The Jean Grey School for hHigher Learning:
Henry “Hank” McCoy a.k.a. the Beast is mutating - and it is killing him. He has collapsed on the floor of his lab, and screams in agony. Recording in his journal, he states that this will be the journal of his final days. He pulls himself back up to his desk, stating that he finds himself the victim of another next-generation mutation. ‘Another. This has happened to me before and my physiology was able to withstand the pressures. But this time - this time I fear that my heart will rupture under the stress. Or my brain will seize’. He picks up a test tube, unsure of how much time he has left, but he knows he will not take his own life - he will fight to the end. He puts the test tube into an injector gun, and places it against his arm.
As the Beast is the leading expert in mutation and mutant physiology, he is going to have to fight this alone. He decides that the others have too much to handle anyhow, ‘What good will them worrying or tittering on about me do?’ he wonders. Hank then places his hands together and prays to God, ‘Please let me do something worth something before I go. Please. Please let me put the world right for mutants once and for all’ he prays.
Suddenly, Ororo “Storm” Munroe appears on a communications monitor, ‘Yes Ororo. I hear you’ Hank replies, before Storm tells him that he is going to want to see something. Hank just frowns.
Meanwhile, on the Gold Coast, Australia, ‘I can’t believe I’m doing this’ a young woman in a mini-dress exclaims outside a busy nightclub, while her friend addresses her as Eva and tells her that they are way past that now. ‘You know exactly where the boy you have the hots for is hanging out’ she points out. ‘Hots? Will you stop it!’ Eva asks, but her friend announces that they will go to that place, then he will see how fine she is out of her sweaty tracksuit and they will both live happily ever after. ‘I feel silly’ Eva replies. ‘You are silly’ her friend tells her. Suddenly, Eva goes wide-eyed , ‘Oh my God…’ she utters. ‘And there he is’ her friend smiles. They see the boy, standing with several others, one of whom makes a joke about something. ‘Oh, hey’ the boy smiles as he turns and sees Eva.
‘Hey, David’ Eva smiles back. ‘I didn’t know you hung around here’ she lies. ‘Perfect’ her friend declares, examining her own fingernails. ‘Shut up’ Eva mutters. David walks over to Eva and asks her what she is doing. ‘Just seeing what’s what’ Eva replies. ‘Cool. You wanna hang out for a while?’ David asks. ‘Yeah. I mean, sure’ Eva tells him, when, suddenly a voice booms from across the crowded street, ‘What the hell is going on here?’ Eva, her friend and David turn and see a buff, shirtless guy stride towards them. ‘What are you doing out here, Eva?’ the man asks. ‘Oh my God, what is wrong with you, Steven?’ Eva exclaims. ‘Dude, calm it all the way down, bro!’ David tries to calm him as Steven points a finger at him. ‘You do not touch her’ Steven warns him.
‘What is this?’ David asks. ‘She’s my sister!’ Steven booms. ‘Okay. She’s your sister. Not your pet’ David retorts. ‘You don’t touch her!’ Steven shouts, as he punches David in the face, knocking him backwards. This causes David’s friends to rush over, and push Steven to the ground. ‘Smooth move, ‘roider! Pick a fight with the guy who has five friends standing right next to him!’ one of them mocks. ‘Curb stomp you, you #%&$!’ another threatens. ‘No!’ Eva gasps, ordering everyone to stop it. ‘You hit me? You hit me?!’ Steven exclaims. ‘
‘Stop it! STOP!’ Eva screams, as energy suddenly charges around her, and the entire street simply comes to a stop, with David, Steven and everyone else frozen in place.
A blue haze surrounds them all, and Eva asks ‘What, uh, what is this?’ before going over to Steven and David and asking them what is wrong with them. ‘I don’t understand’ she exclaims. ‘What’s happening?’ Eva asks as she looks at her girlfriend.
