Last issue saw Jean Grey piloting the shuttle with her
and the other X-Men back to earth, before being overcome by the solar
radiation. The shuttle re-enters earth’s atmosphere and makes a bumpy landing
at Kennedy Airport, finally stopping once bouncing into Jamaica Bay, debris and
chaos everywhere. The shuttle sinks beneath the water and a moment later the
X-Men emerge, gasping for air. All except Jean Grey. With her fate unknown,
Cyclops is determined to go back for her, when Colossus suddenly notices something
strange happening with the water. Jean Grey then explodes out of the water and
rises into the air, with a brand new costume, reborn as the powerful and
mysterious Phoenix! Just as suddenly as she appeared, Jean becomes overwhelmed
and falls back into the ocean, where Cyclops catches her. Back on land at the
airport, Professor X suggests they make a hasty retreat, this being the second
time the X-Men have destroyed Kennedy Airport (after UXM #97).
Some time later, after Xavier uses his mental powers
to make everyone forget the X-Men were there, we check in on Wolverine.
Wolverine buys flowers that he plans to surprise Jean in the hospital with,
noting that he’s never felt this way about a woman before. His plans are dashed
however, when he arrives at the hospital to find the rest of the X-Men waiting
anxiously there as well, subtly throwing the flowers away. Moira MacTaggert
suggests Xavier try using his powers to help the comatose Jean, but he admits
the recent terrible dreams he’s been having have affected his powers greatly,
making it more strenuous to use them. The time ticks on and Scott agonizes over
the prospect of losing Jean, mourning all the time wasted and realizing that
it’s Jean, not the X-Men, that gives his life meaning.
Finally, Peter Corbeau exits with the doctor, who
announces that Jean should be just fine. The X-Men erupt with joy at the news
and Nightcrawler notices Scott slip away by himself. Kurt finds Scott
overwhelmed with emotion and wisely decides to leave Scott with his thoughts. Xavier
then tells the X-Men that after the stressors of the last few weeks, he’s
sending them on an enforced vacation to decompress, while he and Scott look
after Jean here. Banshee then suggests they head to his ancestral home, Cassidy
Keep, that he just found out via letter that he inherited. The X-Men make the
long journey to County Mayo and are astonished by the enormous castle before
them! Inside, we discover that Black Tom Cassidy, Banshee’s nefarious cousin,
has been lying in wait for Sean, and is blackmailing the steward of the
castile, Eamon O’Donnell, into helping him!
O’Donnell lets the X-Men in and shows everyone to
their rooms. Storm in particular feels very uncomfortable in the dreary stone
castle, and creates a mini summer shower for herself to relax. Not too long
later, Storm is preparing for the formal dinner planned, when Nightcrawler
teleports into her room. He uses his image inducer to make himself look like
various celebrities, making Storm laugh, and offering to escort her to the
dinner. In his room, Banshee can’t help but feel that something is off and decides
to ask O’Donnell when he gets the chance. As the group make their way to the
dinner, a trapdoor suddenly opens beneath them, and they switch to costume. At
the bottom they find Black Tom Cassidy and the Juggernaut, who announce their
plans to kill the X-Men! Overwhelmed by the suffocating stone walls seemingly
pressing in on her, Storm lets out a huge scream, paralyzed by fear, to the
others’ shock! To be continued!