'Daken? What do you think you're doing?' the time-displaced Scott Summers a.k.a. Cyclops calls out within a forest in California, where he and his teammates – Bobby Drake a.k.a. Iceman, Warren Worthington a.k.a. Angel, Hank McCoy a.k.a. Beast and Jean Grey a.k.a. Marvel Girl, along with Bloodstorm – have been fighting Jimmy Hudson. 'Call it an assassination, Cyclops. Call it a mercy killing. Call it sibling rivalry. The end result's the same... Jimmy Hudson dies today' Daken declares as he stands over Jimmy Hudson holding two swords, as Jimmy has keeled over onto the ground – but something emerges from the gaping wound on his chest.
'D-don't call me that. That's not my name. Not anymore. Poison. I'm the last Poison' Jimmy utters as his eyes go wide. Daken aims his swords at Jimmy and tells him that in a few seconds it won't matter what he calls him. 'Unless, of course, someone springs for a tombstone' he jokes.
Suddenly: 'Stay back! We're not going to let you hurt him!' Angel shouts as he flies towards Daken, blasting him with cosmic flame that flows forward from his wings. 'You... stubborn damn kids' Daken mutters, his jacket burnt. 'Jimmy Hudson died when the Poisons took him. Who... do you think that is?' Daken asks. 'He's an X-Man!' Cyclops exclaims as he blasts Daken right in the head with an optic blast.
Bloodstorm then flies down and pulls Daken into the air. She tells him that she is sorry about this, and remarks that Jimmy Hudson struggles against a terrible darkness, which is something she understands, and is something she intends to help him face. Bloodstorm warns Daken to stand down, or she will be forced to show him her inner darkness – she then hurls him against a tree, where he lands with his back against the trunk, a hideous KRACK noise is heard.
Daken falls onto the grass. 'Yeah, what she said!' Iceman calls out, before adding that he doesn't have a dark side, but that Beast totally does. 'Bobby -' Hank begins. 'Well, you do!' Bobby exclaims.
Cyclops turns to Jean, who has recovered from being knocked out by Jimmy earlier, and asks her if she is okay. 'He didn't hurt you too badly, did he?' Scott asks. 'Scott -' Jean begins, alerting him to the fact that Jimmy, now transformed into the Symbiote/Poison combination being known as Poison, is getting away. Daken gets to his feet and points one of his swords upwards, 'A guy like that... he's going to do a lot of damage before someone stops him' Daken calls out. 'I can catch him!' Angel announces, but before he takes flight, the Beast tells him to wait, as he doesn't think any of them should go after Jimmy alone. 'Good advice. Leave my brother to those who can handle him effectively' Daken declares. 'You mean – youre gonna kill him' Iceman snaps.
Daken grins at Bobby and tells him not to go changing, as that adorable, dim-witted doofiness will serve him well in life. Marvel Girl rushes over to Daken and asks him what this is all about, and whether Magneto really sent him after Jimmy. 'Tell us why he'd do something like that' she asks. 'Make me' Daken grins. 'If you insist' Jean mutters as she attempts to enter Daken's mind with her psychic powers. 'Jean...maybe we should -' Cyclops begins, before Jean is overcome by a psychic backlash, she screams, and the backlash ripples through the other X-Men, knocking them to the ground. Bobby looks up and sees Daken moving towards a denser part of the forest, while Jean steadies herself and apologizes to her teammates, explaining that Daken had some sort of psi-defense training, and turned her own powers against her. 'Guys, did you see where he went?' Bobby asks the others.
Meanwhile, Poison runs through the dense forest. 'Fools! Damn fools! I know what they really want! I won't let them destroy me! I won’t let them destroy the Poisons!' he thinks to himself. Jimmy struggles to break through from the Symbiote/Poison, 'If they kill me... they destroy some of the last remnants... of two universes...' he utters, before breaking free. 'No. Not me. Not us. Not without one helluva fight' Jimmy vows.
He carries on through the forest, remembering Miss Sinister, and Mach-2, before coming to a halt. 'You know I have Wolverine's senses, right?' Jimmy calls out to Daken, who is perched in a tree nearby. Jimmy remembers fighting alongside the time-displaced X-Men, before letting the Symbiote/Poison take over, 'I knew you were behind me long before you even knew' Jimmy snarls, unsheathing his claws. 'So – let's finish this!' Jimmy calls out as he tosses his claw-like tentacles towards Daken, who dodges the attack.
Daken flips backwards onto the ground, 'You must be so confused. Unsure what you are. Are you a mutant? A Poison?' Daken asks. 'Do you belong in your universe? In this one? In whatever universe the Poisons came from in the first place?'
Poison lashes out with the tentacles again, but Daken continues to evade their touch. 'I have an answer for you. It won't help you figure out who you are... but it will put an end to your suffering' Daken remarks as he leaps towards Poison and slices his swords against Poison's shoulders. Daken quickly leaps away from Poison and tells him that his vampiric friend said she knows what it is like to struggle with darkness, that she acted like he wouldn't understand. 'But I do... and it's not something -' Daken begins, before two of Poison's tentacles wrap around his wrists and yank him upwards, causing him to drop his swords as Poison hurls Daken into the top of a tree – head first, he rips Daken down through the tree.
