Vulcann and his protégé, Darkson, arrive, carrying the defeated La Lunática in their arms. Vulcann proudly announces that the age of the X-Men is over! Vulcann orders Joachim to toss Luna back over to her teammates, as a he has no use for any of Brimstone Love’s cursed progeny.
The Darkson does as told, and lowers Luna to the ground, cradled in a telekinetic cushion, which is a far gentler use of his powers compared to the telekinetic blast he used to bring her down. Krystalin helps Luna up and asks where Tim is. Luna, almost out of breath, sadly informs Krys that Vulcann and Darkson killed Tim, blew him into a thousand pieces.
Krystalin becomes angry hearing that and throws crystal spikes at her enemies. Vulcann commands Joachim to protect them, and he creates a protective force field around them and the spikes bounce off. Victor thinks that Joachim must be at least an alpha classed psychic. That would make him as powerful as Master Zhao. Bloodhawk isn’t impressed, but Krystalin doesn’t want to take any risks and tells Sham and Quiver to bring Luna into safety.
Bloodhawk tries to strike Darkson, but he unleashes a psychic blast and brings Bloodhawk down. Quiver hesitates, but Sham pushes him into a hurry so that they can get Luna into safety. Quiver is worried that they are all doomed. Vulcann has had enough of the individual fighting and commands Darkson to finish the X-Men off.
Under a brutal telepathic assault, the X-Men and their friends all fall down. Book shows up, moving himself around in a floating chair. Book congratulates Vulcann on his work on the boy and is certain that Essex and the Sharper’s Guild would have been jealous.
Vulcann wants to know how Book knows about Essex and the Guild. Book says that he knows everything. Vulcann knows that the X-Men rescued Book and asks the mutant if his loyalties lie with them. Book claims that the X-Men were simply the fastest way to get to Halo City. He claims to have only come to them to absorb their Archive’s knowledge before it got to waste.
Book asks Vulcann if he is aware that Joachim is not the mutant messiah like he thinks the boy is. Vulcann knows that might not be true, but with Joachim’s powers he was the most likely candidate. And Vulcann is just interested in Darkson’s powers, so that he can use them for his own plans.
Above the city, a pulsating mass of energy coalesces, which is somehow drawn to the conflict below. Slowly, conscious thought dawns within this energy, a fragmented sense of self that is startled at the presence of another creature like itself! The other energy ball realizes the confusion of her partner, and transforms into a more familiar form: that of Reiko!
Meanwhile in the Data District, Xi’an, Shakti and Nostromo try to escape out of a blocked hallway. More water floats into the halls and lead them underground. Shakti remembers that some of those tunnels should be waterproof. She and Xi’an try to lock the doors behind them manually, but the doors are pretty strong so they have to push hard.
Xi’an is concerned about Nostromo, who isn’t handling the loss of his teammates very well. Nostromo hears voices in his head and freaks out. Shakti tries to bring the boy to his senses, but Nostromo claims to hear alien voices in his head. He fears that he is losing his mind.
Unnoticed by Vulcann, a hulking figure takes position on a catwalk above him. A pile driver of living metal, Eddie Beethoven-Osako dives down to the mutant shaper! Eddie pushes the villain real hard, but he recovers faster than expected and grabs Metalhead by his throat. Eddie wants to know what Vulcann did with Rosa, but he doesn’t want to tell. The Bloodsmith just wants to kill Metalhead.
Rosa jumps out of the shadows and wants to protect the man she loves from getting harmed. Rosa regrets that she stayed in the shadows while she watched Vulcann defeating the X-Men, but she can’t let the same thing happening to Eddie. Rosa tells Vulcann that he has won, and has her son. But she wants Eddie back. Vulcann agrees and tosses Metalhead to Rosa. Vulcann tries to make Rosa understand that he is going to change the world in the best way possible. He even gives people the free choice to join him.
Vulcann is confident that if Rosa lets him train the boy, everyone will be more than willing to die for him once they’ve seen what he is capable off. But for now, all that Vulcann asks of the people is to follow them to higher ground, to his fortress in the heart of Mount Rainier’s dormant volcano.
There, he will melt the mutants of Halo City into an army for the new world. The tied-up X-Men against a boat all of them agree that Vulcann is crazy. Everyone follows Vulcann, and take a last look at once was Halo City.
