Flying high above the team, Waran, The Herald, introduces himself. Calling the team blasphemers, he tells them to hear of the gods who will break their bones. Pointing to a large muscular man with long blond hair and sharp teeth protruding from his lower jaw, Waran refers to him as Sawtooth, lord of the wild. Next he turns to a man made of ice whom he calls Draka, king of the ice. To his right, he gestures to Thor, god of thunder and Namor, god of the sea. Finally, he comes to the almighty Storm, Skybreaker and All-mother. All the “gods” are wearing intricate golden armor fashioned in a similar way to their 616 universe costumes.
Storm tells the newly arrived X-Men that they are strangers here… ignorant of the temple they have desecrated in their blundering. She then offers than one chance to save themselves… kneel and pray for her mercy. Looking up at the gods, Dazzler and Kurt aren’t keen on obeying, especially since Kurt is Presbyterian. But Howlett kneels down first and tells him to think a bit more ecumenically. He whispers to the other that back on his world he had some experiences with gods and if you disobey them you don’t do it to their faces.
Xavier telepathically agrees with him and says that his psychic probes reveal the goddess will lose her patience in twelve second, to which Emmaline corrects him to seven whilst kneeling down. Dazzler doesn’t bow down. Instead, she says they aren’t gods, but a bunch of alternate-mutants. She’s all for respect but she isn’t going to… Before she can finish, Thor shouts “enough” and slams his hammer down amongst the team.
The team is thrown backwards and Kurt yells to Dazzler to give him her hand. She refuses, telling him to “bamf” himself out of there as she is doing fine. With that, she creates a barrier of light that blocks shrapnel thrown at her by Thor. Howlett grabs the head of Xavier and uses his claws to anchor them both as the wind created by Thor’s hammer blows them backwards.
Howlett asks what she is doing but Xavier tells him that she is absorbing the sound waves from the gods’ attacks but he doesn’t know is she’ll be able to survive long enough to use it. He is cut off, though, by Dazzler releasing a huge blast of light that sends Thor crashing backwards into Storm. Storm calls him husband as he lies on the floor but he tells her not to worry, as it’s just a little cut. It’s been so long he has forgotten what it feels like to bleed.
Seeing her husband injured angers Storm and her eyes start to crackle with electricity. She tells the team to prepare themselves as she starts to charge up for a lightning blast. Howlett tells Dazzler to run but she says she’s got this. Storm unleashes a blast of lightning right at Dazzler but Howlett jumps in the way, take the full shock. Emmaline comes up behind Dazzler, calls her a stupid girl and puts her hands around her head. As Dazzler collapses on the floor, Kurt cradles her and asks what that was. Xavier tells him it was a psychic blast; it was the only way. Emmaline walks up to Storm and kneels on the floor in front of her and begs her forgiveness and says that they pray for her mercy.
Next to her the dazed and smoking body of Howlett lies. Sawtooth walks up behind Storm and tells her Howlett smells good. She agrees and says it’s like roast pork and then says that he is all his. Sawtooth walks over to Howlett and grabs him by the arm. Howlett tells him to keep his hands off but Sawtooth says he has eaten his kind before. With that, he starts to slam Howlett around to tenderize him. But Howlett pops his claws and slashes Sawtooth across the wrist. Namor, watching the fight, tells Storm to finish it, as he doesn’t want any of the mortals to brag about how they survived a fight with the gods. Waran yells down to him to wait as he recognizes the head in the jar as that of Xavier. Smiling, Xavier says now they are getting somewhere.
Dazzler wakes up suddenly and sits bolt upright. She is now lying in a bed in a room decorated with ornate marble and columns. Waran is standing over her and tells her she is as lovely in repose as she is fierce in battle. Realizing she is naked, Dazzler asks for her clothes but Waran says they are optional here. She decides to opt in. Waran waves his hands and a skimpy, pink outfit appears on Dazzler. He tells her that she seems strangely familiar and she replies that a couple of years and a few multiverses ago, she had a thing with someone like him. She looks down at her new clothes and sarcastically thanks him for the classy outfit. She stands up and creates a dagger of light in her hand and demands he tells her where her friends are.
Dazzler and Waran walk through the building until they come across Kurt and Howlett being escorted by Draka and Namor. Kurt takes a look at Dazzler’s clothes and asks if they have Leia cosplay on her world too. She tells him to shut up and then asks why he doesn’t just teleport them out of there. Kurt tells her he can’t, as there’s something in his head; he thinks it’s Emmaline.
Dazzler asks where the traitor is and Howlett tells her she’s talking to the All-mother. Dazzler scoffs at the All-mother name but Howlett tells her these are real gods. Dazzler asks why they didn’t kill them when they had the chance. Waran answers her by saying the woman she speaks of so contemptuously just finished negotiating their temporary deliverance. Dazzler notes the word “temporary,” to which Waran tells her they attacked the gods. Whether they escape punishment now depends on how they amuse the gods.
