(dream)
Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, where a costumed Havok has come to visit. He makes his way to the front door and blasts it open with his powers. He had called the mansion three times over the past few hours and there was never an answer. He thought something might have been wrong which is why he decided to bust into the place. He makes his way through the dark halls and doesn't see anybody. He goes into the headmaster's office and finds Cerebro smashed, but still there's no one around. He checks out Storm's loft and the Danger Room; nada. On top of all this, he finds no evidence of a fight. He starts to regret his previous rash actions. He wonders if the X-Men are just occupied at the moment, maybe even saving the world again.
Havok enters an elevator and ponders his past decision not to join the X-Men. He reaches his floor and the doors slide open. Standing before him are the X-Men, except their faces look very wicked. Magneto welcomes Havok home and motions for him to come forward. He does so, but when he's out into the room Rogue grabs him from behind. He yells out, but is soon silenced as Rogue places her lips over his. He falls to the ground. The X-Men crowd around him, laughing. Havok wants to blast them away with his powers, but he can't; he's drained. Instead, the images before him start to blur and come together. Only Rogue stands out, and she too is stretching into nothingness. Everything fades to black.
(present)
Havok bolts upright in bed screaming. It was all a dream. However, he can feel his cosmic energy building up to dangerous levels inside him. The newly awakened Lorna watches as he jumps out of bed and runs outside. She follows him in time to witness a gigantic energy blast he unleashes into the night sky. She cries out and rushes over to his aid. She hands him a quilt to shield him from the bitter cold. She notices the ground where he was standing has been fused to glass. Havok's upset with himself for losing control. Lorna assures him it will be all right and brings him back inside.
Inside, Lorna tries to comfort Alex. She uses her magnetic powers to make some chicken soup, while she holds him close to her. Alex complains that he had the dream again. Lorna is slightly alarmed because he's been having "the dream" every night since returning from New York. He goes on to say that it gets worse every time. Lorna brings up the fact that everything was fine when he went there. He tells her that that's what he remembers, but deep down inside he knows something is wrong - either with the X-Men or with him. He slams his fist down on the table and proclaims he will find out the truth.
A bit later, Havok is packing a suitcase. He closes it and heads out to leave. He's surprised when he sees Lorna walk over with her own bag. Lorna says she's going with him. Havok tells her he doesn't want her to and after some persistence she backs down. They get into the jeep and buckle up. Lorna mentions to Alex that his flight out of Albuquerque leaves at dawn. Havok's a bit worried about making it to the airport on time, but Lorna has a solution. She levitates the jeep and flies them onward. She reminds Alex to call her if he needs her. Alex tells her not to worry. It's probably just nerves and paranoia and he should be home the next day.
Off in the distance, three shadowed figures watch as the jeep takes off over the mountains. It turns out to be three of the Marauders: Sabretooth, Arclight and Scalphunter. Sabretooth thinks they should attack them both now. Both Arclight and Scalphunter tell him they need to wait because Havok is not their concern. Their next target is Polaris!
Many hours later, Havok's already at Xavier's mansion. It's just as empty as in his dreams. Everything's as it should be except for the wrecked Cerebro. He sits down in the Cerebro chair and notices a journal kept by Magneto. He flips through it and finds an entry marked "Hellfire Club Meeting" and it's for that day. He wonders what Magneto has going on with the X-Men's deadliest enemies.
Back in New Mexico, Scalphunter moves onto a boulder near Alex and Lorna's house. He uses his mutant power to create a new gun. He brings the newly formed weapon to his shoulder and takes aim.
Inside the house, Lorna is sitting at a desk looking at a picture of Alex. Havok's recent actions have made her nervous. She senses something nasty is coming and wishes Alex were still around.
Outside, Scalphunter yells to Arclight and tells her to start the attack. She takes the cue and unleashes a giant shockwave towards the house. Lorna flies backwards out of her chair, while stuff falls to the ground all around her. She wonders how an earthquake could have happened since the house is built on tectonically stable land. Her answer comes when Scalphunter fires his weapon, which demolishes most of the house. Scalphunter very proudly claims that Lorna is dead. Sabretooth tells him he's wrong. He can sense that she's still alive and takes off towards the house.
