'I meant what I said, Magneto. No one dies while we're here!' Rachel Grey tells Magneto as the two of them invade New Attilan, making their way past a squad of Inhuman guards. 'No one. We grab Ulysses and we're out of here – without getting blood on our hands' Rachel adds. Magneto remains silent. Narrowing his eyes at the telepath, he asks her if she has found him. Rachel reports that she has gleaned his location from the minds of those around them. She instructs Magneto to lower his mental defenses a tad and then she can point him in the right direction. 'I might also note that none of these people hate us the way you think they do' Rachel remarks, adding that they are afraid of Magneto, but they don't hate mutants in general.
Magneto instructs Rachel to hold the Inhumans off for as long as she can. Rachel assures him that she will do the best she can, but that he is talking about a wide-range psychic sweep here. She tells him that she can put them to sleep, make him invisible and otherwise send them running in circles, but she can only keep them away for ten, fifteen minutes, tops.
'More than enough time' Magneto replies as he hovers over the fallen Inhumans, floating down the corridor, he knocks the Inhumans guarding a large metal door away with ease, before forcing the door open with his magnetic might. Standing in the other room is a young man in a green and red costume. 'Uh, hey. It's about time you showed up, I guess. I've been expecting you' Ulysses Cain announces.
Manhattan, where two teams calling themselves X-Men are going head to head. A powerful storm rages, courtesty of Ororo “Storm” Munroe who casts some lighting towards Warren Worthington III a.k.a. Archangel. 'We're being stalled here! Magneto wants to distract us while he makes his move against the Inhumans!' Archangel releases razor-sharp feathers towards Storm and tells her that she must know there is nothing she can do now – confronting Magneto will not change anything. 'Only Magneto himself can control the outcome of this struggle' Archangel declares. Her eyes flash with anger as Storm exclaims 'That is what Magneto wants us to believe. But I will not let him damn us all for the sake of his mad crusade!' Storm adds that Magneto will make enemies where he could find allies, as easily as he's turned them against one another. There is mighty crack of thunder as Storm blasts Archangel backwards. Archangel tumbles through the air, falling towards a rooftop below. 'Goddess help e. This is not what I wanted. Anything but... this...' Storm grows weary, as she looks down and sees three of Archangel's feathers stuck in her legs. The neurotoxins start to take effect, before Storm, too, falls towards the rooftop.
Nearby, Kurt Wagner a.k.a. Nightcrawler is battling Betsy “Psylocke” Braddock. He excuses himself from his friend, pointing out that their friends are in need of them. He teleports up into the air and grabs Storm, while Betsy catches Archangel with her telekinesis, just inches before he would have slammed his head into the rooftop. 'Warren, you idiot! You know better than this!' she declares. Holding Storm in his arms as he teleports to the ground, Kurt calls out to Betsy as she holds Warren, a figure approaches her from behind. 'Elizabeth – look out!' he shouts, but too late, as Raven Darkholme a.k.a. Mystique lunges at her. 'Hold still, Psylocke. I've got a little present for you!' Mystique claims.
'Thought you'd been brainwashed into thinking you were one of the angels, Creed. But here you are, still fighting against your fellow mutants' Old Man Logan snarls as his claws strike Victor “Sabretooth” Creed's arm. 'And I heard you were dead. But here you are – still a runt... and an old runt at that!' Creed replies. 'Old maybe -' Old Man Logan begins, before Creed turns on him and runs his claws across his foe's side, drawing blood. '- but still young enough for the likes of you' Logan declares as he slams his elbow into the back of Creed's head.
Gambit a.k.a.Remy LeBeau and Fantomex are also confronting each other. 'Well, well... it looks like fate has brought us back together, you and I. Go ahead, reset your jaw. I can wait... but when you're done... round two' Fantomex warns Gambit, who is clicking his jaw back into place.
Illyana Rasputin a.k.a. Magik holds her Soulsword towards Monet St Croix and warns her that she and Magneto are going to put every mutant in even greater danger. 'The Inhumans are not our enemies!' Magik adds. 'Says the girl who frolics with demons. Forgive me if I don't trust you as a character witness'.
Nearby, Old Man Logan is still attacking Sabretooth. He sees Magik and tells her to get clear and get back up. 'Don't even think about it' Monet warns Magik, grabbing the Soulsword. 'Try to stop me' Magik retorts, before a portal opens, and purple tentacles reach out and grab Monet. 'Here – let me introduce you to some new friends to play with. You won't be lonely while I'm gone!' Magik tells the wide-eyed Monet.
