Muir Island, Scotland, where four mutants - Kurt “Nightcrawler” Wagner, Betsy “Psylocke” Braddock, Paige “Husk” Guthrie and the recently resurrected Irene “Destiny” Adler - possessed by Proteus, gaze upwards to the sky, where a small chunk of Muir Island hovers in orbit. Behind the possessed mutants, Rogue calls out to Hope “Trance” Abbott, who exclaims that she is okay, but her head hurts, like someone slammed a door on it a hundred times. ‘But you’re free’ Rogue exclaims, telling Trance that Betsy’s psi-knife broke Proteus’ hold, cutting him right out of her. ‘That means we’ve got a chance here. Might be a slim one. But Ah’ll take long odds over no odds any day of the week!’ Rogue exclaims as she uses the psi-knife she absorbed when she touched Betsy earlier, and shoves it through the unsuspecting Psylocke’s stomach.
Up on the small chunk of Muir Island floating in Earth’s orbit, Ruth Aldine is also possessed by Proteus. ‘You’re dying, old man. The lead in your blood is poisoning your brain. Otherwise you’d see how futile this is’ Proteus tells Magneto, who is keeled over several feet away. ‘Is that what you see, Proteus?’ Magneto asks. ‘Knowing how Blindfold’s power works, I’d imagine it’s pretty noisy inside your head right now. Many different visions. Many different futures’ Magneto declares. Proteus quickly replies that he sees himself in all of them. ‘Crushing you. Breaking you to my will!’ he boasts. ‘Then by all means - break me!’ Magneto goads Proteus, his eyes glowing. Proteus, through Blindfold, of course, steps forward, only to be blocked by Magneto’s power. ‘Stale bravado. Empty sleight of hand. You bore me, Magneto’ Proteus exclaims, before attempting to possess Magneto, exclaiming ‘When you’re me - you’ll be a lot less irritating!’
Back down on Muir Island, Destiny raises her hands in self-defense, as Proteus exclaims, through her, ‘Rogue! You can’t do this! Not to your own -’, but Rogue kicks Destiny in the head, ‘You tried that one already, Proteus! Call this tough love!’ she exclaims. Suddenly, the possessed Nightcrawler teleports above Rogue and drops down on her: ‘I think I’ll call it a victory over your own better nature. Too late, though. And too slow!’ Proteus exclaims. Rogue spins around to punch Nightcrawler, but he has already teleported away - and then teleports straight back at her. Rogue punches, but misses. ‘We used to play this game a lot, Kurt. Seems like a long time ago, now’ she exclaims.
Nightcrawler teleports above Rogue, who tells him that he was so much quicker than her, there and gone before she could blink. ‘So Ah always had to fake you out!’ she exclaims, pretending to stumble, as Nightcrawler appears over her, before Rogue spins around and attacks him with the psi-knife. Suddenly, ‘And then there was one, Rogue!’ Proteus exclaims through Husk, who has shed her skin into molten lava. ‘But, of course, there always was just the one of me. I don’t approve of this power. It’s unpredictable and irksome’ Proteus exclaims, before engulfing Rogue in a burst of lava. ‘Still - I’m sure it will be fit for purpose’ Proteus adds.
Back in orbit, Magneto holds his ground, keeping Proteus from moving towards him. ‘Not as easy as you thought, is it?’ he remarks. ‘How? How are you resisting me? Everybody else surrendered at the first touch!’ Proteus exclaims. ‘Perhaps - they lacked the necessary - perspective!’ Magneto declares. ‘You’re throwing up a shield against me. How?’ Proteus demands. ‘You’re made out of energy. Close enough to the electro-magnetic spectrum - for me to recognize and adapt!’ Magneto exclaims. ‘Yes. I see. Poor Magneto. I’d have said you were the last mutant likely to suffer from a failure of imagination’ Proteus mocks.
Proteus is surrounded by energy as he declares that possession isn’t his power, it is just how he feeds. ‘My power is to punch my first through the ribs of reality and rip out its smoking heart!’ Proteus snarls. ‘Yes, you played your best card. Took the earth from under my feet. But distance - and direction - are two of my favourite toys!’ Proteus declares as he uses his power to hurl the small chunk of land back down to Earth.
