'These readings... they're strange' Jean Grey a.k.a. Marvel Girl announces as she and her fellow time-displaced original X-Men are within their Blackbird jet. Jean is using the Cerebro helmet and she tells her friends that they are unlike any mutant signal she has encountered before. Scott Summers a.k.a. Cyclops asks Jean if she is suggesting that Cerebro is detecting something new, but Jean replies that she isn't sure. She points out that they will find out soon enough, as they are getting close – she thinks – the signal is glitchy.
Bobby Drake a.k.a. Iceman tells Jean that he wouldn’t say that so loud, as she will hurt the Blackbird's feelings. 'She'll drop us right out of the sky' Bobby remarks. Henry McCoy a.k.a. the Beast tells Bobby that the Blackbird is not going to dump them, and explains that it is Cerebro that Jean is insulting, and that if Cerebro is going to turn against them, it will probably just fry Jean's noodle. Bobby scowls and tells Henry that he has gotten very morbid since he took up magic.
Shortly, the Blackbird descends over the snow-covered Arrow Ridge, in Colorado. The four X-Men emerge from the Blackbird and Cyclops points out that it is cold. 'Big babies' Iceman tells the others. 'Easy for you to say, Iceman' Jean replies, before suggesting that if it is all the same, then they should find this mutant and get back to Madripoor before they all look like human popsicles.
Jean telepathically contacts Warren Worthington III a.k.a. Angel and asks him if he has spotted anything. Warren soars overhead, his wings of cosmic flame glowing, he reports that the trees are obscuring his line of site, and he didn't want to fly too close because of his flame wings. 'Good point' Jean agrees, before instructing Angel to set down and join the rest of them in the land of frozen toes.
Jean informs the others that she will do a psi-sweep. 'Maybe I can pick up -' Jean begins, before the five young mutants see a body, half sunken into the snow ahead of them. They walk towards the body and see blood-soaked snow around it. 'I hope this isn't the mutant we're looking for' Angel calls out. Jean tells him that she doesn't think it is, even though the signal might be weird, the mutant was alive. 'Next question. What killed him?' Cyclops remarks. The Beast crouches over an organ that is laying on the snow nearby and announces that he isn't even sure he's actually dead. 'Whu – is that his heart? Disgusting!' Iceman exclaims as he peers over the Beast's shoulder. Angel tells the Beast that he might need to have his eyes checked. 'Because I could've told you this guy was a corpse before I noticed that his heart's been cut out of his chest. He -' Angel adds, when suddenly, a voice calls out 'I'd listen to your friend... and step away from the body'.
Sheriff Kira Lee holds a flashlight and a weapon towards the X-Men and announces 'I've seen that...thing...take some catastrophic damage and come back for more. There's no telling when it will jump back up and come back to life' she tells the X-Men. Angel reaches out to her, 'Uh...hey. I'm guessing you're the deputy sheriff around here -' he begins, as Kira interrupts him: Sheriff, actually' she tells him. Glancing sideways, Kira remarks that she may be out of her jurisdiction at this point. 'We're the X-Men. I'm Warren... Angel' Warren introduces himself. Kira tells him that she knows who they are, and that she has seen them on TV. 'Your wings -' she begins. 'They're pretty amazing, right?' Angel smiles. 'No. They're causing the snow to melt and drip on us' Kira points out as she shines her torch to the snow-covered trees hanging over them. 'Think you could take a step or two back?' she asks. Kira Lee introduces herself to the X-Men and tells them that she thinks she knows why they are here.
They all stand around the body and Kira asks 'You're looking for him, aren't you? The one who did this. He's one of you... an X-Man' to which Marvel Girl explains that they are looking for a mutant, like them, but that whoever he is, he is not an X-Man. 'Are you sure? Because I've seen him, too, on the news. He's the guy with the claws' Kira remarks. 'Claws?' Cyclops asks, looking at an equally confused Iceman. 'He had claws? This guy... he's older? Like a mean old grandpa?' Marvel Girl asks. 'Yes to the claws. Yes to the mean. No to the grandpa' Kira replies, informing the X-Men that he was young. She adds that she has been tracking him for a few days now, and she thinks he is nearby. She remembers a recent encounter with a Wendigo, and how the mutant with the claws saved her life, and informs the X-Men that he did so.
