Paris, specifically the Catacombs beneath. ‘This is as far as you come, X-Men. Terminus EST!!!’ the escaped Legion person known as Endgame shouts as the massive being releases energy beams down towards Remy “Gambit” LeBeau and Joanna “Frenzy” Cargill. ‘Oh man. What are you, besides ugly?’ Frenzy asks as she picks up a large concrete beam. ‘I am Endgame’ the being replies. ‘I am the final sanction’ he adds, while the beam that Frenzy slams against him simply shatters. ‘Takes more than a cute name and a fancy suit!’ Gambit declares as he throws several kinetically charged playing cards towards Endgame, who asks ‘Does it? They seem to be the main requirements. But I have more work’, then he prepares to vanish.
‘No!’ Frenzy exclaims, throwing the rest of the beam at Endgame’s fading form when, suddenly, ‘Enough!’ booms the Master of Magnetism, Magneto. ‘Styx should have known better than to send a man in armor against me. This is over’ Magneto declares as he holds Endgame in place magnetically. ‘Yes. That’s what I keep telling you’ Endgame replies, before somehow breaking the magnetic hold that Magneto has over him, and punches the ground, sending several of Styx’s followers flying backwards.
Further in the catacombs, the vile Styx sits on his throne, with David “Legion” Haller at his feet. ‘There. Was that so hard?’ Styx asks. ‘Oh God. Oh God’ Legion utters. ‘You’re too kind, Legion. But yes, that’s what I aspire to’ Styx replies, adding that he already has the defining attribute of godhead - power over life and death. Legion suddenly keels backwards, and Styx asks him if he feels it - ‘Your will, your soul, pouring out of you and into me. You’re mine, now. Your body a puppet that I move as I wish’. Styx’s hand hovers over Legion’s face, as the villain remarks ‘And your spirit - well, the good news is that you’ll live forever. The bad news is that your new home - is me’.
An instant later, Legion’s soul wakes up in the nether. ‘Help us!’ someone else trapped within Styx pleads. ‘Please! Help us!’ another exclaims. ‘It’s so dark! So cold!’ someone else declares as they stand on the space-like nothingness. ‘We want to go home!’ someone else calls out. Professor Charles Xavier is standing with several of the other imprisoned souls and tells his son, David, that this is what they become here, shadows of themselves, with their life-force feeding Styx and making him stronger. ‘You should not have come here, my son’ Xavier tells David. ‘You should not have let him take you’. Charles tells his son. Legion frowns and replies that he knows. ‘So I didn’t’ he announces.
Endgame tosses Magneto into the air and boasts that he cannot be beaten, as for every attack, he has the perfect response. “The Master of Magnetism” mocks Endgame. ‘Look at you’ he remarks, before Frenzy suddenly smashes her fists against Endgame and telling him to keep looking and hold the position as she calls him “Play-date”. ‘That’s Endgame. You should have treated me with respect. I might have made this easier for you’ he tells Joanna as he grabs her between his spiked-ball hands and smashes them together. He forces Frenzy to the ground and shouts ‘I’m Endgame! Endgame! ENDGAME!’ The persona begins grounding Frenzy into the dirt, boasting that the only way to win against him, is not to play. Suddenly though, ‘No’ a voice calls out. ‘Wh-what?’ Endgame gasps as he turns and sees Legion standing nearby. ‘There’s another way’ Legion announces.
At the throne, Styx stands over the motionless body of Legion, and boasts that now Legion belongs to him, that means all of Legion’s powers are now his, also. ‘But you know which one I want, David. Moira’s power. The power to twist reality into any shape’ Styx declares, ordering Legion to remake the world for him, to bring everything that lives under his rule. ‘No’ Legion replies blankly. ‘No? What does no mean? You can’t defy me!’ Styx declares, perplexed. ‘No’ Legion states again. ‘Then do it! Do it now!’ Styx orders, but Legion once again replies ‘No’. ‘You must!’ Styx snarls. Legion replies that he cannot, explaining that he does not have that power. Styx declares that Legion is not making any sense. ‘Unless -’ he begins, as he removes the scarf around Legion’s neck, revealing a collar that says 1(b). Styx is horrified. ‘Oh. Oh no. That’s -’ he utters.
‘That’s impossible! It can’t be you. This is a trick!’ Endgame declares as Legion approaches him. ‘A response for every attack. But I don’t need to attack you, Endgame’ Legion replies. Endgame tells Legion to keep away from him, otherwise he will blow the morons up, referring to Styx’s sacrifices. ‘I’ll detonate every one of those suicide belts!’ Endgame warns Legion. ‘Ah yes. The suicide belts’ Magneto remarks, and with a wave of his hand, completely detaches the as he sends the explosive careening towards Endgame - and the resulting explosion knocks Endgame over. ’Time to go home’ Legion declares as he stands over Endgame. But Endgame boasts that he will not go home and warns Legion not to come near, otherwise he will kill him. ’Whatever’ Legion mutters as he re-absorbs Endgame back into himself.
‘What the hell is going on here, Haller? You went that way’ Frenzy declares, pointing towards the darkness. David asks Joanna if she remembers Chain’s power, the power to make endless doubles of himself. ’It’s my power again, now’ he explains, adding that it was not him who they saw.
At the throne, ‘What have you done to me? Let go! Let go!’ Styx shouts. But the Legion double holds onto Styx and replies that it is too late for that. Suddenly though, the Legion 1(b) looks up - and it is actually Rogue! She tells Styx that his power is flowing into her, and her soul is trapped inside him. ‘Ah think this is called…a short circuit!’ Rogue declares, and at that moment, every soul trapped inside Styx spills out into the catacombs. Even down the other where Gambit and the others have remained, the souls come forth to find their body - and dive into Styx’s sacrifices. Magneto points out that the souls Legion stole are returning to their bodies, to which Frenzy asks if that is good, if that means he has done right. Gambit points out that they don’t know what it means. ‘You sent Rogue against that monster alone. Come on!’ he calls out as he makes his way towards the throne.
