An underground SHIELD interrogation bunker, location unknown:
SHIELD Director Maria Hill, followed by Nick Fury Jr. and another agent in civilian clothing, is led there. He just showed up out of nowhere? she asks The “civilian” agent tells her she knows what he knows. She looks at a high security door. Is he in there? Have they taken the necessary precautions? she insists and is told yes. She still doesn’t like this. This guy ever do anything like that before? Fury asks. Nope, he is told. Before Hill enters the room where the other person, a bald man, sits patiently, she instructs the guard to hit the red button if he tries anything. The place will gas.
She enters the room. He asked for her, she states. Specifically. He agrees. Why? Because she has no personal… she has no dog in this fight, as the saying goes. What fight? Hill asks. There is a mutant revolution being planned and executed right on American soil, the man explains. He doesn’t think anybody wants that. He doesn’t think the people she works for want that.
What does he want form her exactly? He asks her to listen and decide for herself if what he says is true. He spits out a coin-like device that was hidden in his mouth and puts it on the desk, announcing he comes bearing gifts. Hill swears. Outside an agent accuses another. He said he checked him!
The man assures Hill he isn’t here to hurt her. He has to imagine that his reputation precedes him. He thinks she knows him well enough to know that if he was there to hurt her, there are smarter ways for him to go about doing it.
What is it? she asks. Information, he tells her and presses a button on the disk. A hologram map appears, showing lights. This is the state of mutant, he announces. Each dot represents a new mutant that has popped up. That many? Hill exclaims. They’re popping up all over the world. And he knows this--? He thinks she knows that his intel on this is solid.
What kind of numbers are they talking about? Hill asks. It’s not the numbers she has to worry about. It’s the power levels. It’s about a potential revolution. And those numbers are very real and very scary for them.
And the X-Men? Hill asks. The X-Men… he repeats. She only has one X-Man to worry about. Scott Summers. Aka Cyclops. Aka the self-appointed face of the new mutant revolution. But people hate him Hill protests. No, you people hate him, he replies. People on the street love him. Summers is rescuing people all over the world. He has dedicated his life to it and he seems to be everywhere. He is gleefully defying authority at every turn. He is a voice of hope and strength to a large number of people who don’t think they have any. He is talking revolution and freedom at every cost. And people are listening.
But the reason that Scott Summers is so popular is that they don’t know the real him. They don’t know what he’s capable of. They don’t know that he is a monster.
Hill admits the numbers are interesting but accuses the man of not telling them anything they don’t know. She is about to leave, when the man reveals that his powers don’t work anymore.
All the SHIELD agents turn around. What does that mean? Hill asks. Cyclops’ powers are not in his control. They’re broken. They broke during the Phoenix debacle. He’s hiding this… trying to retrain himself before anyone discovers his dirty secret.
Hill points out that it’s his word against common sense. Did she see what happened in San Diego yesterday? he asks. No, she admits.
Flashback:
With poink noises, small golden balls emit from the body of Fabio Medina – a young, slightly overweight man – and spin people around. He shouts for help, having no idea what is happening to him. Two cops attack. One wrestles and puts handcuffs on Fabio. He protests he didn’t do anything. A guy was trying to rob him! More balls appear. One of the cops tasers him.
As Fabio falls to the ground, they wonder about the balls popping out of him. And now they are gone. It’s his first mutant, one of them states. This is what this is, right?
Yes, a new voice announces, and that mutant has rights. Everyone on the plaza turns around to see Cyclops, Magik, Magneto, Emma Frost and their new students, Eva Bell aka Tempus, and the healer Christopher Muse. And they have the right to get their damn hands off him! Cyclops orders.
The panicked cops call dispatch. They have a code 47. Don’t they all, Magneto agrees. With a gesture of his hand, metal starts levitating. Emma order Eva act. She creates a time bubble around the cops, freezing them.
Cyclops introduces himself to Fabio and offers help. Fabio asks what is happening to him. Magneto suddenly warns they should leave. Don’t they feel it?
Immediately, a group of giant Sentinels attack, the new kind. How did they find them? Eva asks frightened. They are being hunted, Cyclops states. Emma reminds him he’s the one talking trash on TV, daring them to come after them.
Cyclops orders Magik to take the students back to school. This is too much for them. Christopher protests that as a healer he can help. And she’s kinda go her hands full, Magik points out.
Attacking a Sentinel, Magneto chides them to listen to Scott. The old him could have balled these puppies into a pinball, Emma observes. Magneto orders her to be quiet as he does his best with the limited powers he has.
Emma asks Scott what the plan is. Improvise, he replies. Magneto levitates whatever small objects he can and fires them as weapons against the Sentinels. However, the exertion causes him pain.
Magik jumps onto one Sentinel’s shoulder and slices his head apart with her new giant sword.
Christopher heals Magneto, who thanks him. Scott repeats his order to get the students out, then fires his optic blasts with all his strength.
Present:
Hill protests that he said Cyclops’ powers were broken. They are. He has no control over them. What he is describing is a lucky shot. Cyclops hit the Sentinels with everything he had but had no idea he was doing it until he was done. He could have easily killed everyone present. Humans and mutants alike.
Narration:
That felt good, Cyclops admits. She has to say it looked good, Tempus adds as they look at the destroyed Sentinels. Did she know her boyfriend could unleash hell like that now? Magik asks Emma. Scott is winded and needs to be supported. Emma asks Illyana to take them home.
Fabio is nervous about going with them. They’re going somewhere cool, Tempus promises and Magneto adds there is no place for him here now. Magik teleports them away and some girls gush how cool this was.
Present:
They are trying to kill Scott Summers? That’s their plan? The man asks. Do that and they’ll turn him into a martyr. No one’s trying to kill anybody! Hill retorts. Sentinels don’t grow on trees, he snorts. She promises they will investigate who was behind that attack. Will they? he mocks. He refuses to believe that and repeats his suggestion they mustn’t martyr Summers.
What they need to do is reveal him. He is a broken man. Spiritually. Physically. They need to show that to the world. What he should be doing is healing, retraining himself. He should be pulling himself together outside the public eye. He should be in jail… But he’s arrogant. And he thinks if he can personally save every mutant he can find, then perhaps God will forgive him all his sins.
Okay, Hill agrees, what does he want from her? “Why are you here… Magneto!”
The master of Magnetism smiles slightly. Charles Xavier and he rarely saw eye to eye but they shared a dream. And Scott Summers murdered Charles Xavier right in front of him. While at the same time he destroyed Magneto’s powers, his mutant birthright. So he’s forced to live the rest of his life a pale reflection of his former self.
Scott Summers is not the face of the mutant race! He is not the face of the future! He is a murdering monster! They need to get Scott Summers to reveal himself to the world. They need him to self-destruct in public. It won’t take much and it won’t take long, and he’s here to help them make this happen…