Meanwhile, far beneath the waterlogged city, Shakti has brought Xi’an and Nostromo to one of Doom’s former secret labs. Shakti recalls how she first came here when Doom told her about the “mutant messiah.”
Nostromo gets upset when he hears that Shakti only came to the shelter because Doom told her, and thinks that Shakti never cared about any of them. Shakti tries to explain to Nostromo that she wanted to teach him and the others how to protect themselves. And she knows that she failed at that.
But Shakti doesn’t want to fail now. Shakti reveals that Doom gave her the access key to a teleporter unit. All they have to do now is locate the other X-Men by the signal beacons in their badges, and they will be out of there! Nostromo doesn’t like it here and knows that they aren’t alone.
Xi’an doesn’t believe that, but Shakti feels a presence as well. Could it be Tim? Shakti and the others don’t realize that Tim’s spiritual form is watching over them from outside of the shelter. Disoriented and frightened by his reawakening sense of self, he rockets back towards the radiant figure that was patiently waiting for him.
Tim remembers who he is. He asks Reiko if that means that he died a second time. Reiko tells Tim that he never died. She says that Tim was unaware that he was slowly mutating into a being of pure and living energy. That is why he alone of all the Graverobber’s Undead minions survived. Tim’s physical body had become baggage that he was holding onto out of habit. The charge ended when Vulcann irrevocably destroyed Tim’s Earthly body. Reiko tells Tim to rejoice, because he is no longer confined by physical limitations.
Tim thought that he was talking to his dead girlfriend, but now suspects that he isn’t and asks if that is true. “Reiko” confirms his suspicions, and admits that it was easier to make Tim believe that the first time he disconnected from his body. Reiko claims that she wanted to tell him the truth then, but Tim was still too tied to the mundane world. Reiko promises that there are others like them, and they are waiting for them.
Tim asks what he must do about his friends and the city. Reiko tells Tim to leave them behind, as his destiny lies elsewhere. Tim agrees and flies away together with Reiko.
In the New Pacific channel, aboard a solar powered schooner, the glitter of a teleportation field announces the arrival of Shakti, Xi’an and Nostromo. The X-Men tell their friends to untie them, but their cable restraints won’t budge.
The X-Men fill Xi’an and the others in on what happened, but get an unexpected sight in front of them: an Atlantean warship! The warship brings the schooner back with it into the ocean, and Xi’an uses his powers to untie the X-Men, who find themselves able to breathe underwater.
Meanwhile, further deep down in Atlantis, the warriors are attacked by Vulcann and Darkson. Vulcann fakes that they are harming Darkson’s people, so he attacks the Atlantean warriors with a fully charged psionic blast! Rosa can’t believe what her son is capable of.
The X-Men swim back up and grab some of the ship’s wreckages to hold onto. Quiver is nowhere to be seen. Xi’an asks Shakti to find out, and she knows that he is still alive, as are their enemies.
Vulcann hears a noise and tries to find out what it is. It’s Bloodhawk, and he puts Vulcann into chains! At Bloodhawk’s signal, Eddie dives towards the ocean floor, with Vulcann struggling in tow. Metalhead secures the chain onto a rock outcropping, and leaves the Bloodsmith to the ocean’s mercies!
Darkson cries out to his master. Rosa tries to bring her son back to his senses, but Joachim knocks his mother out.
Suddenly, a green energy form appears in front of the boy. It’s Tim, and he tells Joachim that he has hurt his mother. Joachim begins to remember it all, and Tim uses the confusion to make his move.
He tabs into the ambient energy of the storm around him, and channels the force into Joachim and shocks him into unconsciousness. Some time later, the X-Men have found an Atlanteam Armada ship and claimed it their own.
Tim meets up with Luna. He says that it took him some time to find out how to gain a form and weight, but he came back for her. Luna is speechless.
Krystalin doesn’t know what to think of their victory, since they have lost so much. Including Meanstreak. Victor is glad that at least they are still alive.
Rosa doesn’t know what she is going to with Joachim, but Eddie promises that he will help where he can. But he knows that, most of all, Joachim needs his mother.
Sham and Quiver reunite and are also glad to be still alive. Nostromo sits alone in the corner, and a voice in his head promises Nostromo that he will soon fulfill the destiny of the Collective.
Bloodhawk asks Shakti and Xi’an where they are going to lead their people. Shakti explains that they have used Doom’s board computer to determine the best possible relocation site. “Heads up, X-Men. We’re headed for… the Savage Land!”
