Somewhere in Hollywood, California. Inside an old warehouse, a woman is shrouded in a white cloak, as people kneel before her and chant. ‘Mu-mu-na-wai’ over and over. They wear scraps of white cloth over their faces, tied with red cloth around the eyes. The woman’s eyes glow blue and she tells them to concentrate, as this is the most delicate of the nine operations. ‘Do not fail me!’ she declares. A white owl appears around her, as she announces that ‘Yesss - I can feel you on the other edge of the veil. Don’t be afraid - cross over and serve your Queen! My first command: Go forth into Los Angeles… and bring me the head of Lucas Bishop!’
Meanwhile, in another abandoned warehouse, this time in Downtown Los Angeles, a rat runs across a pipe overhead, while Bishop sits on a bed, Ororo “Storm” Munroe and Eugene Milton Judd a.k.a. Puck keeping watch over him. Bishop tells them that the Revenant Queen is here. ‘You said that already’ Puck mutters. Storm asks Puck for a moment, and states that when she and Elizabeth were inside Bishop’s mind, they saw - ‘We saw a nightmare’ a voice calls out, interrupting Storm. ‘A nightmare I’d rather not relive, thank you’ Psylocke a.k.a. Betsy Braddock adds as she approaches Storm. Storm puts her hands on her friend’s shoulders and tells her that she looks wonderful, before asking how Madripoor was. Betsy replies that it was a fiasco, and that she is never going back, but that she had champagne on the flight home. ‘And that’s why you look so relaxed’ Ororo smiles.
Betsy crouches in front of Bishop and calling him Lucas, greets him. ‘Hi, Betsy’ Bishop replies. ‘May I…?’ Betsy asks her former teammate. ‘Okay’ Bishop tells her, as Betsy activates a psychic link between herself and he, and asks him if he knows what year it is. ‘I’m - I’m back now. Right? I’m back now?’ Bishop adds that hew was in the 68th Century. ‘Do you remember why you were in the future?’ Betsy enquires. Bishop tells her that it is hard, that everything blends together. ‘Do you remember Hope?’ Betsy asks. Bishop replies that he remembers a girl with red hair. Betsy cancels the link and thanks Bishop, before turning to Storm and Puck and informing them that Bishop suffered a lot of psychic damage, but that he is telling the truth, or what he thinks is the truth.
‘We’ll hide him here until I can sort him out, then we -’ Betsy begins, but Puck interrupts her, asking her if she is crazy. ‘He can’t stay with us. He’s too bonkers for the field’. Storm tells Betsy that they cannot keep Bishop a secret from the others - at the very least they have an obligation to inform Cable and Hope. ‘Who knows what they will do when they learn he’s back?’ Storm adds, before suggesting that Rachel can work with Bishop back at the school. ‘NO!’ Bishop booms, as memories flash through his head. He announces that his holy mission is here in Los Angeles. ‘I’m the only one who -’ he starts to say, before declaring that in the future there is an everlasting war between Revenants and humans. ‘I was there. I fought it’ he reminds the others. He explains that Revenants are psychotic demons, spectral twins who mirror humans from the moment they are born, and they jealously watch them live their lives.
Bishop continues, ‘We alone stand in their way. We are the Order. We are the only ones with the knowledge to hunt and kill Revenants. The only light in a dark world’. He states that for thousands of years only a handful of Revenants survived the journey across the veil, until the Revenant Queen and her great corruption - the unholy creatures flooded their world, and it was a massacre. ‘But now I have brought her to the here. And I stand alone’. Bishop adds that this world is soft and sluggish, that everything is in danger - everything. ‘I’m the only one who can stop her’.
Bishop tells his companions that they are in danger now. ‘If she knows I’m still alive…’ his voice trails off, ‘Y’see? Bonkers’ Puck declares, however Betsy reminds him that she and Storm saw these demons in Bishop’s memories. ‘Who knows what you saw? He’s been jerked around the Time Stream. His brain’s been hijacked, and attacked by a giant psychic…bear’ Puck adds. Storm offers that the threat may be legitimate. Puck is not convinced though and tells the ladies that all this sounds like Miyazaki smoking crack to him. ‘I’ll believe it when I -’ he begins, but stops mid-sentence when the trio hear a noise behind them - a Revenant has dropped into the room. It hisses then roars at everyone, while Psylocke leaps into the air, flips over the Revenant and swords ready tells it ‘This is our clubhouse - no busters allowed’ as she holds her swords to the Revenant’s throat.