At that moment: ‘Damn it, Paige, Ah’m not trying to hurt you!’ Rogue exclaims. ‘Ah just want to drive that monster out of you!’ Husk smacks Rogue hard in the face, ‘That’s so beautiful, Rogue. So noble. So you’ Proteus exclaims, before elbowing Rogue in the chest: ‘Me, I’m playing the waiting game. Just marking time - until that stolen power drains away’ Proteus declares as Husk continues to smack Rogue around, declaring that when the power is gone, they can get to the fun part. ‘Don’t feel bad. This was only ever going to end one way. And at least you’ll lose that backwoods accent. That should console you for -’ Proteus begins as he prepares to possess Rogue - only for Husk to suddenly receive a psi-knife, right through the head. ‘Peek-a-boo’ Betsy exclaims as she looms over Husk.
‘Ah was never so happy to see you, Betsy’ Rogue exclaims as Betsy helps her off the sand. ‘I was never so happy to be me. I think I owe you for that’ Psylocke tells Rogue, who suggests they call it quits. Piotr “Colossus” Rasputin walks over to where Destiny, Nightcrawler and Trance are gathering, while Husk lies at Psylocke’s feet. Betsy points out that just leaves Blindfold possessed, and asks Rogue if she has any idea where Blindfold went. Rogue points sky-ward - only for the chunk of Muir Island to loom over them - and suddenly, it explodes. ‘You - you couldn’t have just slowed it down?’ Rogue asks Psylocke, who has one arm raised upwards. Betsy replies that the explosion was not her telekinesis, she is just warding off the shrapnel. ‘That thing exploded all by itself!’
‘No. Ah think it had a little help’ Rogue remarks, turning to where Blindfold stands over Magneto. ‘Still alive, old man? Just barely, I think. But that shield you’re throwing out is flickering like an old light bulb in a condemned tenement’. Blindfold places a hand on Magneto’s head, destroying his helmet. ‘You can’t keep me out any more. You’ve got nothing left. I could tell you this won’t hurt, and that would be true. But it will feel like death all the same’ Proteus exclaims. Betsy and Rogue make their way towards Magneto, but Proteus creates several large spikes to rise from the sand, knocking them back. ‘Unh, unh, unh, ladies. Some moments have to be savored’ Proteus exclaims. ‘And this is certainly - this - this is - what are you doing to me?’ Proteus demands.
‘You broke yourself like bread, Proteus, so there’d be one piece for each of us. Did you think you were God? Did you think each piece of your majesty would still be infinite?’ Magneto raises Proteus off the ground in a magnetic field, while the aged mutant himself struggles to get off the sand. ‘Energy, Proteus. Just electrons, dancing. I needed time to understand it. Needed it to be close, where I could see it. It’s very complex. Very beautiful’ he declares. ‘Stop! I - I’ll kill her! I’ll shut down her brain if you don’t -’ Proteus threatens. ‘Very fragile’ Magneto exclaims, before Proteus screams, and energy crackles all around Blindfold’s body - before she collapses to the ground, as Proteus’ energy form is released from her.
‘NO!’ Proteus screams, his energy state moving towards Magneto. ‘You’re not - you can’t do this!’ Proteus shouts, before curling over. ‘Watch me!’ Magneto exclaims as he uses his powers to destroy Proteus. ’Oh, God! Magnus, what did you do?’ Betsy exclaims as she and Rogue rush over. Standing over Blindfold, Magneto replies ‘I take it that’s a rhetorical question. I did what had to be done. I drew the poison’. ‘But Blindfold -’ Betsy exclaims. ‘Quiet. The quiet. Yes - I was thinking too loud. It’s quieter now’ Ruth exclaims as she gets up. ‘Ruth! You’re okay!’ Rogue exclaims, hugging the young mutant. ‘There’s a bad taste - in my mind -’ Ruth announces, but Rogue tells her it will pass.
‘How did you do it?’ Betsy asks Magneto. The old mutant replies that he reached into Proteus’ energy matrix - that part of it that had possessed Blindfold - and changed it. ‘A subtle change. But enough to make it unstable’. Betsy asks where Proteus is now, and how they will know he won’t come back. ‘We don’t. We know that he will’ Magneto replies.
Nearby, Rogue finds Destiny overlooking the ocean, standing on a cliffside. ‘Yeats said that to be old was to be a paltry thing. A ragged coat, hung on a stick. I would have liked to hear his thoughts on being dead’ Irene remarks. ‘Irene -’ Rogue calls out, but Destiny turns to her, and exclaims that she knows. ‘And I don’t mean to be maudlin. On the contrary. I was standing here counting my blessings’. Rogue puts a hand on Destiny’s shoulder, and Destiny remarks that the only thing she regretted about her first death was not being able to say goodbye to Rogue. ‘Selene’s scheming has given me the chance to put that right’ Destiny declares, to which Rogue asks her if she won’t stay.