Manhattan, Havok arrives at the Hellfire Club. An attendee takes his jacket and takes him to the library to meet "Professor Xavier". At first Alex is taken aback by her comment, but then remembers that Magneto has had to use a cover identity; Professor Xavier's older cousin.
Alex walks in and finds Magneto talking to the White Queen. Magneto greets him cordially and Alex responds angrily. The White Queen interjects saying Magneto is the new White King of the Hellfire Club. Magneto confirms what Emma says and tells Havok the X-Men have forged an alliance with the Hellfire Club. He extends his arm for a handshake. Instead, Havok marches over to the White Queen and exclaims his disbelief that the X-Men would have any part of it.
Magneto assures him that it's true and that Storm was a big proponent of the deal. Havok tells him he wants to hear it straight from her. Mags tells him that that won't be possible. Havok grows angrier and asks him why not. Magneto tells him that if he has a message, he can pass it on to the X-Men.
Havok continues his outburst, accusing Magneto of abusing Xavier's trust in him as headmaster. Magneto grabs Alex's arm and warns him that recent times have been dangerous and the fate of the world hangs in the balance. Havok storms out of the room and mocks Magneto one last time. Magneto is left to wonder if people will ever trust him or will his actions in the past condemn him for the rest of his life.
Havok walks down the sidewalk, upset with the way he stormed out of there. He was afraid the White Queen was going to get inside his brain so he had to leave. He wonders if maybe that's what happened to the X-Men. Maybe they're prisoners... or worse. He decides he needs help and walks over to the Avengers mansion, totally forgetting it was recently destroyed. With that plan foiled, he calls Muir Island hoping Moira MacTaggert can help. He gets Callisto instead who tells him the X-Men are in New York and to contact Magneto. Alex asks about Cyclops and she rudely tells him to try the Yellow Pages and hangs up (behind Alex, a bus with an advertisement for X-Factor goes speeding by). Then he tries to call Lorna, but is told by the operator that there's line trouble. Alex chalks this up to life in the desert, turns about and walks back down the sidewalk.
In New Mexico, Sabretooth's on the hunt. As he searches through the wreckage for Lorna, he yells to her that he's going to kill her. He tells her he has her scent and he will soon rip out her heart. Nearby, Lorna is huddled behind a huge rock. She's worried she won't last the night with Sabretooth and his pals running around. However, she's determined to put up a great fight.
Sabretooth finally finds her and rears his head over the rock. He tells her it's time to die, but is suddenly knocked backwards as she magnetically lifts the rock into the air. She lets Sabretooth know that one of the reasons they chose to live there was because of the high iron content in the rocks. Then she manipulates the ground to wrap Sabes up. He tells her that steel can't hold him and manages to break free. He leaps at her, but she takes to the air. He claws her leg before she gets out of his reach. Scalphunter takes aim again and nails her with a light-beam energy pulse, causing her tremendous pain. She lets loose a scream and loses control.
Back in Manhattan, Havok is in costume and sitting up in a tree. He's overlooking the Hellfire Club waiting for Magneto to leave. After a while, Magneto finally steps out of the building. Havok maneuvers through the tree branches and drops to the ground. He follows Magneto down some subway station steps. However, the station is closed and Magneto is nowhere to be found. There's a steel door nearby and Havok thinks Magneto might have used that to disappear. Alex focuses his power on the lock and gains access to the tunnel. He sees Magneto off in the distance on the maintenance walkway. Mags goes through a door and disappears once more. Havok gives chase and finds the door. It won't open, but that's the least of Havok's problems. A train is coming!
Havok leans back as much as he can to avoid getting hit. All the while he wonders if Magneto might push him onto the tracks. As the train is passing, he turns around and uses his powers on the door. He pushes it open and is surprised to find a big drop off on the other side. He falls in the darkness and reaches out for anything. Luckily, his hand hits the ladder and he manages to grab hold. After a short breather, Havok makes his way down the ladder to the bottom of the shaft. When he reaches the bottom he realizes he's in the Morlock tunnels.