‘They’re here! We must go, now!’ Bishop urges the others. ‘Oh, fer crying in a bucket, Bishop. Give it a rest!’ Puck mutters, before mockingly quoting “We’re all in danger!”, “The sky is falling!”, “Wolf! Wolf!”, when suddenly, a small piece of debris falls from above and hits Puck on the shoulder. ‘Revenants!’ Bishop exclaims as he looks up and sees a large hole in the ceiling, with more and more Revenants busting through. They then start to pour through the windows as well. ‘Sweet Gia Rosarita! My apologies to Miyazaki-san!’ Puck remarks. ‘Attack the psychic!’ one of the Revenants instructs the others. ‘Bring it, scrubs!’ Betsy retorts. ‘We can’t get close!’ another Revenant calls out as Betsy keeps them at bay. ‘She’s being protected by one of us!’ another Revenant decides. A battle starts to rage. Bishop uses his energies against the horde, while the acrobatic Puck darts about, striking a Revenant in the head with a powerful kick. ‘Pull your punches! They’re still human…I think’ Betsy calls out as she continues to keep the Revenants away from her. ‘They’re everywhere!’ Storm calls out as she fires a bolt of lightning into the crowd.
‘No! They are dead inside! You cannot hold back!’ Bishop instructs the others as he continues to assault the Revenants. Betsy tells Storm to get Bishop out of here, as he is the only one who understands this mess, and he must survive. ‘I’m on it!’ Storm calls out as she surges forward, casting more lighting through the Revenants to clear a path. She lifts Bishop into the air with a gust of wind and tells him to hang on, as they fly through the hole in the roof and into the open air. ‘Ororo, no! I must -’ Bishop calls out. ‘It is him!’ one of the Revenants calls out. ‘It is Lucas Bishop!’ another declares. ‘Stop him!’ says a third. ‘Let him go, you foul-smelling -‘ Storm orders, but before she can get any higher, though, ‘Gotcha, toots!’ one of the Revenants exclaims as he grabs hold of her. ‘No!’ Storm exclaims as she is pulled down amongst the horrid Revenants, while Bishop falls back through the roof. ‘Drink up!’ one of the Revenants tells other others. ‘Owl blood too strong for ya?’ another remarks.
In Storm’s mind:
‘Ororo… you could have been a goddess among mortals. But you threw it all away like a fool’. a voice scolds. ‘The American imperialist called and you answered. You abandoned your homeland!’ the voice continues as Storm recalls her encounter with Professor Xavier. The voice tells her that she associated herself with scum and vermin who took advantage of her divine nature, and Storm sees herself surrounded by demonic versions of Wolverine, Cyclops, Nightcrawler and Colossus. ‘Forced you to combat the indignant in sewage - for what? To be Queen of the Garbage People?’ Storm sees the battle against Callisto as the voice reminds Storm that she was stripped of her powers. ‘The pride of Africa, your husband rejected you! You desecrated yourself! You’re unworthy of your power, unworthy of your love!’ the voice tells Storm, who sees the Black Panther turning his back to her, and she screams.
Reality:
Storm continues to scream as the Revenants overwhelm her. ‘STORM!’ Betsy calls out, but gets no response. She calls out to Puck and informs him that Storm is down. ‘Forget what I said! Don’t hold back!’ she adds. ‘Who’s holding back?’ Puck asks as he continues to defend himself against the Revenants. ‘I’m beating them like a drunk referee!’ Puck exclaims as somersaults backwards, but suddenly, several Revenants grab him, ‘He’s ours! You’re next, midget!’ one of them tells him, as they drop some blood into his mouth. ‘Bleah! I ordered a whiskey, ugly!’ Puck mutters.