The team comes across Emmaline and Xavier. Emmaline is dressed in a similar outfit to Dazzler’s, only hers is white and gold. Emmaline tells them that the queen of all there is requests their presence. Dazzler asks if that’s what she’s calling herself now but Emmaline tells her she was referring to Storm. Dazzler asks what’s going on and Xavier tells her that it’s serious. They are doing their best to keep her alive but now she has to do some of the heavy lifting. A voice calls to her and she looks round to see Johnny Ito standing before her, dressed in a guard’s uniform and carrying a guitar-like instrument on his back. He tells her he’ll be accompanying her today. Astounded, Dazzler assumes he is a god too but he tells her he is a slave (although Xavier tries to infer he is a servant). With an annoyed look on her face, Dazzler mutters that this is all crazy.
The team is escorted outside and across a bridge to a large temple. Below the bridge are bare, stepped fields that are being worked on by peasants. Dazzler says this is getting worse and Johnny says that this is where the mortals live. She asks about the desolation and he tells her it’s the ninth year of the drought. She asks about the drought and Draka mutters “there she goes again.” She continues and says that the heads of their pantheon control the weather. Howlett points out that the gods aren’t like them, they look upon the human suffering and don’t care.
They reach the temple and enter it. A voice calls out and says he once had a Howlett. They look to see Sawtooth walking up some steps towards them. He continues and says he ate a little bit of her every day, and the next morning she would be all healed ready to go again. But one night he got a little too greedy. He goes up to Howlett and says that he would be happy to have a second chance. Howlett pops a claw and says “whenever you’re ready.”
The team has moved to the middle of the temple, which looks like an arena with circular seating around a centre pit. They stand in the middle and look up at Storm and Thor, who are on a balcony above them. Storm tells Sawtooth to wait, as the psychics have pledged them their service. In turn, she has promised to give their companions one last chance to prove their worth.
Dazzler turns to Xavier and Emmaline and asks if they serve these psychopaths. Xavier tells her she doesn’t understand this world and to remember the mission… they have an evil Xavier to kill. Dazzler says she is getting a good fix on where he might be.
Storm addresses Dazzler and says that Emmaline told them she can sing. She glares up at Storm and says she does… for her friends. Thor starts to become angry and his hammer begins to crackle with lightning. Waran bows his head next to hers and tells her to sing. If she passes the test, he will protect her as his new concubine. Dazzler picks up on the word “concubine” and, when Draka makes a snarky comment on Dazzler, Waran tells him to shut up.
Sawtooth interrupts them and tells Waran to shut up himself so that the yellow-haired one can dig her own grave. He says he wants to see what the blue boy tastes like too. Dazzler turns to Emmaline and tells her to get out of Kurt’s head so he can teleport away. But Emmaline says she won’t, because if one of them resists or runs then the rest die. Johnny confirms this and tells Dazzler that sometimes they burn things for miles around when they get mad.
Becoming enraged, Thor slams his hammer down and demands Dazzler make her choice. Nearby, a baby belonging to one of the peasants starts to cry. Its mother tries to quiet it down to no avail. Dazzler steps forward and asks Johnny to give them something minor in the same key as the crying baby. He gets out his guitar and starts to play. Dazzler turns the sound of the guitar and the crying baby into light as she starts to sing. As she starts singing to the baby, it stops crying and then looks up to the sky. High up above, clouds start to form until eventually a roll of thunder is heard and rain starts pouring down.
All the peasants in the field stop what they are doing and look up to the sky. They start rejoicing at the All-mothers mercy as they fall to their knees. Inside the temple, Storm tells Thor she cannot remember the last time she was moved in such a way… an unusual feeling for a goddess. As Xavier congratulates Dazzler, Storm continues and says she doesn’t like the feeling very much and then orders the team to be killed.
Sawtooth leaps forward and grabs Kurt as Draka fires ice-shards at Dazzler. Emmaline ducks behind Draka and starts to apologize but Dazzler blasts her with a beam of light. Dazzler yells to Kurt that Emmaline’s down and for him to grab Howlett. Before she can finish, though, Waran grabs her from behind and raises an energy-charged axe above her. He starts to apologize for what is about to happen but he is suddenly shot at from behind. As he falls to the ground, Dazzler seems a flying car-like machine above them. Riding on it are two men. The driver yells to every mortal who longs for freedom. The man in the back introduces them and says that Xavier and Magnus fight by their side.
Dazzler looks to Johnny and says she’s good with it... is he? He confirms and they turn to leave. Dazzler shouts for the rest of her X-Men as Johnny mentions his name isn’t actually Johnny. Before they can get away, though, a huge crack of lightning slams down next to them. As Dazzler lies on the floor, Thor flies down next to her and yells Xavier’s name. Using his psychic powers, Xavier mind-blasts Thor.
Xavier yells to the team on the ground and informs them that Thor won’t be down for long. As he calls everyone on board, Howlett asks him to wait a second as he slashes Sawtooth across the face. Kurt teleports Howlett on board and Xavier asks him if he has enough power to teleport them out. He asks them to wait as he ‘ports and grabs Dazzler. As he does so, she says she has to find Johnny, but Kurt teleports her away before she can finish. Thor regains his power and starts to charge up a lightning bolt. He aims the blast at the flying car but Kurt teleports them all away just before it hits.
Emmaline picks herself up off the floor and starts to curse Kurt. Storm flies down to her and the head of Xavier and declares war, a sentiment to which Xavier agrees.