‘What about us?’ one of the sacrifices calls out as the mutants race off. ‘Hey, count your blessings. I’d have let you explode’ Frenzy calls back. The mutants soon find the Professor, and Legion calls out to him, asking him if he is all right. Charles just tells his son, and everyone, to stay back. ‘That’s Rogue in there. God help her!’ Xavier utters as the others round the corner, and witness Rogue battling the hideous Styx. Xavier explains that there is some sort of feedback loop, that each is physically and psychically embedded in the other, and that they are in agony. ‘Then do something!’ Gambit exclaims. Legion steps forward, offering to try, suggesting that if he absorbs Styx, he will have to let Rogue go. ‘Grotesque as it sounds, Haller. You’re probably her best hope. Do it. Quickly’ Magneto orders.
Legion prepares to absorb Styx back into himself, and Charles announces that it is working, as the psionic signatures are drawing apart, or at least starting to. He tells Legion to focus, and Styx is drawn closer to Legion, but he reaches out and grabs Rogue, ‘Woman - you destroyed me! Let me - return the favor!’ Styx booms as he grabs hold of her and drags her towards Legion also. Legion screams in agony as Styx tries to pull Rogue inside with him. Charles orders Frenzy to hold on to Legion, and she does, but announces that Legion is shaking like a Tokyo high-rise. ‘What do you want me to do with him?’ she asks. Xavier tells Frenzy to just anchor him, and not to let him injure himself or anyone else.
‘I’m going in!’ Xavier calls out as he enters Legion’s mind. There, he is confronted by several of Legion’s personalities. ‘Oh, and here comes the cowboy in the white hat, saving the day’ Time-Sink mutters. ‘Stole my only chance to live! I hope you rot, Xavier!’ the Moira personality shouts, while Susan in Sunshine tells her dolly not to listen to Moira as she is a bad lady. Charles telepathically calls out to Legion, announcing that he has found the place where Rogue’s mind and Styx’s are locked into his, that it is a knot of psychic energy enfolded on itself. Xavier tells his son that he thinks he can sever the knot, but that it will hurt - a lot. ‘Do it! Just do it!’ Legion calls out while Frenzy continues to hold him down.
Xavier does it - and the psychic knot shatters. Rogue emerges, and towers over Xavier. ‘You’re free - but - my God!’ Charles utters. Rogue tells the Professor not to worry, and explains that she just tapped into the mother lode, that she couldn’t help it, it just happened. ‘Ah’m touching - and drawing on - all of Legion’s personas at the same time’ Rogue reveals. Psychic energies rush around her as she tells Charles that it is like a tidal weave made out of people, that it is incredible. Suddenly, Rogue informs the Professor that she made a promise, and has just found a way that she can keep it. ‘What does that mean? What are you doing?’ Charles asks her. ‘It’s done. Ah’ll see you on the outside’ Rogue replies.
Xavier returns to his body and thanks Frenzy, who remarks ‘For what? He screamed once and then went real quiet. Whatever you did to him, he’s barely breathing’, before asking how it went. ‘Rogue!’ Gambit gasps as he rushes over to her. Rogue gets up and assures Remy that she is okay, despite being a little weak. Gambit holds on to her, as Rogue reveals that she is better than okay, as she found them. ‘Ah put it all together and Ah found them’ she remarks. ‘What do you mean? You found who?’ Gambit asks. ‘Rachel, and the others. Ah know where they are. And Ah can take us there!’ Rogue announces.
Frenzy walks over to Rogue and asks her if she is serious, ‘You couldn’t walk to the end of the street’ Joanna points out. Rogue replies that it doesn’t matter, as she was plugged into about a thousand super-powers in there, adding that there are more being born all the time, it seems like. Rogue explains that Legion has a persona called Compass Rose, with a locator power, like teleporting but to a person instead of a place. Rogue announces that she is going to jump to where they are and bring them home. Gambit tells Rogue that she cannot do that alone, and Magneto announcers that they will go as a team. ‘Aren’t we due a furlough, at least? Nah, skip it. Of course we’re not’ Frenzy declares.
Charles kneels beside his son and tells the others to go, ‘And Godspeed. But I won’t be coming with you’ he adds. Charles explains that Legion has suffered a massive shock to his nervous system, so to throw him into another conflict would be insane. Rogue goes over and touches the Professor’s hand, thanking him for saving her life, she tells him that she will see him soon. ‘I hope so, Rogue’ Charles replies, before asking her where exactly she is going. A brilliant light surrounds Rogue, Gambit, Magneto and Frenzy as Rogue replies ‘Couple of thousand light years, is all. Don’t worry’. She explains that she can hold on to this power for at least the next twelve hours. ‘And that should be more than enough to -’ Rogue begins, before they vanish.
An instant later, a portal opens inside a space-station or space-ship. Rogue falls into it and slams against a wall. Rogue remarks that the landing needs some work, but that she hit the target pretty much dead-on. Rogue sees Rachel Summers lying on the floor nearby and calls out to her, ‘Cavalry’s here, girl. You okay?’ Rogue asks. Suddenly, several weapons are thrust at Rogue’s head. She glances sideways, and finds several Shi’ar warriors standing around her. ‘Smells like a mammal, doesn’t it? And we’ve already got one’ one of the Shi’ar remarks, adding that he doesn’t think they need another….