In Puck’s mind:
‘Puck, bro. You’re a #$%& show!’ a voice tells the diminutive hero. ‘If only you weren’t so stupid! If only you didn’t grab that sword - you’d be a real man now! Instead of a little wimp’. The voice points out that although Judd became a super hero, he became a Z-list super hero, and after seeing the Black Blade shoved into his body and the Black Razer hovering over him, he sees his former Alpha Flight teammates Guardian, Sasquatch, Snowbird and Marrina laughing at him. ‘Now this is hilarious - you thought a real woman could love you? Are you serious, dude? You’re half a man! If that!’ as Judd sees a skewed memory of proposing to Heather Hudson who laughed him off. ‘Pathetic. But lik that wasn’t enough. You straight up went to Hell, bro. You escaped, but you know you’ll be back. That’s where you belong, you brute!’ the voice tells Puck, who cries ‘Nooooo!’
Reality:
Puck! Where are you?’ Betsy calls out, but gets no response. ‘Garbage demons! I am a hunter of the Order!’ Bishop booms as he runs through the Revenants, knocking some of them aside. ‘Fuzzball! I need you out here!’ Betsy exclaims, and inside her mind, the Demon Bear takes notice. Betsy tells the Demon Bear not to worry about her, that Bishop is the priority. ‘Protect Bishop at all costs! Now!’ Betsy instructs the Demon Bear, who roars, and its energy form surrounds Bishop, knocking back the Revenants surrounding him. ‘Noooo!’ Bishop calls out, while the Revenants realize that Betsy is exposed, unprotected. ‘Strike!’ one of them calls out. ‘Aha, haha!’ one of the Revenants exclaims. ‘Chug-a-lug, gorgeous!’ another tells her. ‘Get ready for a surprise!’ a third warns her, as the blood that was previously dropped into Storm and Puck’s mouths is dropped into Betsy’s.
In Psylocke’s mind:
‘Elizabeth. Who do you think you are? Giving up your life as an international super-spy for the old Blighty’. The voice tells Elizabeth that she just had to throw her lot in with the mutants, rushing headlong into a string of unimaginable horrors. ‘You, the British woman, taking over an Asian body, apparently Mojo removed your irony, too’, referring to Mojo replacing her eyes. ‘Call yourself a ninja - how did you ever fight in that ridiculous costume?’ the voice asks, referencing Betsy’s ninja costume. ‘You tell yourself it was you choice - but we both know the truth. You did it for them. For the endless parade of lovers you took into your bed. To paper over the hole in your heart’. Headshots of Archangel, Cyclops, Fantomex, Cluster and Weapon XIII appear, leading into a line of skulls. ‘But it never worked, did it? You don’t crave love. You crave blood. You’re a killer, a butcher, a monster - that’s all you’ll ever be’. ‘Get outtt!’ Betsy screams.
Reality:
‘Where is Bishop?’ a Revenant asks as several of them fall through a hole leading underground. ’I can’t see a thing’ another remarks. ’There aint #$%& down here’ a third tells the others. ’That means he escaped. Our Queen is gonna be pissed’ one of the Revenants remarks. But another tells them not to sweat it, as they have the heroes. ’and better yet - we have their Revenants’. The Revenant forms of Betsy, Storm and Puck appear. ‘Sorted’ Betsy smiles, wearing a black costume with some armor, she grins wickedly and her eyes glow. ‘Bow to your goddess’ Storm tells them, wearing an exotic headpiece and now much else, while Puck is tall and handsome and holds a large gun over his shoulder. ‘Who’s ready to rock and #$%& roll? Are we gonna crush these losers or what?’ he asks, grinning.
But one of the Revenants replies ‘No/ Lucas Bishop killed hundreds of Revenants in the future. Nothing is more important than his head’. He adds that they need his friends alive, as bait. ‘We won’t have to hunt him…wherever he is, Lucas Bishop will come to us’.
And, elsewhere, Bishop pulls himself up from the water in the tunnel that he has fallen into. He does not look amused and declares ‘Okay, Revenants - you’ve taken your best shot! Now it’s my turn!’
