Flashback:
The Wyngarde Rehabilitation Institute:
The Sentinel Guards (smiley-faced versions of the originals) are distracted by an explosion in the northern rehabilitation yard. Before leaving, the Sentinel tells prisoner Shadowcat to get on her knees. Any use of her powers will cause her cuffs to go into punishment mode.
When Kitty is left alone, colorful gas comes in through the air vents and speaks to her. It solidifies into a beautiful, black woman covered in rainbow colors. She knows Kitty believes the X-Men are wrong. She believes community is not conflict, love is not war. She believes mutant is not god.
That moment, the cell door opens and a gray-skinned man steps in. So say the X-tracts! he announces. So says En Sabah Nur! With a touch, he destroys Kitty’s cuffs.
The three of them step out of the cell, as Kitty marvels that he touched her. They reject isolation. They breathe as one, he lectures her. And they’d like her to join them.
Sentinels rush past them and ignore them. En Sabah Nur explains that Unveil’s gift allows her to hide those in her mists from prying eyes and minds. After he saved her from great horrors she chooses to use those gifts in his employ. He is hoping Kitty will do the same. There is a facility. He can get them there, but he needs her power to get them inside.
Soon they are in a Hatchery. Kitty phases the two of them inside. En Sabah Nur explains, within these walls is something he has never had in his many years of life. Its absence has left him incomplete.
Unveil comes to warn them that she cannot hold the guards off much longer. By then, En Sabah Nur has already taken what he came for, a young child… a SON.
Someone shouts at them to stop, as En Sabah Nur and Unveil step through a glowing doorway. He asks Kitty to come. There is so much to learn for them together. Kitty complies, even as a voice begs her not to go and asks her to come back to them.
Now:
The Gilded Tomb Gallery and Studio:
Kitty remembers. En Sabah Nur asks if she is ill. Just another flash, she replies. He expresses pity. It’s been years since they saved her and still her mind is plagued by the X-Men’s cruel rehabilitation. Kitty assures him it is getting better every day. Sometimes it is just hard to tell what’s a memory and what’s reprogramming.
She asks about the object she found. He explains it is called a Menorah and its very design was said to be delivered by God. Kitty figures, that’s why the X-Men buried it and everything like it. To make sure God doesn’t give any more instructions. En Sabah Nur agrees that faith provides belief in something beyond one self. Faith is community. And God is a fire to gather around. He mentally lights the candles. Kitty muses that she hasn’t seen this before but, when she touched it, it felt familiar. Comfortable. More scrambled reprogramming, she guesses. En Sabah Nur tells her that this familiarity stems from a common desire for enlightenment. Which the words of the X-tracts will provide her.
He takes her hand and asks her to pray with him before the gathering. For peace for them and those who will hear his words. But especially for their brothers and sisters alone in a harsh world.
Semipalatinsk, Kazhakstan:
An elderly man waits in the wilderness, asking if they are there. The other Light Riders, Unveil, Dazzler and Eye-Boy, reveal themselves. The man turns to his true form, Genesis.
He informs them the locals were eager to chat, especially when he bought their beer. He adds that beer is gross. Anyway, the locals speak of rumors of old death near the old Polygon testing site. And believe that strangers will drag them back to the bad old days or kill them, if they resist. He adds that they are the strangers. They got that, Eye-Boy interjects sarcastically. That isn’t going to make rescuing this Omega-level mutant communist any easier, Dazzler sighs.
Unveil takes Trevor aside and asks about his hostility towards Evan. Trevor calls him a glory hound who tags along because he can guilt his dad into sending him along with the big kids. Unveil protests, he is just a boy and his heart is in the right place. Trevor doesn’t see how that matters. He is not here because he believes.
Dazzler and Evan interrupt them. Evan tells them a lady told him, she’d seen the special security called in to deal with the threats. The X-Men? Trevor ask hopefully. He’d love to wipe the self-satisfied smirk off Nightcrawler’s face. Genesis continues that it didn’t sound like the X-Men. They wore all black and came out of the shadows. Department X? Dazzler asks. Evan states that the woman mentioned one name – the Siberian.
That moment, Unveil seems to feel ill, freezes and falls down, courtesy of the Iceman type power of a man in a black uniform, surrounded by other superbeings in the same uniforms. He could not ask for a better set-up, he announces. His name is the Siberian. These are his friends. They all wear black and come out of the shadows, yes?
In Central Park, En Sabah Nur and Kitty (as well as strangely Genesis) float in the air, confronting the X-Men. He apologizes for the rioting and assures them he loves them all. Colossus orders the crowd to leave the area.
En Sabah Nur floats the three of them to a nearby rooftop, lauds Kitty for her part and switches off the Genesis illusion. He considers his son’s character and seems sad for a moment. Kitty asks if he is okay. Looking away, he admits it is painful to let Evan go on a mission, despite his knowing it is necessary to let him grow independent. Kitty hugs him, considering his warning. Love has great beauty. Love has great power, but love also has great consequences.
In a gallery, Colossus sits painting pictures connected to Kitty Pryde. Come back to him! He pleads.
In Kazakhstan, the rest of the team is surrounded and Unveil has been taken out by the Siberian. Dazzler orders Eye-Boy to run. Instead, he draws his guns and hits their foes with awesome accuracy. Until he finally takes out the Siberian himself. He turns to Unveil and reminds her how to excite her molecules to thaw herself.
It is about to work, when suddenly Eye-Boy’s hands are frozen to ice and break off. The Siberian is less than impressed with the rubber bullets Evan used on them which did not work properly on him.
Dazzler tells Genesis to think of how scared he is and then scream. She converts the sound to light and takes their foes out. She tells Evan they need to run now.
Evan grows his body huge to carry them all. After a few miles, Unveil tells them they need to stop. Trevor is going into shock.
Dazzer has to dazzle Genesis to get him to stop running. They hide in the trees and Dazzler orders Unveil to hide them. Evan nervously babbles that they are coming. Trevor groans that he can see though the trees. They are not coming. Because something came for them. They are all dead!
And there’s a note. It’s in Russian. It says. “These men and women attempted to hunt me. They wanted to make me subservient to their regime. I will not allow the X-Men to separate us. For the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And I will bring death to all who support this regime, everyone in this country. In this world. I am your friend Omega Red. When I kill, I kill for you.”
