(law officers of Jennifer Walters, a.k.a. She-Hulk)
Northstar is seated opposite Jennifer, there to enquire about his immigration status. She tells him, in all honestly, that he’s basically up the creek. “Excuse me?” he replies. She explains that he can start praying but that won’t help. He can save the city of New York. That might buy him a month or two, but the law will catch up with him. When that happens he will have to leave the country and then it’s a matter of negotiating for how long. She’s sorry to have to say this to him.
Jean-Paul asks if she’s joking. She replies that he didn’t just pay her thousands of dollars to kid around. He reminds her that he paid her thousands of dollars to get results! She stands and tells him that lawyers aren’t magicians and the law doesn’t care that she’s green and gorgeous and he’s not. Unfortunately, the letter of the law is clear. His marriage to an American citizen isn’t recognized by the federal government and even if it was, he is in the country illegally and always has been. She asks if he even owns a passport. Jean-Paul doesn’t respond.
Jennifer looks out the window and says it’s funny how their powers make them feel entitled to certain privileges. You just go where you want because you can fly across borders, but there are consequences, and even though they aren’t fair he’s getting off easily compared to some of the people she represents. Jean-Paul is subdued, unable to comprehend all this bad news coming his way. He asks what he’s going to do. Jennifer places a comforting hand on his shoulder and tells him he’ll do the same as always. They keep fighting and hope for the best. Jean-Paul leaves and flies off, despondent.
(meanwhile)
Karma, Wolverine, Iceman and Gambit are having a snack and reminiscing. Remy mentions a time in Tokyo with Jubilee in prison, the ninjas and Logan getting strip searched at the airport. Logan asks what about it. Remy says he misses those days. Hard times but not like now. Logan admits that they were the golden years, even if they didn’t think of them that way. Remy whispers to him, asking if he’s okay with what they’re doing. He knows it can’t be easy. The other ‘him’ was his best friend. Logan replies that it doesn’t matter. It has to be done. Karma is sitting there humming to herself. The woman behind the counter asks if she’s okay. Bobby tells her she’s fine. It’s the new thing… meditative trances. Like yoga, except for the mind. She’ll snap out of it in a minute.
(elsewhere)
Sitting on a park bench is a young woman. She has a book open but is reading a hand-written letter inside it. It reads ‘Is it too early to say I love you? Because I do. I love you. No world exists where you and I would not be together.’ She smiles as she reads the words on the page. Watching from a tree behind her is Nightcrawler, wearing an overcoat and hat. A woman pushing a pram walks past and her young son stops and stares at him. “Oh, hello,” says Kurt. The boy reaches out and touches his tail. “You have a tail,” he says. Kurt tells him it’s funny how that happens. The boy’s mother is shocked and asks if he’s a pervert. She warns him not to touch her son with that thing. The boy tells her it’s a tail, but she replies that she doesn’t care what it is. He’s a freak. Kurt teleports away before he attracts too much attention.
Kyle is in a yoga class with Cecelia Reyes. As they assume their positions, he explains that he loves Jean-Paul but it’s been hard. He’s had to make so many compromises over the years, but now, finally, he feels like they’ve got a chance. New York has been a miracle; a place for them to start fresh and it means so much to him. Cecelia replies that she can’t imagine what he’s been through, not that she’d ever date a man with super powers. Kyle jokes that she’s such a liar. He’s seen the way she looks at Gambit. She tells him everyone looks at Gambit that way. And anyway, she adds, it’s too difficult. Too complicated. Kyle reckons that she’s too afraid. Maybe she still has feelings for a certain blue doctor. “Don’t,” she warns. Kyle crosses his legs and raises his body from the floor. “Hmmm,” he says. “Isn’t yoga relaxing?” Cecelia, now out of sorts, replies, Uh… sure.”
After they’ve finished, Northstar meets them outside the studio. Cecelia takes this as her cue to leave and so Jean-Paul and Kyle go for a wander. Kyle asks him how it went with the lawyer. Jean-Paul stops walking, looks at Kyle and kisses him. “That bad, huh?” replies Kyle. Jean-Paul asks how he’d feel about moving to Canada. Kyle turns and walks away. Jean-Paul asks him not to be mad, but Kyle tells him this is him processing what he just said. He points to a tree and tells Jean-Paul he wants to sit in it, right now.
They fly up and perch on a large branch high up in the tree. Jean-Paul asks if that’s better. Kyle replies that he likes being high up when they have stressful conversations. It puts everything into perspective. He turns to his husband and tells him he doesn’t want to leave New York. It feels like home. Jean-Paul replies that he’s an American. This country is real for him in ways that it isn’t for him. He’s not even sure he wants to be American. He touches Kyle’s hand and tells him he wishes things were easier.
(elsewhere)
The woman that Kurt was watching heads to her apartment and finds a vase filled with flowers inside. There is a note next to it. ‘My darling,’ it says. She reads the note and smiles again before picking up the phone.
