Rogue sits with her head hidden in her arms, musing over past imprints she has taken from people. Now, she realizes it was not just their powers that she stole, but also bits of their souls too. Rogue always knew one day there would be a reckoning for the sins of her past. Little did she know the reckoning would come today in the form of Vargas. Vargas, along with Thais and Thaiis, stands above Rogue and reminds her of the unfinished business they still have. Rogue tries to reason with Vargas, saying today is not the right day as they are in the middle of trying to save the world. Vargas though argues that today is the perfect day, because he is ready to face his destiny. He asks her if she is?
Meanwhile on MBC, the local television station of Madripoor, Shanna Cho announces to the world of the alien invaders superiority and how close they are to taking over the planet. She announces that the Avengers outside the forcefield have tried several attempts at busting through, only to lose each time. On the other hand, she tells the listeners that the X-Men are in Madripoor fighting the aliens. Even though they are outnumbered, the team fights on to save the entire world. She shows the viewers pictures of the invading army being decimated by Rogue's repeated attacks. The world outside watches, some in horror, some in shock not knowing what to do, and some hold their children close to their bodies.
The same view the reporter shows the public is the same view Khan's generals show him. One of the Generals reports that they have lost ninety-seven percent of their equipment, thanks to Rogue. Sitting on a large chair, Khan watches the video screens in front of him. Realizing the X-Man's strategy, Khan points out how with one action, she has created a monumental traffic jam as wounded are transported through the portal one-way, and reinforcements the other. He commands his General's to keep an eye out for the other X-Men. Because they have been unable to locate all of them for several hours, it would stand to reason they are trying a sneak attack. As Khan notices the General's behavior of acting to overconfident he chides them and tells them not to take the X-Men for granted.
Meanwhile in the squad bay of Khan's elite Pathfinders, the alien soldiers discuss Khan's lack of focus to the battle at hand since Storm has come aboard the ship. One of the soldier's boasts of how he cannot wait for the upcoming battle. Another worries about a feeling they have of the operation turning out badly. The sergeant on duty gives his opinion in saying that he worries more for Storm because Khan's harem will probably not allow her to live to be crowned.
As the soldiers discuss Khan's disinterest in the battle and his love for Storm, the four disguised X-Men try to sneak by them unnoticed. Their task is made much harder as Lifeguard's body is now a seven-foot tall alien woman. The sergeant on deck notices her and salutes her, calling for the others to do the same. In salute, her yells "Royal SHI'AR On Deck!" The sergeant apologizes to Lifeguard for the mess and begins to chide the other three X-Men who are disguised as soldiers about bringing royalty onto a battle deck. The sergeant quickly notices that Bishop is wearing the armor of one of his friends, named Zim. He sounds the alarm, saying how they are intruders. The troopers jump Bishop and rip his armor off but Bishop gives back as good as he takes. Once finished, Bishop gets up and commands Sage to lock the doors and to scramble all the troopers communication units because no one but X-Men will leave this room. While Sage locks the door, Thunderbird says to Bishop that he thinks they are about to commit suicide because the X-Men are out numbered and gunned. With that said Bishop tells Thunderbird "So I guess you better stay behind me, then."
Mugu, one of Khan's soldiers, holds Thunderbird by the neck, threatening to kill him. Thunderbird realizes that he could defeat Mugu easily by just killing him with a plasma bolt but it goes against everything he believes. Lifeguard notices Thunderbird is in trouble and quickly comes to his rescue. Mugu taunts Lifeguard by saying she is not a true Royal Shi'ar because she would have killed him by now with ease. She is just a pretender. Mugu strikes Lifeguard, trying to break her neck, but instinctively Lifeguard's new alien powers save her. As she continues to rip into Mugu's armor, Thunderbird lies on the ground choking and begging Lifeguard to not kill Mugu.
Elsewhere in the center of the battle, Bishop fights not with his powers but with his fists. However, that is enough for him to whip many soldiers into unconsciousness. Elsewhere, Sage is now out of her armor and one of the soldiers named Dukane races to the door she is guarding. As him and another one of his allies gets closer she easily takes the two alien's down and relays back to Bishop that the hatch is still secure. While the three X-Men stand in shock at how easily she took the aliens down, Bishop asks her where she learned to fight like that. She tells them that when she was young she was forced to fight and to survive. Also, her powers allow her to track the probability of the attackers next move and it allows her to fully control her own body.
