Outside the police station, moments after Magik has left, Cannonball decides on a plan. They only have a few seconds before Legion is on top of them. Cyclops is en route with more X-Men, but they’re are at least 30 minutes away. So they’re it. He tells Sunspot to keep his distance. Legion’s too unpredictable and Roberto is not invulnerable.
I know, Sam, Berto replies impatiently. He’s thinking out loud, Sam replies. And they’re in the %$&/ now, so use codenames! Try to keep Legion off balance. Throw stuff at him. Big stuff.
He turns to Magma, telling her to keep the ground moving underneath Legion. Stay molten and get close if she can. He’ll think long and hard before laying hands on someone with the body temperature of the Earth’s core.
Finally, he turns to Dani, calling her by her given name. Both Shan and Illyana are in Legion’s mind, he announces, referring to her rifle. If Legion takes a bullet, they could lose them all. She’s a good shot, Dani replies. “Cannonball”. No, she won’t, he replies curtly. She needs to drive away as fast as she can. She can help, Dani insist. Now! he shouts. No, she insists. Dammit! he swears. The most powerful mutant on the planet wants her dead. If she doesn’t run, she’ll die! She’s not a mutant anymore, stop pretending she is! He’s in charge and that’s an order!
Amara and Roberto don’t know what to say. After a moment’s silence, Dani pushes Sam aside, gets in the truck and drives off.
Is he sure, he… Roberto begins. No, Sam interrupts, but he made the decision. If they stop Legion, Dani can kill him later! Let’s move and keep their eyes open, he tells the other two.
Legion is hiding in a back alley, using the powers of the current dominant personality he has X-ray vision and observes them through the wall. Moonstar’s getting away, he tells the other personalities.
Inside Legion’s mind, another personality tells him to be quiet. She’s going to hear him… She refers to Illyana who’s currently massacring her way through any personalities that are giving her lip. They’re looking for him, X-ray guy states. The other tells him to hide till the witch leaves. If she learns about the doll, they are all done.
Standing over the decapitated body of Jack Wayne, Magik repeats her question. Where is Xi’an Coy Manh? She killed them! How rude! one of them stammers, while another exclaims it’s impossible.
Illyana holds up her Soulsword. They believe themselves immune to death. She brings them a gospel of oblivion. She brings them the Soulsword. Taste it and cease to be.
Another personality comes to the front of the crowd, a Jack the Ripper lookalike. She’s an ally of the Fixer, he announces. She wishes to end them all. Now is the time to stand against her, he urges the crowd. There is only one of her, but they are many.
Illyana slices him apart. They are many, she agrees. She has many ways to kill them.
The crowd decides battle is not the way to go. It parts. She’s this way, one of them stutters. So directed, Illyana goes that way.
Is she gone? the boy who is holding the doll asks. They’re in the clear, the other confirms. Thank God, X-ray-guy replies. He was tired of whispering.
He speaks aloud and in reality the three New Mutants hear him. He jumps in front of them, informing them that they are going to be killed now. That means no more X-ray vision. But, Magma, please, before he goes, he has to tell her, she looks great naked.
In Legion’s head, he passes the doll to his friend who turns out to have super-speed.
When Cannonball flies at him he easily dodges both him and Magma’s lava balls and hits Sunspot. Then he races to a truck full of metal junk, takes a sharp piece of junk and slices Sunspot across the stomach with it. Dammit! Cannonball swears. Yep, still got it, Legion states satisfied.
Suddenly, he finds himself surrounded by an inferno. Panicked he asks for someone else to take over. He should have played nice, Magma tells him. Now she has to be rough. Still in her lava form, she begins to throttle him.
In Legion’s head, Illyana is led to a bunker with several doors. The personalities show her which cell is Karma’s. Magik slices through the lock with her Soulsword and opens up the door.
Not quite able to see who’s coming in, the badly beaten Shan tries to defend Marci. Illyana’s Soulsword lights up the room and she tells them not to be afraid. Is she hurt? she asks worried. Shan doesn’t reply and instead tells her she found Marci. Illyana greets her kindly, then asks if they know where David Haller is. Marci points to another cell.