They turn their attention back to the body in the snow, and Kira reveals that he was some kind of monster, and the mutant they were looking for was hunting for him, trying to stop him. 'I guess he finally succeeded' Kira points out. 'Wendigo' Beast remarks as he looks at the heart again. Kira explains that she had the feeling he was alone and that he needed help, which is why she has been looking for him. 'That's what we want, too. We can help you find him' Marvel Girl offers. 'Sure. Why not?' Kira agrees.
The X-Men start to follow Kira through the snow-covered forest. 'The more the merrier, right?' Kira remarks, while the Beast looks over his shoulder. Jean catches up to Sheriff Lee and explains that she is curious about the man she encountered. She reveals that she is a telepath and tells her that if it was okay, she would like to read her mind. 'I'd prefer if you didn't' Kira replies. Marvel Girl hangs back and lets Kira walk on ahead. 'How could she stop me? How would she even know if I -' Jean thinks to herself, before telling herself to stop it. 'I'm thinking like Magneto. That's not who I am... not who I want to be'.
Cyclops tells Jean to come on, that it is all right, and that they are going to find him. Suddenly, there is a SNIKT sound, and everyone turns around, to see razor sharp claws gleaming in the moonlight. The young man in a green hooded sweater holds his claws up and tells the others that they shouldn't have come after him, but offers to give them one chance to turn around and go back wherever they came from and tell whoever is pulling their strings to leave him alone. 'Is it... really him?' Iceman asks. 'Wolverine?' the Beast remarks. 'I'm not counting to three' the clawed man warns them. Cyclops suggests to Jean that she shut him down and that they can sort everything out after the fact. 'But knock him out before he -' Cyclops begins, interrupted by Jean who assures him that she is way ahead of him.
Kira Lee raises her weapon, while a surprised Jean reports that she can't reach his mind, that he has got some sort of mental blocks.
The clawed individual slashes forward, while Cyclops fires an optic blast that knocks down a tree. 'Blew your chance, Slim!' the clawed man exclaims as he slices the tree to shreds. 'Aw -' Scott begins. 'NO!' Jean screams as she releases a telekinetic pulse that slams the mysterious man back through some trees, where he lands near Iceman and Angel. 'Hey! Hold on! Wait!' Iceman calls out to everyone. 'We know him' Angel announces. 'You know him?' Cyclops asks as Jean helps him to his feet. Angel agrees that he knows him, too, even though he looks a little different. 'We met him before...when we got pulled into that other world' he explains. 'Other world? You went to another world and met Young Man Logan?' Cyclops asks, confused. The Beast tells Cyclops to keep up and informs him that this guy is not Logan. 'He's Wolverine's son' the Beast reports as Jimmy Hudson looks up with wide eyes.
Jimmy Hudson suddenly leaps to his feet and roars. 'Bobby!' Angel calls out, twisting so that his flaming wings swipe between Jimmy and Bobby, who falls backwards, just before Jimmy's claws would have sliced him. 'He... he almost...' Bobby stutters. 'I guess we're not as memorable to him' the Beast points out as he leaps after Jimmy Hudson who starts to flee.
'I'm not going back! I'll kill every dam one of you before I go back!' Jimmy calls out. He rushes towards Cyclops and Marvel Girl. Cyclops fires an optic blast which deflects off Jimmy's claws. 'Did he try to kill you the last time you met?' Cyclops asks 'No. We got along. We fought Dr Doom' Marvel Girl reveals. Suddenly, mere feet from Cyclops and Marvel Girl, Jimmy's body convulses as shots are fired and bullets strike him. Marvel Girl and Cyclops turn to Sheriff Lee, who looks pained, and tells Jimmy that she is sorry, but that he didn't really give her much of a choice.
'Yeah... you didn't give me much choice, either!' a voice booms, as a shadow falls over Jimmy – and a large hulk-sized ice-hand slams Jimmy flat into the snow. 'Oh my...' the Beast begins, wide-eyed. 'You can say it. Now seems like an appropriate time' Angel tells him. '...stars and garters' the Beast finishes his sentence. 'Bobby...' Jena calls out as the X-Men approach the large form of Iceman, who jokes 'Iceman... smash. Heh'.