Storm comes to, and finds Nightcrawler at her side. 'This got out of hand rather quickly, didn't it, Ororo?' Nightcrawler remarks. Storm agrees, adding that she would have much preferred to handle this situation peacefully. 'Are we certain that option's off the table?' Nightcrawler asks. He agrees that Magneto's actions are rash, but suggests that if they could come to an understanding, then perhaps the Inhumans – 'No. Ah, Kurt, how can you be so blind?' Storm asks, interrupting her friend. 'If Magneto does this... then mutantkind deserves its fate'.
Back in New Attilan:
'So... you're him. Wow. You're Magneto' Ulysses gasps as he looks up at the Master of Magnetism. 'You're... kind of scary' the wide-eyed Ulysses remarks, before asking Magneto if he is here to kill him. Magneto narrows his eyes at the young Inhuman, and replies 'If you know who I am, then you know what I am capable of... the actions I am willing to take to protect my people. And you know why I have come'.
Ulysses replies that he knows, but that he was hoping he could talk Magneto out of it. He turns and walks away from Magneto: 'I know what you're doing here. I've been told some of it... and I pieced the rest together. You think I'm a weapon. And – for some reason – you think I'm going to be used against you'. Ulysses reminds Magneto that their people aren't fighting each other – at least, they weren't, and he thought that was behind them. 'In my experience, it is the weapon that turns a cold war... into the real thing' Magneto announces.
Ulysses tells Magneto that what he does – seeing all these terrible things – is called a gift. 'But it's awful... seeing these catastrophes playing out in my head. There are... so many of them' he utters, looking at his hands. Ulysses explains that he only wanted to help, but that it seems like these predictions of his are just putting people at each other's throats. 'You need to know, though... this isn't going to turn out the way you think' Ulysses declares, proclaiming that it will be much worse.
Back in Manhattan, Sabretooth roars as Old Man Logan rakes his claws across him again. 'All those times I wanted to see you dead, Creed... but here we are'. Logan adds that he doesn't want to cut Creed down, but that if he and his don't stop what they are doing, that is how it will be. Monet breaks through the tentacles that had grabbed her and tells the others that they are on borrowed time now. 'The witch will be back with the cavalry any minute!' she points out, adding that she hopes they have Magneto the breathing room he needed.
Storm takes Nightcrawler's hand and asks him when Magneto takes their choices from them, where that will leave them. 'Whose side are you going to take?' she asks her friend. Nightcrawler reminds Storm that their decisions were made for them long ago, and not by Magneto. 'No prediction is going to change that now. We have to be ready when those decisions yield their results'. He adds that when that happens, he will be on the same side he has always been on. Mystique kicks Psylocke in the back, knocking Betsy over. Suddenly, Kurt teleports between the two women. 'What are you -' Betsy starts to ask him. Kurt declares that he will not let Mystique murder another mutant. 'There are too few of us left!' he exclaims. Betsy thanks Kurt, who tells her not to, and adds that just because he doesn't want to watch his mother skewer one of his best friends doesn't mean they are done fighting just yet.
'Where's that Cajun charm now, hmm?' Fantomex asks Gambit as he kicks him into the ground. 'You want to kill me, mon ami?' the weary Gambit asks, looking up. 'You want to make sure I don't make a fool of you again at some point down the road?' Gambit asks, and looking up as a portal opens, he suggests to Fantomex that he should have moved more quickly, as Magik returns through the portal, along with Bobby “Iceman” Drake, Christopher “Triage” Muse, the Sentinel called Cerebra and Jean Grey from the past. Cerebra blasts Sabretooth, while Iceman fires a stream of ice at Monet, knocking her backwards.
Magik drops down beside Fantomex, who tells her that he has no bone to pick with her. He asks her to let him get a few good kicks in on their mutual Cajun friend, and then he will be on his way. Fantomex adds that he bets Magik wouldn't mind kicking Gambit herself. 'First you, then him' Magik replies as she raises her Soulsword, but as she brings it towards Fantomex, it passes through him with ease. 'And illusion!' Magik gasps, before telling the other members of her team to get to her. Old Man Logan, Storm, Nightcrawler, Iceman, Psylocke, Jean Grey, Gambit, Triage and Cerebra gather around her, as she creates another portal, declaring that they need to leave this brawl behind and focus their efforts on the real threat. Sabretooth, Monet, Mystique and Nightcrawler regroup, with EVA hovering over them. Monet looks very unimpressed and reports that the other team is teleporting to New Attilan – but that Magik made a mistake in coming back for Storm and the others, as it is likely Magneto has already finished. 'But just in case – let's follow them' she suggests.