(meanwhile)
On a hotel rooftop, Wolverine looks out across the city. Iceman informs him that Gambit and Karma are still questioning the hotel staff. It seems like Kurt really shook some of them up. Heck, catching Kurt taking a shower would traumatize him, too. He reckons Nightcrawler wasn’t there very long. He stole an empty room for the night, emptied the mini bar and teleported around in nothing but a towel. He wonders where, if he were an alternate version of Nightcrawler from an apocalyptic dimension, he would hide. He checks his phone and finds an online reference to Kurt being in the park earlier in the day. With no response, Bobby turns and says Logan’s name. Logan simply stands there and sips his coffee.
Bobby tells him it must be real good. “Hello?” he says. “Earth to Logan. Sasquatch is calling. He wants his hairy chest back.” Still no reply. “Sometimes I wear Storm’s underwear.” Logan turns to look at him and Bobby assures him that he only said that to see if he was listening. He doesn’t really wear her underwear… seriously. Logan apologizes but says he isn’t much in the mood for listening to anyone right now. He reckons they should round everyone up.
They head back inside. Bobby says he still hasn’t explained why it’s so important that they find this other Nightcrawler. He thought he was one of the good guys. “Wolverine reminds him that he killed a man. Shouldn’t that be enough for him? Bobby guesses so, but it’s not usually enough for him. No offense, but Logan’s moral compass isn’t always attuned to true north. Wolverine asks Bobby not to call him by that name. He’s not their Nightcrawler. Bobby reckons any idiot could figure that out, but he still doesn’t understand why they’re hunting him so hard. What isn’t he saying? Logan asks him to drop it.
They hook up with Gambit and Karma, who is checking the contents of the mini bar. Logan tells them that this has been a waste of damn time. They can wrap it up. As they depart, Karma asks Gambit if he saw all the bottles. Remy reckons it’s a sign of a man drowning his sorrows. Karma thinks it all feels so lonely. Bobby tries to get something out of Wolverine. He asks if he can guess. Did he want to take over the world and nerve-gas kittens? Or, did he want to start a master race where everyone is blue? Or, maybe, he wants to take their old friend’s place. Maybe he just want to be their Nightcrawler? Maybe Logan just got a little mixed up about it, too.
Wolverine snikts his claws and orders Bobby to shut the hell up. Bobby ices up and replies that he will when he starts talking. Karma grabs his arm as Logan snarls that he has nothing to say. Gambit steps in and says they’ve known each other too long for this. They are here because they trust him. He should trust them a little, too. Logan retracts his claws and turns to the door. He tells him that’s the problem. Trust is what caused this mess. Bobby asks where this leaves them. Logan informs him that there’s only one place left to look. A man doesn’t forget the woman he loves… no matter what universe she is in.
Watching from a window opposite, Kurt teleports when he sees Northstar rejoining the team. The mystery woman is in her apartment and on the phone. She tells her friend Michele that she wishes she could tell her more about him but she’s afraid of jinxing it.
She beams as she looks at one of the flowers he sent her. “He’s perfect. Like he’s known her forever. How do you explain something like that?” she asks. It makes her believe in crazy things, like fate. Sitting hiding behind a cabinet, Kurt closes his eyes and holds her scarf to his cheek.
She realizes there’s someone at the door so ends the conversation. She opens it to find her boyfriend, Bruce. “Hey, Linda,” he smiles. She tells him she didn’t think he’d be back until next week. He says he flew home early. He missed her too much. “Missed you, love you,” she replies as she gives him a big hug. As they kiss, Kurt cowers in the shadows. He then teleports to the roof and puts his head in his hand. “Oh, God… Linda,” he sighs. He notices a cat looking at him, inquisitively. He yells at it, saying it doesn’t matter that he’ll never have his wife again, he still doesn’t regret what he did. He never will. “You tell him that!” he snaps. As Wolverine leaps over the rooftop and catches sight of him, Kurt teleports away. The other X-Men join Logan, who tells Karma that she had a chance to possess him there. Why didn’t she? She explains that she tried but she couldn’t enter his mind. “Well, try harder,” he replies.
Karma says that maybe it would help if he gave her something to go on. Who is this guy and why are they doing this? Bobby adds that they’re not his soldiers. They’re a team. Northstar wonders if they’re done here. He needs to get home and have some make-up sex. Everyone looks at him. “What?” he says. Wolverine admits that he made a mistake and that’s the reason they are here. He made the mistake of wanting his friend to be alive again. He explains that when he saw that Nightcrawler from the other universe, part of him wanted to believe it was the same man. He ignored the facts. He trusted him because of the way he looked; because he needed to believe this was his friend, and he double-crossed them.
Shan says it must feel like he’s lost his friend all over again. Wolverine replies that he’s pissed. More than pissed. He’s afraid he’s gonna kill Nightcrawler if he confronts him. That’s why he needed the X-Men with him. He can’t control where he’s gonna go. Jean-Paul asks if he even knows what he wants to do. “No,” replies Logan, “And that’s the worst part.”
(meanwhile)
Kurt teleports to the top of the Empire State Building. He talks to himself, saying that all he wants is his life, his world, his memories. He doesn’t belong here. He never did. And she isn’t here. He places the scarf to his face and breathes in. “I’m coming home, Linda,” he sighs, and he releases the scarf into the wind. He then teleports away as a fissure opens in space near the top of the building. A face then appears in the shadows bearing a rather nasty set of teeth.