‘You’re a mutant’ a voice calls out. She turns and sees three mutants standing before her - Scott “Cyclops” Summers, Emma Frost and Magneto. Cyclops tells her not to be scared, and explains that they have all been through this - this first moment. He introduces himself, and asks Eva if she has heard of him. ‘Everyone has heard of you’ the frightened young woman replies. Cyclops states that these are exciting times for their people, that new mutants are popping up all over the world. ‘I - I’m not a mutant’ Eva replies. ‘You are, sweety. This? You did this’ Emma declares.
‘What did I do?’ Eva asks. Magneto explains that she has a special power over time and space, it would seem. ‘I did?’ Eva utters, looking at her hands. ‘Well, in this one block area. You’ve been stuck - you’ve had this entire block stuck in time for over 20 hours’ Cyclops reveals. ‘No, no it just -’ Eva begins, but Cyclops tells her that it gave them enough time to come get her all the way here on the Gold Coast. ‘Then how are you here? How are you not frozen, or -?’ Eva asks. Emma replies ‘We know a few tricks’ and reveals that this isn’t their first time doing something like this. She then introduces herself, before Magneto does the same, and takes Eva by her hand.
Magneto informs Eva that right outside the temporal sphere she has created, the Australian police and federal guard are ready to charge at her. He explains that they can’t because they cannot enter her sphere. Cyclops informs Eva that Emma is going to help her unlock this situation, then they are going to get her out of here before the police take her into custody. ‘But I didn’t do anything!’ Eva protests. ‘Sorry, sweetness, these are the scariest of scary times for mutants and you just made one hell of a debut’ Emma tells her. Eva covers her face with her hands and announces that she wants to go home. Cyclops crouches down beside Eva and tells her that they can’t offer that, but assures her they will take her someplace safe, and that they are going to help her. ‘We’re going to teach you how to use your powers. We’ll teach you how to be this new you’ he announces, asking her if she would like that.
‘I’m doing this?’ Eva asks, nervously. Cyclops explains to Eva that he has so much to atone for, that he needs to make things right with the world, that he needs to make this world a better place for mutants, and he hopes that Eva might help him. ‘I was wondering if we might help each other’ he adds.
Eva just looks at him, when suddenly, the time-warp ends, and Eva finds herself in daylight now, with Steven and David still fighting. ‘You!’ David exclaims. ‘Don’t touch!’ Steven shouts, while the police officers rush forward, ‘Everyone on the ground! Hands over your head! Everyone!’ one of them orders. Another turns their attention to Eva, who raises her hands and replies ‘I didn’t mean it’. The officers surround her and aim their weapons at her, ‘You did this?’ one of them asks. ‘I didn’t mean -’ Eva begins, while another announces that he thinks they have a mutant here. ‘Hands over your head. NOW!’ one of them shouts.
Eva covers her head with her arms and pleads ‘Please, I didn’t mean -’, when suddenly, the officers’ weapons all crumble, destroyed. Magneto hovers overhead and uses his powers to throw some cars into the air, while Emma Frost drops down towards the soldiers in her diamond form and Cyclops fires a powerful optic blast towards some of them.
‘Can you believe this?’ Storm asks, back at the Jean Grey School, as she, headmistress Kitty Pryde and Bobby “Iceman” Drake watch a recording of their erstwhile teammates on a monitor. ‘Scott Summers. Mutant revolutionary’ Iceman mutters. ‘Bobby -’ Kitty begins. ‘Emma I get. Magneto I get. I just for the life of me…’ his voice trails off, while Kitty folds her arms and asks ‘Really? You didn’t see this coming?’ Bobby turns to Kitty and tells her that he did not, to which Kitty tells Bobby that he was really kidding himself. ‘When we were young we were always worried about a mutant apocalyptic nightmare. I’m telling you, if the young us saw what was going on today, it would feel worse than the mutant apocalyptic nightmare we used to worry about!’ Iceman announces. Storm asks if anyone knows where Hank is, as he should really see this.
