He knows Xavier wasn’t with the Illuminati when they decided to exile him in space, the Hulk states. But if he had been, how would he have judged?
Xavier says nothing. A little hint, Emma Frost telepathically suggests. “No.” He knows what he is doing, Xavier sends back. Two seconds, the Hulk warns him.
Addressing the Hulk as Bruce, Xavier replies he doesn’t intent to dodge the question. But, at the moment, all the past’s mistakes seem to come back to him. He made decisions he believed to be for the good of all. He knows now that was wrong because he made them alone, believing arrogantly to know best. He wants to be honest. He would have agreed to exile… for a limited time. For as long as it would have taken them to cure him. He is right. Xavier played god and there is no excuse for that. But he is ready to pay for that.
Very smart, the Hulk commends him. Stark and the others will soon join him. He reaches for Xavier, only for Colossus to swat his arm away. The professor may have surrendered, they have not. All the members of Cyclops’ handpicked team are standing in front of Xavier who asks Emma to stop blocking his powers.
Is that what they really want? the Hulk asks. All of them? Cyclops looks at Xavier for a moment. All of them, he announces. Good, the Hulk replies and the fight begins over Xavier’s protest.
Cyclops warns the others back as he turns on his optic blast at full strength. He doesn’t deserve anything else, Xavier protests. Maybe, Scott replies but that’s not the point.
The Hulk moves towards Cyclops against the blast and finally grabs him. Shadowcat immediately reacts and phases Scott out of the Hulk’s grip.
Next, Wolverine attacks with his claws and the Hulk tosses him into the trees.
While Colossus and the Beast try to distract the Hulk, Emma shoves Xavier aside, informing him she’s going to join the fight, but the Stepford Cuckoos are going to keep an eye on him and mentally lock him, if necessary. He should stop playing martyr and do something useful like help Elixir with the wounded. Reluctantly, Xavier agrees as he drags aside the injured Cyclops, but adds this is madness.
Emma turns to her diamond form and joins the attack, as unsuccessfully as the rest. Even Lockheed now breathes fire at the Hulk. Shadowcat then drags the Hulk partially into the ground and then lets got, meaning he materializes within the ground. Actually, she is rather disgusted at what she just did, crippling a man, but she adds, he is still dangerous.
Colossus suggest to imprison him somewhere. There’s a prison in the Negative Zone, Emma recalls and suggests calling Stark. Or Richards? Hank asks.
Suddenly, they hear a ripping noise and look around to find the Hulk has just freed himself. Or you can all go to hell, he suggests. He claps his hands together, the thunderclap leveling them all.
Pixie watches the battle from the air and then flies back to the grounds outside to inform the other kids, telling them Miss Pryde is unconscious. They ought to help, Anole insists while Prodigy reminds them they should do what Dr. McCoy told them to. More’s at stake and they wouldn’t be much use anyway. Not in a fight, the three Stepford Cuckoos agree, but in another way. They telepathically call all X-teams available, the members of X-Factor in Mutant Town, another team of X-Men (namely Nightcrawler, Warpath, Hepzibah and Darwin) who are in an X-jet somewhere over Connecticut and even new Excalibur in London, who wonder how they can help as they are too far away.
The Juggernaut runs upstairs to his room. What is he doing? Captain Britain asks. Dazzler holds him back, telling him it must be hard for Cain. She reminds him that despite their troubles, Xavier is still Cain’s brother.
Within his room Cain looks at the jewel of Cyttorak, addressing it. He knows Cyttorak can hear him through the gem. He weakened Cain because he isn’t following his orders anymore. No more destruction and death. He takes up the gem. He has a suggestion. Send Cain where the Hulk is and Cyttorak’ll get his will. A dimensional gate opens and a red pathway forms in front of Cain…
Back at Xavier’s, the Hulk is still battling Emma, Colossus and the Beast, telling them it’s their own fault. He would have been content with Xavier. But now it’s all their turns.
Xavier asks Elixir how he is while the boy heals Beast. Elixir admits he’s almost exhausted his powers. Xavier suggests he should only stabilize the wounded; Xavier will then help them in the Infirmary. He fears things are going to get worse.
They think they are very smart, right? the Hulk rants. Take a good look. He rams Emma into the ground, figuring that once she changes back, she will be vulnerable. Let’s see what happens then.
Colossus hits him and promises to help Emma, once he’s beaten the Hulk. Wrestling him, the Hulk admits Colossus has courage. In the past he may have been a serious foe, but that time is over.
He manages to wrestle him to the ground and breaks the Russian’s arms. Now he is merely a victim. The Hulk tells him to leave before he’ll kill him. Colossus refuses to give up.
Wolverine jumps at the Hulk, ordering him to leave the others alone. At the end, it would be down to the two of them anyway.
The Hulk warns him, this isn’t one of their usual fights. This time it’s different. Yeah your skin is tougher, Logan replies unimpressed as he tries to slice across his chest. But there are softer parts. He slices across the Hulk’s eyes as X-23 did before. Which suits what the Hulk was expecting. He grabs Wolverine, telling him his eyes will heal. He doesn’t have the time to kill him but he can take him out.
He keeps on hitting Wolverine’s head, trying to damage his brain again and again. Exhausted and bleeding, Wolverine sinks down. Only for the Hulk to face the Juggernaut (in civvies) the next moment.
The Hulk holds his own, noting the Juggernaut seems weaker. In fact, he quickly manages to strike Cain down. Was that all? he asks. “No,” comes the reply, they are a big family. Nightcrawler’s team and X-Factor have arrived.