Havok wonders why Magneto came down here. He supposes he might be recruiting more mutants for a new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. He notices a light off in the distance and decides to follow it. He observes some scorch marks along the wall. He supposes if anyone were caught in that fire blast, they'd be dead. He reaches the light and is shocked to find no Morlocks. Instead, it's the X-Men (minus Wolverine and Rogue) and the light's coming from Dazzler.
He listens in as Storm talks. She mentions the Morlock Massacre by the Marauders and the loss of Colossus, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat. Havok is totally shocked by the news. She goes on to say that the Marauders hate the X-Men and she thinks they'll go to such lengths as to attack the people they care for. She definitely doesn't want to give up fighting, but also doesn't want to put their friends and family at risk. The only solution she can think of is to make the Marauders think the X-Men are dead. Havok can't believe his ears. He almost believes he's having another nightmare. Behind him, a shadowy figure approaches.
Havok hears Betsy speak next. She wants to know how they can fool the Marauders into thinking they're dead. From behind Havok, the figure gets closer. Havok senses it and instinctively blasts away at the person. Luckily it's Rogue, otherwise the person would have been dead. Havok curses himself for such a rash action. He bolts down the passageway. His recurring nightmare is turning to reality right before his eyes.
Back in New Mexico, Scalphunter and Arclight are searching for Polaris. They're in the middle of a dust storm and have to rely on Scalp's scanners. However, she's throwing off so much energy that the scanners aren't working. Scalphunter's surprised that Lorna is this good. He's confident they'll get her, though, because she's wounded. Suddenly, Sabretooth's flailing body comes flying through a dust cloud and right into Scalphunter, knocking him down. The ground opens up and swallows Arclight up. As she's falling, it closes back up, securing her head above ground and her body below it. She's squeezed so tight she can't trigger a shockwave. With both his teammates out of the fight, Scalphunter knows it's up to him. Unfortunately, his weapon modules take on a life of their own. They start flying about and slamming into him.
In Manhattan, Havok's still on the run. He's looking back at his pursuers and doesn't notice the metal cables coming up out of the ground. He's ensnared, but unleashes a plasma blast and breaks free. Dazzler's hot on his tail and fires a photon light blast at him, hoping to scare him. Instincts take over again and Havok tries to fry Dazz. Luckily, Longshot's there and somersaults her out of the blast's path. Finally, Psylocke gets into Alex's head and tries to talk some sense into him. Havok still isn't sure what to do, but lets the X-Men approach him. He asks them about what happened at the mansion when he visited last. Storm is shocked he remembers and asks Psylocke how it could be. Betsy tells Ororo that Professor X must have taught Havok effective psionic defenses. Havoks upset that they would try such a thing. He brings up the fact that he was an X-Man before any of them and that they had no right to hide secrets from him.
Storm tells him it was for his own protection. Betsy thinks he knows too much. She doesn't want to try another mindwipe and she also doesn't want to let him go where the Marauders can get to him. Storm asks her what their other options are. Betsy tells her there's only one, kill him. Havok's a bit scared by Betsy's words, mostly because Storm actually thinks about it. However, Storm tells her it's not the X-Men's way. Then they fill Havok in on all the events that have happened since the Morlock Massacre. As the horrible stories unfold, Havok comes to a realization: he must do something, lest the world become a horrible place. He reaches out his hand and asks Storm if he can be part of the team. Storm, in turn, looks towards Magneto turning the decision over to him. Magneto tells Havok that the war of mutant against mutant has begun and warns him there will be casualties ahead. He then takes Alex's hand.
Back in New Mexico, the three Marauders have been defeated. Hovering above the ground is a nude Lorna Dane. She mocks her opponents and calls them pathetic. Arclight wants to know what she's going to do with them. Lorna replies, "Lead you, of course! As Mr. Sinister always intended." Sabretooth finally realizes what happened. He notices the skull-choker around Lorna's neck. Malice has possessed her. She tells him he's right and that she did it at the airport when Alex left. She tells them that the fight was a test to see if she could handle Lorna's body. Not only did she pass the test, but she also loves Lorna's psyche. She continues, saying that under Sinister's teachings, she will become the Monarch of the Marauders!
