Dazzler’s hospital room…
Nightcrawler sits alone with Dazzler in her hospital room. He wonders aloud if Ali can hear him. He doesn’t know that for sure, because people say that not much is known about comas. So, he believes it’s at least possible that Alison hears him. But, he almost hopes she cannot.
Kurt admits that he enjoys the talks he now has with Ali immensely. They are special to him. He doesn’t know if it would be the same if Ali could hear him. He doesn’t like to wonder what she would think of him if she would be listening. Kurt admits that, ever since the fight with Deathstrike, which put Alison in the hospital in the first place, he feels alone. Kurt also has doubts about his friend Colossus. He can’t even acknowledge what Peter is. He can’t acknowledge the secret Peter kept from him.
Kurt sees Peter as a deceiver and an abomination. Colossus is dead to him now. Kurt can’t bring himself to forgive Peter for what he has done. And Warren isn’t even around for their beloved Danger Room games. Kurt misses Warren deeply. He feels truly alone now. All he has now… is Alison.
Xavier’s, the hangar…
An impatient Cyclops wonders where everyone is. They really need to be gone now. Elliot promises Scott that he can help him, and that he is ready for it. Scott doesn’t think so, because this mission is too dangerous for Elliot, and tells him to stop whining. Storm, Rogue and Iceman finally arrive and Scott wants to know where they have been, as they’ve got a dangerous situation. Storm tells Scott to calm down, explaining that they are living in a big house and they came down here as fast as they could.
Scott sees that only three other X-Men besides him are present, and wants to know where the others are. Storm smiles that they are everyone present. Bobby explains that Colossus is already at the crime scene. Wolverine and Nightcrawler are missing in action. Kitty is off somewhere with Spider-Man. Jean is just being interviewed by Lilandra, and the Professor said that Jean is not to be interrupted.
Scott finds it surprising that the Professor said that. Elliot defends that the team needs him because they are shorthanded. He believes that, if Colossus is already at the Academy, he could be knocked out by the time they got there. Colossus can’t be counted upon, and Elliot believes it doesn’t matter that he’s new to the X-Men. They need him. He promises Scott that he can do this. Rogue and Storm smile to Elliot, and want to know who he is. Scott believes that they don’t have the time for this, and tells Elliot that he can come with them. They enter the X-Wing and quickly fly over to the Academy of Tomorrow!
Elsewhere in the mansion…
Lilandra asks an uncertain Jean if she’s comfortable. Jean angrily defends that she isn’t feeling comfortable being a lab rat, nor is she comfortable with the fact that Lilandra thinks she might be a reincarnated god. Lilandra explains that it’s very important to her that Jean isn’t inconvenienced. She begs Jean to work with them. The Professor explains to Jean that Lilandra promised him that none of this will cause Jean any pain. And since Jean agreed to cooperate, he doesn’t want her to back down now. She can trust him.
Jean smiles to the Professor that he knows she trusts him, and she jokes she’ll be a good girl. The Professor thanks Jean for that. He tells Lilandra he’ll leave her alone now, and wants her to alert him if his presence is needed. Lilandra promises she’ll do that. Jean just wants to get this over with.
Lilandra introduces Jean to her assistant, Gerald. Gerald draws some blood from Jean, so they can run some tests. When Jean wants to know why Lilandra needs her blood, Lilandra again explains that they are just going to run some tests on it because they are looking for specific properties. They are looking for certain indicators laid out in their ancient tomes. Jean angrily states that this is so lame. She wants to know what will happen if Lilandra and her people decide that she really is Phoenix.
Lilandra admits that if Jean really is the physical embodiment of the Phoenix, then at some point soon, before Jean’s twentieth birthday, the force will manifest itself in her. Jean’s consciousness will merge with that of the ancient Phoenix entity. Jean will remain herself, but she will also be something more. Next, the Phoenix will remake the universe into a glorious paradise and Jean will save the world.
At the same time, on their way to the Academy…
Bobby looks at Elliot, and jokes that he’s wearing a nice uniform, reflecting that Elliot is just wearing his street clothes. Bobby also wants to know what Elliot’s codename is… Dockers? Abercrombie? Elliot apologizes for not wearing a uniform. So, he uses his powers and quickly creates an X-Men uniform for himself! He asks if this is better. Rogue smiles it is, and compliments Elliot on his abs. Bobby finds that offensive and defends that he’s got abs as well. Storm smiles that Bobby doesn’t have abs like Elliot’s. Scott informs the team that they made it to the Academy. He wants to be cautious though because he never landed this particular X-Wing yet.