Lightning crackles over New Attilan, while Magneto announces that he has delayed longer than he should have. 'I'm afraid we're out of time' he tells Ulysses, who appears frightened as he asks 'So... what's it gonna be? Are you kidnapping me? Killing me?' to which Magneto replies 'You do not understand. For all your foresight, you cannot see the hell mutantkind has faced of late. And if you can see what the future holds for us, you've had your chance to tell me'. But Ulysses explains to Magneto that that is not how things work – he can only see what will happen in the short term. Ulysses extends a hand to Magneto: 'But if you want... I can show that to you' he offers, and images suddenly flash through their minds.
Ulysses’ vision:
A tearful Rachel Grey holds the body of the Jean Grey from the past in her arms, while Sebastian Shaw smashes through Iceman's body. Sabretooth stands over the bloodied body of Nightcrawler, while Cerebra explodes as Archangel's feathers make contact. Psylocke and Mystique leap towards each other, weapons at the ready, as Magneto and Storm blast each other with energies, and Fantomex and Gambit face off against each other. Monet lays across some rocks, the Soulsword sticking out of her back, as a motionless Magik lays nearby, and Old Man Logan holds the decapitated head of Xorn, whose body is at Logan's feed, and a bloodied Beast can be seen nearby.
Reality:
More lightning crackles above New Attilan, as Storm and her team have arrived. 'What Magneto's set in motion... it's gonna drag us all down with him' Old Man Logan points out. Storm agrees, and points out that they must try – even in the face of utility, they must try. Suddenly, Rachel appears above Storm and the others and tells them that they can stand down, that they can relax. 'Magneto has left the building. And he's left Ulysses – safe and sound – with the Inhumans' Rachel reports. 'He just... left?' Storm asks. 'That's the long and short of it' Rachel confirms, adding that they had to wipe his presence from the memory of all the guards, so for most of the Inhumans in New Attilan, Magneto is still just a bad dream.
'After everything he did...after his warnings about the Inhumans having such a terrible weapon... why would he just give up? That's not his style at all' Betsy declares. Rachel explains that she thinks Ulysses showed him something. 'Showed him what? We're talking about Magneto. He's not the kind of guy who flinches' Jean Grey remarks. Old Man Logan looks up and sees that EVA has appeared in the sky above. 'Hopefully someone told the rest of Magneto's teammates that the fight is over' he declares. Rachel takes flight, offering to let them know. She offers to tell them something – tell them that whatever Magneto saw convinced him that the mission wasn't worth the ultimate price.
On the outskirts of New Attilan, Magneto stands amongst some large rocks as Medusa approaches him. 'I should kill you, you know' the Queen of the Inhumans warns Magneto. 'You invaded my home. You attacked my people. I would be within my rights'. 'Yes, I suppose you would be' Magneto agrees, before telling Medusa that he guesses she knew what the boy would show him. 'Before I arrived, you knew. And you knew that the threat of mutants killing mutants in such a way would dissuade me'. Medusa doesn't answer, so Magneto continues, adding that he also assumes that Ulysses showed her something, too – a vision of bloodshed and tragedy, not dissimilar from what Ulysses showed him. 'You, like me, are unwilling to sacrifice your people today'. Medusa frowns as she tells Magneto that he is not welcome here, and warns him that if he returns, no matter his intentions, he will be seen as an enemy and will be dealt with as such. Magneto turns away from Medusa and tells her to rest assured – when he returns, it will definitely be as an enemy.
Storm hangs her head, when suddenly, Nightcrawler teleports beside her. 'Ororo... I just wanted to say... I wanted to know if there's still a place here -' he begins. 'Just shut up' Storm tells her friend. Wrapping her arms around him, she reminds him that they have been given a reprieve. 'Don't ruin it' she adds.
War Room X, in the Savage Land:
'What the hell were you thinking?' Betsy demands as she slaps Magneto's face. 'We're supposed to be partners! That's what you said when you asked me to join you!' Betsy reminds him, adding that if that were the case, he would keep her apprised of his plans, and take her advice into account. 'But maybe that's just too complicated for you!' Betsy exclaims, walking away, she tells Magneto that she is not his partner anymore, but his bloody chaperone.
Rachel looks at Magneto and tells him that on that uncomfortable note, she will be leaving. 'It looks like your team has its quota of psychics who doubt your motives' she points out. 'Very well, Miss Grey. But I might ask that you don't go far' Magneto responds. He announces that their people are still in danger. 'A version of the future you know...where mutants are all but extinct...is still on the horizon'. He adds that he doubts Elizabeth will stand by his side for too much longer – not when she realizes the lengths he will go to prevent that future from dawning....