Meanwhile, at a police station in Ann Arbor, Michigan. ‘Why am I here? What did I do? I didn’t do anything!’ a young African-American man remarks as he sits inside an interrogation room. ‘Then why were you running from us, Christopher?’ a female detective asks him. ‘Because you were chasing me!’ Christopher points out. ‘You know who runs form the police? Bad guys’ the detective tells Christopher, who repeats that he didn’t do anything. ‘My friend. We were out. My friend fell and - and - and hit her head’ Christopher explains. ‘And she died’ the detective states. ‘I don’t know that. She just -’ Christopher begins, while the detective reminds him that he touched her. ‘Yes, but -’ Christopher begins, while the detective points out that now she is okay. ‘I guess. Yes. I don’t know’ Christopher replies, before the detective asks him how he did that. Christopher tells her that he doesn’t know. ‘You a mutant?’ the detective asks. ‘No!’ Christopher declares. ‘You look like a mutant’ the detective tells him. Christopher asks what that means.
The detective leans into Christopher and points at him, telling him that it means he looks like the kind of guy who’s a mutant, who pretends they aren’t. ‘There’s laws in this country. You can’t just go around and - and - and’ the detective begins, seemingly lost for words, so Christopher exclaims ‘Help sick people?’ so the detective asks him how he knows what he did. ‘I don’t know’ Christopher reminds her.
Suddenly, there is a crash, and police officers in the building call out, ‘Aaggh!’ someone shouts. ‘Noo!’ someone else exclaims. ‘Uh, what is that?’ Christopher asks, before, suddenly, Cyclops appears, and grabs Christopher, pulling him away from the detective, while firing optic blasts at the nearby police officers.
Illyana “Magik” Rasputin appears overhead, wielding her powerful Soulsword, while Cyclops turns to a security camera which is recording, and announces: ‘If you can hear my voice and you are mutant…you are not alone. Do not let the humans dictate the course of your life. If you are mutant you are part of an elite species that deserves every freedom. Don’t worry, my brother and sister of the Atom. We are the X-Men and we stand together’. Cyclops then crosses his arms, making an “X” symbol.
‘Okay, so, what do we do about it?’ someone asks, as the Beast, Storm, Kitty Pryde and Iceman walk towards the hangar at the Jean Grey School. ‘What do we do? We get Wolverine and the rest of us and we suit up and we confront him. Shut him down!’ Iceman decides. ‘No’ Storm declares. ‘No?’ Iceman replies, frowning. Storm replies that she is not going to start, after all they have been through, a mutant civil war, because that is exactly what it will be - mutant versus mutant over who knows what’s best for the mutants. ‘I’m not doing it, Bobby!’ Storm snaps.
‘Well, we have to do something. He is ruining everything we’ve worked for. Every time he attacks a human to get to a new mutant in the name of what he thinks is right for his revolution…that brings the federal government one step closer to the front door of our school’ Kitty Pryde exclaims. The sky above turns dark, clouds form and rain begins to fall as Storm shouts ‘I KNOW!! I know, Kitty. But a fight like this will end with half the mutants dead and the world hating us. All we’ve been doing her will have been for nothing’. Lightning flashes as Storm snaps ‘Damn him’.
Iceman creates an ice-umbrella to shield everyone from the rain, and he tells Storm to settle down before she crashes a tornado on them and they end up in Oz. Storm apologizes, and the weather calms down, while Bobby remarks that if they fight Scott, they lose, and if they don’t fight him, they also lose. ‘It’s like he wants us to take him out’ Kitty points out. ‘No’ Iceman replies, while Kitty muses that Scott must know they are going to react. ‘He wants us to join him’ Bobby declares, while Kitty wonders how Scott is finding these new mutants before they do. Storm notices Hank watching a recording on a portable device, and asks him ‘What is it, Hank?’ The Beast holds the device up, and it shows a recording of Cyclops in Michigan, with the tagline “Michigan Mutant Madness”.