The Beast crouches beside Jimmy and tells the others that he isn't sure they actually asked when they last met him – they know he has his father's claws, but does he also have his healing factor?' Sheriff Lee adjusts her gun and reports that he can heal – she saw him do it once before.
'You guys, take a second and just look at me! We've finally got a real bruiser on the team!' Iceman jokes in his ice-hulk form. 'Bring on the Juggernaut!' he exclaims. Marvel Girl tells Bobby 'That's great', and asks him to change back to his regular self, as he is kind of weirding her out right now. Bobby emerges from the ice-hulk form, letting the larger ice form break away. 'Whatever you say, boss. As long as everyone remembers it was me who took down Wolverine Jr' Iceman grins. 'With a little help from your bullets' Iceman adds, pointing at Sheriff Lee, who holds up a hand and tells Iceman that it is all right, he can take full credit for this one. She hands Marvel Girl some handcuffs and asks her if she wants to use them. 'Not if I can help it' Jean replies as they gather around Jimmy. Jean reports that he is scared of something – someone – and she doesn't think handcuffing him is going to prove that they are friends.
'Friends?' Iceman asks. 'He tried to cut off my face!' he exclaims. Cyclops puts a finger to his visor and reports that he is with Iceman on this one. 'I don't know if -' Cyclops begins, while Jean crouches down beside Jimmy and calls out his name. 'What did you say?
What did you call me?' the dishevelled Jimmy asks, looking at Jean. Jean stands up, and Scott, Bobby and Hank gather at her sides, while Warren hovers over them. Jean extends a hand to Jimmy and informs him that they are the X-Men, and that they don't want to hurt him. 'We want to help if you'll let us' she explains. Jimmy gets to his feet, and Jean tells him that they should go somewhere, perhaps they can talk. Cyclops points out that the Blackbird is not far, but Jean suggests they go somewhere neutral. 'I think I know a place' Sheriff Lee announces. She adds that it isn't fancy, or even clean, but that it will get the job done.
Soon, they are gathered around a table in the run-down, local bar. Civilians are drinking or playing pool, while Jean informs Jimmy that when he attacked them, he thought that they were trying to take him someplace. 'Where?' she asks. Forlorn, Jimmy replies that he doesn't know – he can't remember. 'Maybe you're talking about your world' Bobby suggests as he shoves some food into his mouth. Bobby adds 'That place was pretty awful, as I recall. Hey – is the other Iceman with you? Is he around somewhere or did you cut him up, too?' 'Bobby-' Jean begins. 'What? It’s a fair question!' Bobby exclaims, before asking why no one in this place is giving them a second glance.
Jean tells the others not to sweat it, explaining that she has tweaked the perceptions of all the other patrons, so they fit in just fine. 'You... tweaked what they're seeing? You can do that?' Sheriff Lee asks, while Bobby resumes shoving food into his mouth.
Jimmy tells the X-Men that he is sorry he tried to hurt them, and reveals that he thinks he may have hurt a lot of people – but wherever he was, the only thing he can remember is pain. Cyclops suggests they take a step back, and announces that Jimmy isn't the only one who is confused by all this talk of another world. 'Someone want to take a stab at explaining it to me?' he asks. Jean informs Cyclops that it was when he was off in space with his father that they met a young mutant who could move between worlds – between parallel dimensions. Images flash through Jean's memory as she tells Cyclops that they ended up in a world with its own X-Men, a world with heroes, too, sort of like this world's but not exactly the same, and Jimmy was there, along with alternate reality versions of herself and Bobby. Everyone falls silent as Angel announces that the other version of him was dead.
Jimmy puts a hand to his head and tells the X-Men that he is sorry, he doesn't remember any of it. 'We'll figure this out' Jean tells Jimmy, putting a hand on his. She then tells Jimmy that she hopes he realizes they are friends, and suggests that if he comes with them, they might be able to help him. Before Jimmy gets a chance to respond, there is a rumbling, and metal objects within the bar begin to float around. 'What the hell? What's happening?' Sheriff Lee calls out. 'That would be me' a voice announces as four new arrivals appear – Pietro Lensherr a.k.a. Quicksilver, Hisako Ichiki a.k.a. Armor, Derek Morgan a.k.a. the Guardian and Nomi Blume a.k.a. Mach-II who announces that they are here for their companion – and they never leave a man behind. They are the New Marauders – and they are not from this universe!