Thunderbird turns his attention to Lifeguard and asks her if she is okay. She cries in her hands and tells them that before they came along, she knew nothing of her parents. Now she realizes that while her dad made her a mutant, her mother must have been a Shi'ar alien. She asks now if she and her brother are monsters. As she works on finding Storm, Sage tells Lifeguard that she will only become a monster if she wants to be one. Sage tells Bishop that she has located Storm in a maximum-security detention center, but she also reminds him that the soldiers talked about her being in a Harem. Bishop tells Sage to assume that it is a trap but they must find Storm because they need her too much. He also tells the team that Khan realizes how powerful she is and that is why he is making it easy for the team to find her in the security cell. Sage next tells Bishop that she has also seeded Khan's computer systems with thousands of false reports of battles across his station, causing them to think they are being attacked by hundreds of X-Men. Lifeguard turns to Sage and asks her what they are going to do next? Sage tells them to just need to sit back and wait from word from her. She was sold to a Harem once... and escaped.
In Madripoor, Slipstream darts from one end of the alien's supply dump to the other, dropping grenades. As he does, he destroys most of Khan's troops' weapons and fuel supplies.
Back on Khan's space station Kahn stands amongst his generals and orders them to use lethal force against Madripoor. He needs to show the rest of the world the consequences of facing him. The Generals inform Khan that the tower will be solid within the hour and then they will release chemical and biological weapons that will not harm the atmosphere but will harm the Earthlings. Jalene, who is leader of the Harem that watches over Storm, interrupts the leaders' conversation and reminds Khan that Storm may not approve of Khan's actions against Earth. Khan tells her that she will learn who rules just as she did. In turn, Jalene reminds him that they are just his consorts but Storm is to be his Queen. Khan walks away from Jalene and tells her that Storm becoming his Queen is his will and Jalene should obey him for Storm "is a goddess".
Khan walks into the next room where Storm stands in a two-piece with a lace see-through robe, draped across her shoulders, with candles burning all around her. Khan's eyes widen as he sees her and asks if she has done all this for him? Storm uses her powers to lift the two of them from the ground. As she does, she talks of how the wonders of the world below are endless. Where, for example, a woman can fly and two people can dance in the air. She asks Khan to consider that there might be more to life than just conquest. Khan, while floating up to meet Storm tells her that the fate of her world is still sealed. Unknown to the two lovers, Jalene and the other consorts watch them as they dance. Jalene commands the others that if Storm makes one wrong move, they should kill her. Khan tells Storm that her words are tempting and Storm asks Khan to yield to temptation. As the moon hangs in the background both of them hold one another in a passionate embrace and kiss.
Later that same day Storm lies on a pink bed as a knife draws closer to her throat. Luckily, she awakes in enough time to see Jalene coming to kill her. Storm rolls over and grabs Jalene's hand and both women fall into the pond below where Storm was laying. Storm gets the upper hand under the water even she is held back by tentacles. She is able to kick Jalene, knocking her unconscious, and then slices the tentacle holding her, then swims to the surface, gasping for air. Somehow during the fight, Storm was wounded. As she rises from the water she checks herself, thinking that Jalene was aiming for her heart but just glanced the knife off her ribs instead. As Storm continues to crawl, she thinks of how jealous Jalene must have been to risk everything to kill her. Though as Storm reaches the pool's edge, hundreds of Khan's concubines surround Storm. One of them requests her to lay down her knife, so they can kill Storm quickly and as painless as possible.
Angered, Storm tells them that she does not want to hurt them, but as she told their master, she will not be conquered and she will not surrender. Lightening courses through her fingertips. Since adolescence, Storm has channeled elemental energies through her body with ease and they have never hurt her until today when her powers betray her. Her wounds that were left from Jalene's attack and from Viper's earlier are too much for her body to handle. As the lighting courses through her body, she cannot take the pain. Storm collapses in agony as the consorts look on and wait for their time to strike.