Destiny hangs her head and reveals that the two powers that keep her standing are the virus and the Black Queen’s magics. ‘Both seem to be failing. I’ll be dead again before the day is out’. Rogue exclaims that there is so much she has to tell Destiny about her life, and what has happened to her. Destiny places a hand on Rogue’s cheek and tells her that she has seen it, and seen what is to come. ‘And I always knew you’d make me proud, Rogue’. Rogue tells Destiny that she will stay with her, until it happens. ‘No. I’m alone when that moment comes. Remember me like this. Alive and in the open air. I prefer it that way’ Destiny tells Rogue.
Irene asks Rogue to remember one further thing. ‘When the time comes - and when you look inside yourself - trust what you find there. What you feel. You’re bound to the child in ways that matter’. Rogue embraces Destiny, ‘Ha. You don’t change, do you? Ah love you, Mom’. ‘I love you too, Rogue. With all my heart. As much as I love my dear Raven’ Destiny replies, referring of course to her lover, Mystique. Destiny whispers into Rogue’s air: I’ve one thing more to do. One final duty. Stay here and watch the sunset. It’s going to be beautiful’ she tells her, before leaving Rogue alone on the edge of the cliff.
Back on the shore, Colossus holds the Blackbird jet up, while Nightcrawler makes some repairs. ‘It says “auto-repair”. Why are we doing this ourselves?’ he asks. ‘Because the auto-repair system has to be repaired by hand’ Colossus tells his good friend. Destiny approaches Blindfold, who is sitting in the water. ‘Am I disturbing you, child?’ Destiny asks. ‘No. Yes. A lot’ Ruth replies. ‘When you’re close to me, other things go further away. I know what it feels like, then - to be blind. To be really blind’ Ruth declares. Destiny kneels beside the young mutant, explaining that two pre-cognitives are like two positive magnets pressed together, positive pole to positive pole. ‘We shouldn’t get too close’ Destiny adds. ‘Thank you. This is very close already’ Blindfold replies.
‘You asked Cyclops if I was your mother. The answer is no’ Destiny tells Blindfold. ‘No?’ Blindfold replies. ‘No. A great-grandmother, perhaps. Near enough on your family tree to being me to you instead of to Rogue that night’ Destiny explains. ‘Yes, you’re welcome. But then - is my mother -?’ Blindfold begins. ‘Dead. As you were always told’ Destiny assures her. ‘She died protecting you. And she has no regrets, as she died, about that bargain’. Destiny helps Ruth off the watery-sand, ‘Excuse me. What was she protecting me from?’ Ruth asks. The two blind women stare out over the ocean, ‘Someone who you’ll never have to meet now. Your brother’ Destiny reveals.
Back at the Blackbird, Colossus announces that the jet has been repaired. ‘Finally! Let’s get off this floating piece of dirt before the Zombie Cannibal Holocaust starts again!’ Trance exclaims running into the jet. Betsy asks Nightcrawler what he is thinking about. ‘That if someone from Muir Island had to rise from the dead, I would rather it had been -’ Kurt begins, ‘Yeah. I think that crossed all of our minds’ Betsy tells him.
‘As I predicted, Rogue, it was a great pleasure to fight beside you again’ Magneto exclaims. ‘It’s not like it was a date, Magnus’ Rogue replies as they take their seats in the Blackbird. ‘No? As close as our kind comes, perhaps’ Magneto smiles. ‘”Our kind?” Do we even have a kind?’ Rogue asks. ‘We have a kinship’ Magneto tells her. ‘Kinship my ass’ Rogue replies. Magneto tells Rogue that she protests too much, and that he takes that as a positive encouragement. Rogue just stares at Magneto.
While the others lie back to get some much needed rest, Nightcrawler and Psylocke take the Blackbird controls, and Kurt tells everyone to strap in, adding that the in-flight movie has been cancelled and there will be no refreshments served. ‘But I believe we can get home without exploding’ he remarks. ‘Always an unexpected bonus when you’re flying X-Air’ Betsy jokes. ‘It only remains to be seen - whether we have a home to go back to’ she adds as they leave Muir Island.
