Uncanny X-Men, The (1981 series) #226

As the X-Men take refuge from their battle with Freedom Force inside Eagle Plaza, Wolverine slowly heals even as he wishes he were anywhere else. The two teams remain at an impasse, each with their own prisoners. Havok peeks outside to see Freedom Force just kind of standing around, before he notices a big chunk of the ceiling about to fall on his teammates. He blasts it apart while Colossus shields the others from the shrapnel. Outside, light begins to pour from the rift that opened in the sky, just as a two person news team pull up, the first press on the scene. Though obviously scared about what could be going on, the two, Neal and Manoli, decide to forge ahead anyway. Back at Eagle Plaza, Dazzler awakens and attempts to blind Freedom Force with a huge flash of light! Unfortunately for her, Spiral is unaffected and affixes Destiny’s mask to Dazzler’s face with a strange spell, blinding her instead! Just as Spiral is about to kill Psylocke, she’s tackled by Rogue and flown into the air where the two grapple with each other, before they notice something strange!

Meanwhile, Storm and Forge have found themselves on a strange alternate earth devoid of people or technology. Storm attends to the injured Forge as they try to figure out what to do. Back in Dallas, the strangeness increases. The light from the rift has caused realities and timelines to mesh together, the normalcy of the present day now coexisting with ancient jungles and futuristic constructs alike. Wolverine frees Mystique as they decide that the X-Men and Freedom Force should work together to keep people safe and figure out what’s going on. Colossus contemplates Roma’s words about a choice that will decide the fate of everything and feels that the answer lies within Eagle Plaza. Nearby, Neal and Manoli find some futuristic equipment and decide to try and use it to broadcast everything that’s going on to the world. The X-Men and Freedom Force than split into pairs to combat the timewaves. Longshot saves a couple of people in a shopping mall from being eaten by a T-Rex, while Pyro burns the dinosaur to a crisp! Elsewhere, Wolverine and Super Sabre help some cops combat an approaching army of barbarian warriors.

Manoli notes through the broadcast equipment how Wolverine seems as savage as those he’s fighting and wonders how much they can trust him. Neal feels they deserve the same respect as anyone else, as they get the equipment set up, now the whole world is watching! Back in the alternate earth, Forge and Storm discover that the Adversary destroyed Forge’s mystical mountain aerie here, and likely did in all realities. Forge states that this is all just a game to the Adversary and that they may have to make do with this exile. Storm can’t accept this and decides to venture out alone into this strange world to look for answers. Back at Eagle Plaza, Neal and Manoli interview Mystique about what’s going on and questions why they, as Federal agents, are working with the X-Men. Havok angrily states that the X-Men are heroes, and always have been, regardless of what they may think, while Neal quietly cheers them on. Nearby, Spiral tries to remove the mask from Dazzler’s face but finds the chaos around them is disrupting her magic.

Elsewhere, Storm ventures to Africa, to see if she can feel any oneness with the world but finds nothing. Back in Dallas, Crimson Commando is approached by members of the Cheyenne tribe that state that Forge may be the one chance of fixing everything. The jumpy Americans there end up shooting the Cheyenne as perceived enemies, leading Crimson Commando to wonder aloud to Stonewall if they’re even worth saving at this point. Back in the alternate earth, time flows differently, and Storm finally returns to Forge’s home after a year abroad to find he’s made some remarkable technological advancements. In Dallas, the X-Men and Freedom Force continue to hold the line at Eagle Plaza, and Wolverine compares them to the Spartans at Thermopylae. Colossus ends up comforting Destiny, who tells him that his presence was not perceived in any of her visions, his being here is a temporal anomaly. She says that she finally sees the faintest glimmer of hope for the future, but that the X-Men are still fated to die!

As the rift begins to open even wider, Psylocke reads Colossus’s mind and discovers that Roma was the one who sent him here. He feels that the answers may lie at the top of Forge’s aerie, so they send Rogue and Spiral up to check it out. Spiral gets there first and ends up getting shot back down in a blazing flash! She barrels into Rogue, who can’t do anything to slow their descent, and they end up getting caught by Blob. Deciding to take the long way, the X-Men re-enter Eagle plaza to discover it’s become a time distortion of Vietnam! Back in the alternate earth, Storm and Forge decide whether they should just start a new life on this planet, or try to get back to their home. Back in Eagle Plaza, Psylocke senses Roma’s presence at the top, which Wolverine figures is an obvious trap. Still, with the whole world watching, they decide they need to take the chance to check it out, even if it means their deaths. They head up, with the world possibly finally able to regard them as heroes!

Meanwhile, Storm and Forge make it to the top of his new aerie where he’s been working for the whole year. They decide they need to try and get home, so Forge blasts Storm with a new device meant to restore her powers. At first, she feels nothing, and Forge tells her that she needs to want it, to call her powers back to her. Eventually, she feels the lightning course through her hands once more, and finds that she can once again soar on the winds! She uses her newly regained lightning on the gateway that Forge set up, in order to send them home! Back in Dallas, the Adversary makes himself known, having sensed Storm and Forge’s return, as a huge lightning bolt strikes Eagle Plaza, causing the entire thing to start coming down! To be continued!