Utopia Island, San Francisco Bay:
Former home of the X-Men, now mostly in ruins:
A group of four men in a boat arrive. One of them announces the place looks like total crap. He asks another man if the place hasn’t been picked apart by the Avengers and SHIELD. To this, the man who is apparently the leader asks, on their day off? His guy says this place fell down and no one has looked at it since. The X-Men just left it? A third guy asks. They don’t seem all that materialistic, the second man replies. The Black Market on this stuff is crazy hungry. They are going to retire off on this #&%(. He can feel it in his bones.
That moment, they hear a noise coming from a dark opening. Moments later, explosive goes off, taking out three of them. The one still awake curses whoever’s behind this. They could have just asked them to leave.
Several people come out from the opening. This counts, a tall man remarks. It doesn’t count, a woman insists. Not her call. They had a deal, all of them. He says, this counts.
#*%& mutants! the man shouts. They all agree that counts.
Outside the new Xavier School:
The young, original X-Men and X-23 are sitting or lying in the grass outside the school, while Angel flies above them. They are all happy to be back on Earth. Even Cyclops agrees it’s good to be home. They lie down. Jean enthuses how great this feels. Hank theorizes whether this is caused by their sojourn to space, that they physically need to reconnect to their home planet. Way to ruin the moment, Bobby points out. Hank thought he was accentuating it. And yet… no, Laura Kinney decides.
That moment, Magik teleports back with burgers and fries for them. As she passes out the food, Hank wonders whether people don’t freak out when she suddenly appears in line at a fast food place dressed like that. She usually gets everything for free, magically appearing dressed like this.
As they dig in, Illyana explains that, as long as Kitty Pryde is in space, she will be keeping an eye on them and help them with their training. But she is not their personal shopper nor is she in charge of feeding their little faces. This was a onetime, special occasion to reward them for saving the galaxy. They save the galaxy, they get a hamburger. Yes, Ma’am, Cyclops replies. And if he ever calls her ma’am again, she warns him, “Baby Tyke-clops,” she’ll turn him into a toad.
Jean and Laura ask what’s going on at Xavier’s school. Illyana replies she is attending to that at the moment and leaves them as she teleports away.
Bobby salutes their new teacher’s “incredible hotness.” Jean calls him over to talk to him privately. She asks him why he says things like that. Not understanding, he replies that Magik is hot. Jean knows. And Magik knows, but… she trails off. But? Bobby asks. Jean makes a questioning gesture with her arms. He knows…, she tells him. What? Bobby asks. C’mon, she urges. He says nothing. Finally she spells out that he’s gay.
Taken aback, he asks why she would say that. She reminds him she can read his thoughts. Stammering, he orders her not to do that. Jean apologizes but— Stop! he tells her. He’s thinking it right now, she points out. Stop it, he repeats. He’s not— He is, she interjects. He’s thinking it because she keeps saying it, he claims. She said it, because he was thinking it, Jean shoots back. He turns away. Jean tries again. It doesn’t matter to her or to anyone else. It’s just… He creates an icewall between them. She sits down on her side and waits.
Some distance away, Cyclops and X-23 wonder what that is about. Beast chooses to eat.
Jean finally calls Bobby. He peers over the wall and bursts out that his older self isn’t, so— But he is, she repeats. Why everyone is so in love with her he doesn’t understand, he pouts. That’s because he is gay, Jean grins. Hey! he protests. Too soon? Jean asks. Waaayyy too soon.
Again, he wonders how he can be gay when his older self isn’t. Jean doesn’t really know. Bobby figures that maybe he couldn’t handle being a mutant and gay in a society that has issues with both. And one is easier to put away than the other. But he dated women. Not well, Jean points out. He dated Kitty Pryde, he continues. And now she is no longer lives on Earth, she notes.
Bobby thinks hard. Maybe he’s bi, he decides. They say most everybody is, Jean admits, but she thinks he is more… full gay. Yeah, he knows, Bobby finally states. He thought he …well he thought he was crazy. Or just… he doesn’t know. He’s sorry he yelled at her.
Jean reminds him that’s one of the good things about being here. She thinks here nobody cares. Not like back then. They hug. He doesn’t know what he wants to do with all of that yet. That’s no one’s business but his, she assures him. Except for her, it seems, he points out, Nosy bitch. Thank God for her, she replies and calls him an overcompensating dork.
Still hugging, he remarks they never hug. Because he is so so so cold, she points out. He wonders aloud if Angel is gay and is told no. He’s too pretty anyhow, Bobby sighs. Jean agrees. They both laugh about the new nickname “Tyke-clops” and rejoin the others.
Aboard the SHIELD helicarrier over London:
Commander Maria Hill is told they have a situation. Please don’t say it’s mutant-related, she mutters repeatedly, only to be shown images at the ruins of Utopia. The energy signature isn’t in their registry. It could be unauthorized mutant activity or just an anomaly. Should they send a task force to the island? Instead of answering, Hill repeatedly head-desks.
Xavier’s:
Bobby and Jean conspire on how they can make Scott’s nickname stick as they rejoin the others. Everything okay with them? Scott asks. Jean assures him everything is fine.
Warren lands. Hank immediately asks how the new wings are. Warren is feeling great. Hank still wants some blood and urine. Then he knows what to get him for Christmas, Warren deadpans. Hank reminds him he has been cosmically transformed. There’s so much they don’t know about what he’s become. Warren calms him he was teasing but his attention is on Laura Kinney. What is she doing right now? Wishing she hadn’t eaten what she just did. He asks her to fly with him. She refuses. He insists. Holding his hand out, he asks if she is mad at him. No. He calls her a liar. Finally, she takes the hand. Warren smiles and flies away with her.
Finally, he lands with her on a butte amidst the mountains. Laura calls him a show-off. So why is she mad at him? he asks. She’s not. She’s… unnerved. Because he allowed himself to be turned into this, he ventures. Yes. Want to know why he did it? She was there, Laura reminds him. Yes, but she doesn’t know why. Not really. Because he came here from the past, got stuck here and he got a real good look at the nightmare his life will become. And that is not exaggeration; that is fact. His story takes a horrible, horrible turn somewhere down the line.
While everyone was so focused on Scott and Jean, he did a little digging into himself. And it’s so bad. First, no one would talk to him about him, which was unnerving. Then he met his other self and it scared the living hell out of him. So he decided, the first legitimate chance he has at making himself different he would take. And he did. This is his do-over. Can she relate to this at all?
She looks at him seriously and he still looks good, he points out. Laura can’t help smiling. And the new him includes him saying how he feels and not letting moments go by and now that mean saying he loves her.
Laura is shocked. He doesn’t know her! He doesn’t know who she was! Yeah, he does. The hell she was born into. All the awful stuff that was done to her. Instead of wallowing in it, just like anybody else would, she’s trying so hard to be better. And he loves that… he loves her. She drags him in for a kiss. First they both look shocked, then they smile at each other.
Utopia:
A SHIELD plane closes in, to find multiple energy readings and energy shield readings. Someone is trying to block something. They ask SHIELD command for advice and are told to try to make contact. The ship is shot down and lands hard.
The people in the shadows discuss whether this counts. Oh yeah, tells the others, Karma, Random, Masque, Boom Boom and Madison Jeffries. They won’t leave them alone. They will never leave them alone. Her hand still aglow with energy, Boom Boom agrees. They are going to have to fight for it!