Iceman reminds Storm that he and Hank have known Cyclops longer than anyone. ‘We’ve know him forever. We were the original X-Men. The Scott we grew up with - he would hate this. He would slap the holy crap out of the Scott we have now and he wouldn’t stop slapping him’ Bobby exclaims, turning to Hank, who is holding himself up against the Blackbird, hanging his head, ‘Right?’ Iceman calls out, but Hank doesn’t answer. ‘Henry, are you okay?’ Storm asks him, putting a hand on his shoulder. ‘Just tired. On many levels’ the Beast replies. He then turns to Bobby and states ‘I don’t think I’ve ever said these words to you before in my entire life…but you’re right’. The Beast then turns and walks away from his friends. ‘Not sure about which part I’m right about but I’ll take it’ Bobby mutters, while Storm and Kitty frown as they watch Hank walk away.
Meantime, literally, years in the past, a much younger Scott Summers sits at a desk within the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters writing a letter to Jean Grey, when suddenly, Hank and Bobby, their suits dishevelled, rush into the room, ‘I’m through, Scott! I’ve had it!’ Hank shouts. Scott looks up at his friends and asks them what happened. ‘A mob. An honest-to-goodness mob’ Bobby explains. ‘A mob of what?’ Scott asks. ‘Of angry humans! And they almost got their paws on us!’ Bobby tells him. ‘I cannot tell you how completely done I am with risking my life for the humans!’ Hank shouts. ‘Hank!’ Scott exclaims, but Hank adds ‘The same damn humans that completely and totally hate us? Yes! I’m done!’
‘You’re upset. I get it’ Scott remarks, but Hank declares that he is more than upset - he is done. Putting his torn suit jacket on, Hank turns and starts to leave the room, adding that it’s days like this he sees why Magneto and his evil mutants do what they do. ‘They might be right. Homo sapiens just aren’t worth it’. But Scott tries to calm Hank down, however Hank retorts ‘I mean it!’, only Scott doesn’t think that Hank does and gets up to his friend. ‘I know exactly what I’m saying, Scott’ Hank declares, turning around. ‘But your training’ Scott points out, before Hank announces that he is resigning from the X-Men. ‘But your work - you - you can’t just toss it all aside’ Scott says. ‘Watch me!’ Hank snaps, adding that he isn’t saying he is going to war within anyone, but that from now on, he is just going to use his mutant powers to help one person -himself.
Hank points out the human race was fine before mutants came along and that they will be fine without them. Scott asks him where he will go and what he will do, to which Hank begins to reply ‘Don’t worry about -’, when suddenly, he, Bobby and Scott look shocked, as looking up, they see a big furry blue man standing over them - the Beast of the future!
The blue Hank apologizes for this abrupt entrance, and apologizes to his younger self for interrupting his passionate diatribe, but that he needs to speak with them and he remembers this being a good time and place for that conversation. ‘My name is Scott Summers. I’m the leader of the X-Men’ Cyclops introduces himself. ‘I know who you are. You are one of my oldest and dearest friends’ the present Hank replies. At that moment, Jean “Marvel Girl” Grey and Warren Worthington the Third a.k.a. Angel enter the room, and Jean asks what is going on.
Bobby tells Jean that he has no idea, while Scott asks ‘And you are?’ however, the young Hank announces ‘He’s me’. ‘I am’ the older Beast confirms. ‘Is that what you look like when you don’t shave?’ Bobby asks, while the older Beast explains that this is the next evolution of Hank McCoy, of his mutation. ‘I have come to you from your future and my present. And I have come here to ask for your help’ Hank reveals. Cyclops turns and picks up a telephone, announcing that he is going to call the Professor, but future Beast advises against that. ‘He would never approve of what I’m about to ask you to do’ he explains, adding that the Professor would erase the memory of this meeting from all of their minds and send him back from whence he came.
Jean turns to the younger Hank and asks him if this is true, but Hank just stares up at his future self. ‘Yes. Things are not going well for us’ Hank reveals. Bobby asks if it is their kids, but Hank points a finger at Scott and reveals that it is him. ‘I need you to come to my present day and I need you to talk to yourself’ he explains. The younger X-Men look shocked as Hank tells the Cyclops that he needs him to stop himself from committing mutant genocide….
