Picking right up from last issue, the X-Men, after
getting free of Mesmero’s brainwashing, have found themselves face to face with
Magneto! Cyclops plans to try and regroup, to figure out what Magneto has up
his sleeve. He orders Nightcrawler to scout ahead outside and not a moment
after he teleports, the others hear him yelp in surprise! Colossus rips the
door off to discover that Magneto has been transporting the entire carriage
they’ve been in the whole time, and Nightcrawler just barely managed to grab onto
the stair in time. Wolverine itches to attack Magneto but Cyclops holds him
back, reasoning that Magneto’s power is what’s keeping them in the air. Cyclops
then simply asks why Magneto has come for them, and why now.
Magneto simply repeats that he has unfinished business
with the X-Men, and recounts how he went to the mansion, only to find it
deserted. When Beast arrived to find the very same thing, Magneto simply
followed Beast to where he had tracked the X-Men. Surprised at their
predicament, he had enough once he saw Mesmero attempting to brainwash Beast
and took care of them both. With the flying carriage now over the Andes
Mountains, two fighter jets come upon it, unable to believe what they’re
seeing. They then spot Mesmero being lowered to the ground by Magneto, in a
controlled but painful landing and resort to picking him up after having lost
the confusing bogey. Finally, the carriage reaches Magneto’s base, hidden
beneath a volcano in Antarctica. Magneto
lowers the carriage safely through the molten lava and into his base, before
shattering the entire carriage, causing the X-Men to plummet to the floor, with
Wolverine landing particularly hard.
Cyclops takes the lead, blasting Magneto and hoping he
can work in the others as they go. Magneto tanks a hit from Colossus before
easily flinging him away and sending a static charge through Beast when he
tries to attack. Storm whips up a ferocious blizzard that batters at Magneto,
almost taking him out. However, she holds back at the last second, not wanting
to kill him, and he capitalizes on it, blasting her as well. Nightcrawler looks
upon the carnage and feels he has no real chance against Magneto but tries
anyway. Nightcrawler gets blasted up at the same rate Colossus is being lowered
down. Colossus realizes that the impact with his steel body will kill Kurt and
so resorts to turning back to normal, leaving them to collide and fall to the
ground hard, defeated. Banshee swoops in, avoiding being covered in iron flakes
like last time. However, Magneto manipulates the walls to warp Banshee’s own
scream back at him, and he falls too.
Cyclops blasts at Magneto, frustrated that they didn’t
act as a team, as Magneto takes him out as well. With just Phoenix left, she
assaults Magneto with her considerable power, until she reaches an apparent
limit and Magneto creates a bottle effect with his magnetic powers, drawing the
energy right out of Phoenix. Just then, Wolverine comes to and slashes at
Magneto, but only manages to tag his cape. Magneto then quite literally makes
Wolverine knock himself out and revels in his decisive victory over his foes.
When the X-Men awaken later, they find themselves strapped to chairs that
render them immobile, unable to use their powers or even speak, almost as if
they were helpless infants. Magneto introduces Nanny, a robot built to attend
to their basic needs. The X-Men then realize what Magneto’s ultimate goal is,
for them to experience what he experienced when he was reduced to an infant, to
be helpless and afraid, trapped there with nothing they can do about it! To be
continued!