The few remaining X-Men engage in a training session
near the grounds of Xavier’s school, a game of hide and seek. Colossus and
Rogue both do their best to grab Nightcrawler but his cleverness and
teleporting keeps him dancing circles around them. Rogue tells Colossus he
needs to get his head in the game for them to have a chance and he admits that
he’s been preoccupied thinking about Kitty and how things ended between them.
She and Wolverine are due to return from Japan that day and he can’t muster the
courage to face her, confused about how he feels. Nightcrawler then asks Rogue
if she acquired Carol Danvers’ precognitive 7th sense along with the
rest of her powers. Nightcrawler decides to test it out, and cheer her up, by
tickling her all over! She eventually gets fed up and her 7th sense
does activate, allowing her to sense where Nightcrawler will teleport next and
hit him away. She grabs him before he hits the wall and he jokingly asks for a
kiss for the rescue, causing her to drop him and fly off in anger. Kurt
realizes how stupid that was, taking for granted an experience she can never
have. They spot an old mansion that Rogue flew off to when suddenly the entire
area is struck by a huge glow and something falling to earth!
Meanwhile, the rest of the team wait at the airport
for Kitty and Wolverine’s flight to arrive. Professor Xavier documents the
passing thoughts he hears as notes for a course he’s teaching at Columbia
University. Storm realizes how many of the thoughts are anti-mutant in nature
and Xavier admits that the general opinion on mutants is growing more hostile
every day. Elsewhere in the airport, Rachel also listens to the various
negative thoughts, making her think about how things turned out in her future. She
then suddenly shifts back to a time with the older Kate Pryde she can’t quite
remember. She and Kate assault an enemy cyberobotics complex before Kate calls
on the power of the Dark Phoenix to sweep Rachel back in time, hopefully to
undo everything. Rachel now realizes that it was Kate’s idea to send her back
in time, not her own. At that moment, Rachel snaps out of it, encountering the
present Kitty when she and Wolverine finally touch down. Kitty then realizes
that she remembers Rachel from when she was sent to the future during Days of
Future Past, though Rachel thinks that should be impossible!
Back with the others, Nightcrawler and Colossus find
the impact crater and discover trees and wildlife turned into circuitry-like
statues! Colossus recognizes this to be the work of Magus, father of the New
Mutant Warlock. At the old mansion, Rogue encounters Magus, who is there
looking for his son. The other two quickly arrive and Colossus lays into Magus
before quickly getting overwhelmed. Nightcrawler tries out a new trick,
grabbing Magus’ leg and teleporting just that part of him, causing him immense
pain! This leaves both of them weakened, and Rogue decides to capitalize on it
by attempting to absorb Magus’ powers. This ends up throwing Rogue for a loop,
as she’s unable to deal with her new alien techno-organic form! Magus appears
once more to demand they bring him Warlock or suffer the consequences before
disappearing in a flash!
Later, the others arrive and Nightcrawler mopes about
how poorly his first mission as the new team leader went. Wolverine points out
that they held him off and no one died, making that a win in his book.
Nightcrawler still feels that Wolverine should have the leader position, but he
claims Kurt is the right man for the job. Just then, they’re all found by a cop
and Xavier makes him forget he ever saw them. Just afterwards, the cop is
overtaken by Magus, who plans to disguise himself as a human for a while to
look for his son. Some months later, at Christmas time, Xavier is finishing up
a lecture at Columbia. As he’s walking home, he’s accosted by an angry mob and
attempts to use his powers to freeze them in place. He’s hit with a brick and
savagely beaten by the mob, at first for defending mutants, but now they
realize he must be one too! Xavier is left bloody and beaten in the street,
when suddenly he’s grabbed and dragged off by a mysterious figure! To be
continued!