storm! Storm generates a blizzard that overwhelms the new Brood
Queen and causes it to plummet to the earth, defeated. Wolverine offers to kill
it but Cyclops claims that it’s his responsibility as the first X-Man. Xavier
then regains mental control enough to beg Cyclops to kill him, but Cyclops
deigns to find another way, not wanting to fail Xavier as he did Jean.
They take Xavier aboard the Starjammers’ ship, where
their medic Sikorsky and Moira MacTaggert think they may be able to clone
Xavier a new body and transfer his mind into it. Colossus and Illyana Rasputin look
after Kitty in another part of the medbay, making Storm feel a bit alone,
having gotten used to being the one Kitty always turned to. She wanders off and
finds Nightcrawler, who’s feeling a bit down due to the New Mutants’ discomfort
around him. Though he's experienced this kind of thing before, he admits it still
hurts, but Storm is convinced they will get over their fear, just as Kitty did.
Elsewhere on the ship, Cyclops talks with his father Corsair, who says he’ll
stick around for a little bit before ultimately heading back into space. He
specifically offers to take Scott to see his grandparents and they share a
sweet embrace.
Things are then interrupted by the arrival of
Gladiator of the Imperial Guard, who demands to speak with Lilandra. Gladiator
tells Lilandra that while they were gone, Deathbird has taken the Shi’ar throne
and that the Fantastic Four had restored a dying Galactus to health (in
Fantastic Four #249-250). Lilandra then sends a hologram projection of herself
to the Fantastic Four, stating that she will hold them personally responsible
for any planets Galactus may destroy from then forth! She powers down the projector
and she and the X-Men are surprised with Charles Xavier, whole once more and
good as new, cloned into a new body! He attempts to stand before suddenly
doubling over in pain, even though this body’s legs are not damaged. He
realizes the pain is psychosomatic, his mind convincing him he still can’t walk
after spending so many years in that state. Lilandra and Moira promise to help
Charles in their own ways before Charles makes one more announcement! Now that
there are other students at the school her age, he’s transferring Kitty from
the X-Men to the New Mutants, effectively immediately!