The Asgardian Wars

Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor are transporting a group of American and Canadian scientists to the Arctic Circle, when their plane is struck down by an unknown source. While training in the Danger Room, Rachel Summers sees this happen in a psi-flash, which causes an out-of-control Danger Room scenario the X-Men have to deal with. She believes the attack on her father to have something to do with Shaman of Alpha Flight, who at this very moment is dealing with the problems of some of his own teammates. Without warning, the goddess Snowbird appears before him, seriously wounded. Before Shaman can tend to Snowbird, Rachel Summers viciously attacks him and his fellow teammates. The X-Men arrive and aid Alpha Flight while Xavier succeeds in calming Rachel down. Snowbird regains consciousness and reveals that Cyclops’ plane was struck down at the same moment she was. The two teams of super-heroes decide to work together to find Cyclops and the missing scientists.

Meanwhile the Norse god Loki meets with Those Who Sit Above In Shadow to discuss his current scheme of an offering to humankind, which they will not be able to refuse. As a result Loki then expects a reward by those elder gods.

Wolverine and Heather Hudson reminisce, as Rogue and Northstar have a heart to heart. Upon discovering a fantastic almost unearthly palace, the teams land and are soon greeted by Cyclops – who is now apparently cured of needing a protective visor to control his optic blast. A bewildered and curious group of heroes follow Cyclops into the citadel, where he introduces them to the scientists and his wife, all of whom have been changed and developed some fantastic powers relating to primal aspects of their lives.

Madelyne reveals she has the power to heal, and demonstrates it by curing Aurora, Sasquatch, Rogue and Puck of their individual problems. Shaman decides that Madelyne should use her powers on Snowbird, when he realizes that Snowbird never came with them from the plane. Concerned for her, Wolverine goes in search of his dear friend, accompanied by two of the scientists, but Logan fears that it may be too late.

At a feast, the X-Men and Alphans all reveal their own personal feelings on the fantastic powers these humans have been granted and how they could literally heal the world with them. Also revealed at this banquet is that Madelyne is pregnant with a boy. Upon learning this, Rachel freaks out and runs away. Kitty and an annoyed Talisman follow her. Exploring the caverns beneath the citadel Talisman finds an ancient runestone and Master Builder’s sketchbook, the last images drawn into it lacking the quality and style of the former ones. When she is reunited with Kitty Pryde, the two find Rachel, but she is too distraught by the realization that she will never exist in this world.

Meanwhile, the remaining heroes are taken to the magical fountain where the humans gained their powers. Heather walks into the fountain and returns with the “power“ to lead, as Shaman loses control of his medicine pouch, demons flow from it. Once the pouch and demons are taken away, Madelyne reports that her healing powers can not work on Shaman for some reason she doesn’t understand and that he is dying.

Having calmed Rachel, Kitty and Talisman prepare to leave the Viking Village they discovered, though Earth-Mover creates an avalanche, hoping to prevent the young girls from revealing their findings. While escaping, Talisman comes in contact with the Fire Fountain itself, and she actually cancels it out for a moment. Back in the citadel, Talisman meets with Sam Ross, the scientists’ “living library” who reveals to her that a runestone she found is a dedication to Loki, which Loki (who from afar has been keeping an eye on Talisman) sees.

Kitty finds Wolverine, who was supposed to be in search of the missing Snowbird. Kitty tells Logan what she and the other girls found and reveals their suspicions about what is going on. Wolverine resumes his search for Snowbird and when he finds her, he has to battle Beastmaster and Pathfinder over her, which results in the death of Pathfinder.

Back in the citadel, Rogue who now has control of her powers thanks to Madelyne and Northstar share a dance, Northstar doing so to prove the others wrong about his character, while Heather and Charles discuss the teams’ predicaments. During the banquet Wolverine returns with Snowbird and Beastmaster, whom he beat up pretty bad, and he reveals that the magics of the world are what feed the Fire Fountain and give people powers, though it kills anyone with magical powers or a magical background.