As Daken lands on the grass he looks most unhappy, and Posion tells him that he knows what he is trying to do. 'Using your pheromones. Trying to make me feel weakness... defeat... sadness...' Poison boasts that those powers don't work on him, and even if they did, becoming a Poison means casting aside all weakness, all fear. 'We'll see' Daken smiles through blood-covered teeth as he pops his claws and tears the tentacles wrapped around his wrists. Daken rushes forward, his claws slice across Poison's face. Poison retaliates by gutting Daken, who responds by shoving both claws into Poison's stomach. Blood flows freely, before Poison wraps a tentacle around Daken's neck, although Daken cuts his way free once more. They both lunge at each other, but Poison gets the upper hand and knocks Daken backwards. Daken hits the ground, landing near where his swords lay. He picks one sword up, but Poison has already grabbed the other sword, and as Daken lunges at him, he shoves the sword through Daken's stomach.
Daken retaliates by hurling the sword at Poison – striking him in the neck, the sword causes Poison to drop to the ground, gasping. Daken lands on the ground with a thud, and Poison struggles to pull the sword from his neck, while Daken growls as he removes the sword from his own stomach. 'Is that...all...you've got?' Daken asks wearily as he stands up and prepares to confront Poison once more. Poison responds by unsheathing his claws, and once again, they rush towards each other, when suddenly, 'That's enough!' a voice cries out – it's Iceman, who quickly encases both Daken and Poison in ice before they can strike each other. 'Iceman saves the day. Again' Bobby remarks, while Poison starts to revert to his true appearance, and Jimmy shouts 'You can't hold me! I'm stronger than I was before! So much stronger!' as he pops his claws and cuts through the ice. Bobby smiles and snaps his fingers, 'Nice try, Jimmy. But I don't think so' Bobby tells him, as he rapidly encases Jimmy in ice once more.
Marvel Girl goes over to Poison and remarks that is nice that everyone knows where they stand. She suggests to Poison that the two of them have a word. 'That thing is not your friend, Jean. It's vicious and violent and alone! It's more dangerous than you can imagine' Daken calls out. Jean frowns and tells Daken to be quiet, that they will deal with him later. Poison tells Jean that she should listen to Daken, as he is right about him. 'You look at me, and you see your teammate... but that's only because it's what you want to see' Jimmy tells Jean, who replies 'I don't believe that'. Jean puts a hand to Jimmy's head and Cyclops asks her what she is doing. 'It's all right, Scott. I've got this' Jean assures him as she forms a psychic link with Jimmy. Jean then turns to Bobby and asks him to let Jimmy go. 'What? Are you sure? I mean...he did just try to kill you' Bobby exclaims, as Scott tells Jean that this isn't a good idea.
'It's my call, Scott. Out of all of us, I know what he's going through' Marvel Girl declares, adding 'He's Jimmy. He's still Jimmy'. Bobby retracts the ice around Jimmy, freeing him, Jimmy falls to the grass, and looks up at Jean. 'You wanna take a walk?' Jean asks. Jimmy pauses, before replying 'Sure' and walking off into the bushes, next to Jean, while Scott watches and clenches his fists.
Deeper into the forest, Jimmy tells Jean that there are all these thoughts, memories running through his head. 'Up until I was... taken... I couldn't remember anything. Now, it's all coming back, but it's like, I don't know...like my life flashing before my eyes. Only it's more than one life' Jimmy tries to explain to Jean, before asking her 'What am I?' Jean closes her eyes and informs Jimmy that when the Poison hive took her, she felt like she was drowning in her memories, in the will of the hive itself, and she had to fight to hold onto some little shred of the person she was. They carry on through the forest and Jean explains that she stitched herself back together using telekinesis and whatever genetic matter was left over inside the Poison armor that surrounded her. 'I'm not sure what you are, Jimmy... but I know you're my friend' Jean assures Jimmy, taking his hands. Jean informs him that she is not going to hold him prisoner – she is not going to hunt him down. 'You're a good person, and if you need some space to help you figure that out... then take all the space you need'. Jimmy doesn't answer as he lumbers off deeper into the forest, and Jean watches him leave.
Back in the clearing, Jean walks past Daken who is still frozen in the ice. 'That was stupid. You realize that, right? He's not Jimmy Hudson anymore. He's something worse... something that's going to hurt people' Daken exclaims.
'Tell me about Magneto' Jean asks. 'Heh. Make me' Daken grins back. Jean wags her finger at Daken and tells him that she is not playing that game again. 'Bobby -' Jean begins, to which Bobby tells Daken not to make him uuse his ice to crush the life out of him. 'I'll ruin my rep as a loveable doof' Bobby jokes. Daken grins wickedly and wonders if maybe Magneto is wrong about these X-Men – maybe they do have what it takes when it comes time to play hardball – perhaps they learned something from him after all. 'At least... when it doesn't involve your pet Wolverine' he jokes.
Jean asks Daken what Magneto is playing at, but Daken, still trapped in the ice, tells her that Magneto is done playing, what with them leaving him high and dry, Mothervine, the Poisons – the old guy has run out of patience. 'He just wanted me to deal with Jimmy-boy while he tackled bigger targets' Daken reveals, announcing that Magneto is taking the fight straight to anyone he feels is a danger to mutants, and the X-Men look shocked as Daken declares that Magneto's first target for the chopping block is the White Queen!