In the real world, Legion has switched personalities again, another alien this time, with Magma’s hands still around his throat. His eyes begin to bleed black as he announces the heat is nothing to him. They have traveled between realities. They have journeyed through stars and remained unburned. He is the absence of heat. He is the absence of love. He manages to draw away all of Amara’s heat, leaving her momentarily powerless and scared. He smashes her though a wall.
Cannonball is on the other side. He runs to her side. Freezing, she moans. She tasted good, Legion announces. Can he have some more? Sam glares at him, then cannonballs into him.
In Legion’s mindscape, Illyana opens the cell with her Soulsword. They step inside, Marci first. Davey? she asks. What are they doing here? he asks. No, Karma replies, annoyed. The question is what the &%$ is he doing here?
Panicked, David retreats. He has been bad again, hasn’t he? He sinks to his knees in despair. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He just wanted someone to fix him.
Marci shakes him, trying to get his attention. The bad men took her doll, she explains. David apologizes to her. He thought he’d hidden Marci well enough. He’s sorry they took her doll.
It’s a symbol, right? Shan asks. Whoever has it, has control of his body? Holding onto David’s hand, Marci protests Morrie is not a symbol. She’s a doll. “Moira” David corrects her in a small voice. Not “Morrie”. Then he agrees with Karma; if they get her back, they can clean up this mess.
Illyana asks for a moment, then turns back to the frightened crowd of personalities, which she has duly cowed. The doll, she orders. Now.
Outside, Cannonball still flies with Legion, who finds that Sam is invulnerable to his power. Another personality takes over, a Nazi scientist. Ve have vays to deal with that. Impossibly long fingers rake Sam’s face and he stops blasting, landing hard. Legion is injured.
Another personality takes over to heal and then attack Sam. Legion takes on a lupine form and gets ready to tear out Sam’s throat. That moment, a car hits the werewolf. Dani’s returned.
The fixer, the wolfbeing snarls. He’d wondered how she would taste when he… In response, Dani drives him against a wall.
Dani, no! Sunspot who watched the scene moans. Dani herself is injured worse than the wolfbeing who drags her out. Such a pretty face, he mocks. Dani draws a knife and stabs him in the arm going for her throat. She tries to use that moment to crawl away. Legion takes out the knife and grabs her again. He’s doing her, he assures the other personalities. But first he wants to take her face…
Choke on it, you &%$&, Dani swears defiantly. Wait! Legion suddenly announces Stop her… No! He returns to his normal form. Dani? asks a voice she recognizes. Illyana.
In Legion’s mindscape, Magik now has the doll and control over the body. She asks about the others. Banged up but they should make it until Cyclops gets here, Dani informs her. What about Legion? Are they safe? Yes, Illyana assures her. Everything is fine.
Some time later, an X-jet lands. Emma hypnotizes the town inhabitants into believing they’ve been sick with stomach flu the past few days.
Sunspot is carried inside the plane on a stretcher. You okay? he asks Amara who is wearing a blanket. Just a little cold, she replies. He could probably make some room for her in here, he suggests.
David Haller, finally in control, is being outfitted with a helmet to flatline his brainwaves for the trip home by Madison Jeffries. He is in complete control, he assures Jeffries, who in turn tells him the helmet is not going to hurt him.
Sam addresses Dani who is now wearing a cast on her right leg. He thanks her for saving his life. She walks away without a word. He messed up, he admits to Cyclops who watched the scene. He apologizes for letting Scott down. Scott summarizes that he sent the team in unprepared and they took out an Omega Level mutant. They’ve all proved themselves. The entire team was injured following his orders, Sam points out. All he cares about is the headcount, Scott replies. Sam brought everyone home. That’s all he’ll ever ask of him.
Yeah, but what about his team? Sam wonders. He gets the feeling that half of them think they could have done a better job and one of them out-and-out hates him. Heh, Scott smirks. Welcome to my world.