Some of the X-Men and Alphans feel that saving the world would be worth this sacrifice and side with the scientists, who are not willing to give up their new-found powers, while others decide that it most decidedly would be not. A battles ensues between the two fractions, when Talisman gains some crucial new information: that when one is given a power by the fountain, it takes away their ability to create, dream and imagine, as it shows in Master Builder’s sketchbook. When she recalls this to the others, Loki appears and the heroes are forced with a predicament - to accept Loki’s gift and change the world, despite the few it will kill in the process and the loss for all humans changed by the fountain, or not. Talisman proves a deciding factor as she convinces Madelyne not to accept Loki’s gift.

Madelyne rejects the healing gift, but is forced to accept it back when Loki arranges for her dear friend Sam Ross to get injured. Before the heroes are forced to make any more choices, the Elder Gods appear and give Loki a warning. He gives the heroes one last chance to accept his gift, before they reject him again. Loki swears revenge but the elder Gods make him vow not to harm the X-Men or Alphans in any way. The heroes are forced to then face their own demons and flaws again and they think about what could have been. Snowbird is healed and like Northstar, leaves on her own, while the remaining Alphans, the X-Men and humans leave, only after Cyclops goes in search of a missing Rachel, who decides not to tell Scott she is his daughter from the future. However during their talk, he gives her the impression hat he has already guessed. Within the destruction of the Fire Fountain, a single rose blooms.

However humiliation doesn’t sit well with Loki, so he plans revenge on the X-Men as well as using their former powerless teammate Storm to replace the Thundergod Thor and thus help secure Loki’s bid for the throne of Asgard. Unable to directly act against the mutants (as his promise forbids this) he orders the Enchantress to abduct Storm and her companions, unaware that those happen to be the New Mutants at the moment.

Captured by the Enchantress, Magik tries to teleport herself and her friends out of the Asgardian Goddess’ prison, but thanks to the magical wards in the place Illyana stays behind and the others get scattered all over Asgard through time and space. The Enchantress magically binds Illyana and brings forth her dark half – the Darkchilde, gives it independent being and has it chase down the other New Mutants.

Wolfsbane meets and falls for an intelligent wolf prince but quickly gets captured by the Darkchilde. Sunspot finds himself in an Asgardian tavern where he becomes a bouncer of sorts and befriends the Warriors Three, but he too eventually is captured by the Darkchilde.

Mirage saves a flying horse from a trap and forms a bond with the animal. She gets invited by a woman named Mist to join her and her sisters who are all caretakers of those horses. After some time Dani learns that something is odd about these women and that they want her to take part in some ceremony, so she flees with the horse Brightwind.

Cannonball gets lost in the dwarf realm and befriends their king after saving the queen’s life. They are soon attacked by Dark Elves, among them Magma whom the elves have brainwashed and turned into one of their own. The dwarves manage to restore Magma’s mind, though not her body and together with Sam she learns that Loki is the one who has captured Storm, as he visits the dwarves and orders them to create a new Uru-hammer similar to the ones used by Thor and Beta Ray Bill.

Karma (horribly obese thanks to being possessed by the Shadow King for months) finds herself in a desert and intends to die, when she finds herself cast in the role of reluctant protector to a little girl who appeared out of nowhere. Cypher who has no active power becomes a slave in a Viking meadhall. Warlock has an encounter with Hela, goddess of death and goes in search of the others, just in time to save Cypher from the Darkchilde’s attack. Together they find Karma at the edge of the desert, months after she first ended up there, the strenuous trek having turned out to be the diet from hell.

Joined by the other New Mutants they face the Darkchilde and her prisoners, eventually overcoming her as Karma possesses her. They attack the Enchantress next and after the Darkchilde essence is rejoined with the imprisoned Illyana they defeat the Enchantress imprisoning her in Magik’s domain Limbo. The New Mutants find that several of them have unfinished business in Asgard and that they still have to fight Loki for Storm, so they decide to go back.

