The Atom Institute:
X-Men Emergency! Scott Summers shouts. The stakes have never been higher! There’s enough energy in that Phoenix Egg to destroy the entire world! They have to protect the Phoenix Egg or die trying, he tells his friends, Emma Frost, Wolverine and Beast. Her morale has certainly been boosted, Emma remarks. They’ve been in worse scraps, Logan points out and Beast admits he is speechless.
The young X-Men of the Atom Institute ask how they can help. Their two sides may be opposed philosophically, but they want to help. They are told they’ll know who to punch when they see them – namely a host of alternate Hank McCoys. Their leader announces the X-Men are outnumbered and outgunned. He demands they surrender the Phoenix egg, then they may live as slaves of the great empire!
Like hell! Cyclops replies with an optic blast. One of the Beasts warns they are an army of geniuses. The others cannot possibly win.
Angel and Beak take off to make sure their kids are safe, however one of the Beasts shoots Angel. Beak catches her with his claws and prays she is ok.
Wolverine demands a fastball special of Glob Herman, who throws him into one Beast.
Cyclops works together with Dust. She blinds the Beasts, he picks them off.
The Cuckoos find the Beasts have psychic dampeners. Emma has a plan and asks Cyclops and Basilisk to cover her and the Cuckoos. He’s had dreams like this, their Hank mutters.
Beak begs the injured Angel to hold on. She weakly tells him to find their kids and keep them safe. However, the kids led by No-Girl actually join the fight. This family never ceases to amaze him, Beak grins. He’s the luckiest mutant on Doom’s green Earth! One of his sons hands him a baseball bat. Now let’s go bust some heads! he announces. Cyclops figures they might actually win this.
The X-Men’s Beast runs around when he hears the Phoenix Egg rumbling. He figures that can’t be good. He warns Scott that the egg might not be as dormant as he thought…
Scott informs Emma that, if she is going to do something amazing, now is the time. Emma tells the Cuckoos not to pay any attention to the man with the midlife crisis. Relax and open their minds, allow the five-in-one to become the six-in-one.
Hank takes out another doppelganger and notices the egg is about to burst open.
Emma leads the Cuckoos to telepathically shut down all their foes. The Beasts pass out one after the other until they find their leader. The telepaths see that he is a false McCoy, not a mutant, but something viral, something sublime.
Using the Phoenix Egg, Magneto amplified his powers with MGH where Sublime lay hidden. Sublime was patient. He played the long game. He was inevitable until Magneto discovered him and used the power of the egg to control him. Sublime released his spores to the four winds of Battleworld. He assembled an army to take control of the ultimate power of the Phoenix egg. Sublime mocks they overlooked something important. Esme! Emma screams a moment later…
The X-Men’s Beast has gutted Esme and then turns against his fellow X-Men.
Sublime gloats that they never stood a chance. Cyclops confronts their Beast. He orders him to snap out of it and stay away from the fallen Emma. Don’t make Scott kill him. He’ll make him a deal, Beast replies. He’ll kill Scott first! He attacks, but is taken out by a psychic assault from what appears to be Quentin Quire.
To me, my X-Men! he orders and Scott realizes Professor X has taken over. Xavier tells him there is not time for explanation. They have yet another threat against the mutant race to face and if he allows him to assume the role of headmaster once more, he thinks he knows how to—
Sublime mocks it is far too late. The power of the Phoenix is— He is interrupted by Wolverine gutting him. Xavier criticizes he doesn’t approve of that kind of violence. Says the guy who shot himself in the head, Logan points out.
Sublime speaks through another Beast; they only killed a figurehead. He is the sentient virus that flows though the blood of all his soldiers. They are all generals in this army. The body is the head and the head is the body, the Beasts chant. They are Sublime.
Enough! Xavier orders. He is Professor Charles Xavier, the most powerful telepathic mind to ever exist. A bullet to the brain couldn’t kill him and he won’t be taken down by an enemy no better than the common cold. Using the abilities contained in the DNA of the deceased Mr. Quire, he possesses a telekinetic precision that extends to a subatomic level. Sublime is, in a word, inferior. He has been cured.
The Beast is freed and horrified at what he has done. The Cuckoos glare at him. Cyclops and Wolverine congratulate the Professor. He warns them the battle has only just begun.
The Phoenix egg opens at last. I am reborn! Jean Grey dressed in black announces. X-Men emergency! Xavier shouts. His evil twin sister Cassandra Nova has taken possession of the Phoenix Force!