In the meantime at Xavier’s School Kitty Pryde has a nightmare revealing the New Mutants to be in terrible danger in Asgard. Having verified that revelation the X-Men, led by Cyclops, decide to follow, though their adventure starts off badly, as Rachel chooses this moment to officially adopt the identity and costume of Phoenix much to the shock of Cyclops and Madelyne.

The X-Men make it to Asgard thanks to the teleportation lightning bolts given to them by Arkon on another adventure. Once there they save Rahne’s wolf prince from some trolls. After a run-in with Hela who hints at Rachel’s heritage and potential, the X-Men learn from the wolf prince that the Enchantress has kidnapped Wolfsbane. They decide to split up. One group makes their way to the Enchantress’ castle, while the other group (consisting of Kitty, Rachel and Wolverine) scouts the city of Asgard.

In the meantime the New Mutants have made their home in the Enchantress’ castle as well. After Warlock who got too curious gets injured by Loki, Dani, Sunspot and Cypher run off to his side, leaving the others, including an increasingly more evil Magik (thanks to the Enchantress’ magic she is practicing) behind. The mutants find Warlock, but he panics as he gets a good look at Dani, just like some of the locals did before, and flees with Cypher. The stuns almost does Warlock in and as there are no electrical appliances about from which Warlock could restore his energy, Doug suggest whether it wouldn’t be possible for Warlock to take some of his life energy without infecting him with the transmode virus. Warlock gives it a try.

One group of X-Men makes it to the castle where they are welcomed by the New Mutants. Just as Magik is about to cast a spell to find Storm though, Loki attacks first, felling them all. He transports them to his own castle, where he uses Magik to cast a slow spell corrupting the others, while enchanting Rahne and the prince, sending them along with some trolls to catch the other group.

Cannonball and Magma in the meantime have helped the mastersmith Eitri finish the Uru hammer Loki ordered for Ororo and are to transport it to the city of Asgard to confront Loki there. In the city they are welcomed by the group of X-Men led by Wolverine. Barely together they find themselves attacked by Loki’s troops, and, joined by the revitalized (thanks to Cypher) Warlock and Doug, they manage to beat them off. While they can rescue Wolfsbane, Magma and the Uru hammer get kidnapped and Wolverine is dealt a mortal wound with a poisoned troll weapon, though he doesn’t let on – only Mirage senses something off about him thanks to the new powers she isn’t quite aware of yet.

One group goes to free the X-Men and New Mutants captured by Loki only to learn that Karma had already managed to knock out Magik. The others go ahead to the Hall of Heroes where Loki is about to introduce Storm as the new goddess of thunder. The heroes try to stop the ceremony, but are too late as Ororo, subtly brainwashed by Loki, takes up the hammer and gets her weather powers back. As Wolverine confronts her, she, believing him to be a demon, almost kills him.

Hela appears, intent on taking his soul. Storm who finally snaps out of Loki’s enchantment fights her, as does Mirage and Hela reveals to the girl that she has become a valkyrie, a Chooser of the Slain, before striking her. This proves to be a mistake as the Valkyrior come to Dani’s help and their powers in addition to those of the X-Men prove too much for the death goddess – she flees.

Loki reluctantly offers the X-Men: they are welcome to stay, though if only one of the assembled mutants would accept, they all would be forced to stay. Of course none present can make such a choice for the entire group (though several team members are intrigued by the idea to live in Asgard) and so they go for the other option, which is to be sent back to Earth with all enchantments removed, all knowledge and gifts taken back. However, taking pity on Karma, Loki makes an exception to the rule, not condemning her to being stuck in the fat body again. Also, Dani’s bond with Brightwind and as a result her status as a Valkyrie remain, as by Odin’s law, horse and rider may not be separated . Left alone, Loki first sulks, but then convinces himself that as an immortal he has time enough to scheme anew.