Once the jet is landed, the team steps out of it. Rogue takes a look at the rather big building, and jokes all they have to do now is find out where the dance is being held. On that very moment, Colossus gets smashed out of the school! Scott tends to Peter, checking if he’s okay. Peter, almost breathless, just needs a minute to regroup but warns the team that the Brotherhood are inside. Angel, Cannonball, Havok, Northstar, Polaris and Roberto angrily step out of the Academy. Havok can’t believe that the “Brotherhood” is already giving up, thinking they probably weren’t suspecting them to fight back. Alex sees the Brotherhood as a joke and doesn’t see how they ever went up against the X-Men.
Cannonball attacks Elliot, who just barely dodges the attack. When Elliot wonders who these guys are, Scott replies that he heard his brother mentioned the Brotherhood and believes that Mastermind must be behind this, causing his brother and his friends to see the X-Men as the enemy. Scott wants his team to try to take Alex and the others out without hurting them. Bobby thinks that’s a good plan and freezes Sam’s legs. He wonders if the Academy kids will return the favor of not hurting them. Sam warns the others that “Toad” has somehow bound his legs in some kind of mucus and wonders how the evil mutant could have done that. Bobby finds it hardly fair that he has to be Toad.
Xavier’s…
Gerald has enough blood from Jean and takes off to run his tests. He promises he’ll notify Lilandra as soon as he’s got the test results. Lilandra thanks him for that. She wants to start asking Jean some questions now, and suggests they start with something easy. She asks Jean where she was born. Jean reveals that she was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Lilandra adds that Jean is currently nineteen years old, and wants to know where her parents are. Jean explains that when she started to hear voices and see things, her parents dumped her in a funny farm and never looked back. She doesn’t really want to talk about them. That’s fair enough by Lilandra.
She wants Jean to describe her parents, though. Jean is hesitant to do that. Lilandra mentions to Jean that it’s okay she takes her time. She understands that this can be difficult and hard for her. Jean angrily defends that Lilandra doesn’t know anything about the things she sees or the visions she has. Jean sees people she knows getting burned. She sees walls of fire reaching to the sky, and a giant flaming monster scorching the Earth. The things she sees are horrific and terrify her.
She finds it hard to believe that Lilandra believes the Phoenix is going to bring about a utopia. The Hellfire Club thought the Phoenix was going to end the world, and she believes that they were right. Lilandra tries to defend that the Hellfire Club had different interpretations about the Phoenix, but Jean doesn’t even let her finish that sentence. Jean states that she’s terrified of the thing inside her. The only thing that’s keeping her sane is to believe that the thing in her body is fake, and that it’s all in her head. She can tell Lilandra one thing, though. If she determines that she really is the Phoenix, the first thing Jean will do is jump off a bridge!
The Academy of Tomorrow…
Warren attacks Scott and takes him up to the sky. Scott apologizes in advance to Warren if he hurts him, and blasts the winged hero with his optic beams. They fall down and Scott cries out for help. Elliot quickly uses his powers to create a safety net, and safely catches both Scott and Warren on it. He smiles to Scott that he told him he would be useful. Scott thanks Elliot for the save, and suggests that they take his brother and his friends out of the way so they can deal with the real threat.
Bobby faces Roberto, and is amazed by the way their powers collide with each other. Scott quickly finishes the battle with his blast and warns Bobby to stop playing around. This isn’t a game, and they don’t even know why the Brotherhood is there. They’ve got to get Emma’s students out of the picture immediately. Rogue, Storm and Colossus have already taken care of that. Peter jokes that Scott’s brother wasn’t so tough, but Polaris was certainly no lightweight. Peter does hope that Jean-Paul will be understanding when he awakens, as Peter tried not to hurt him too bad.
The Brotherhood enters. Blob is ready to take the X-Men apart. He orders his team that they can do whatever they want, but he wants to take on Iceman. Iceman has heard enough, and warns the team hat the battle is on!
Xavier’s…
Lilandra tries to calm Jean down, promising that there’s no cause for alarm. Lilandra has more questions to ask, and wants to test Jean’s motor reflexes now. Jean disagrees with Lilandra. There is cause for alarm! She dreams about melting off her boyfriend’s face! Jean starts to cry and apologizes for her outburst. She just wants to finish the test, because she needs to get through this. Lilandra tries to cheer Jean up. She knows that this can be stressful for Jean. She can only tell Jean that if the results of these tests are positive, she’ll have the full resources of the Shi’Ar at her disposal. They can help her. The Shi’Ar wants to make this as easy for Jean as possible, and she doesn’t have to deal with this alone.
She wants to know of often Jean has these visions. Jean admits she doesn’t have them that often. At least, not too many times since the Hellfire Club incident. The voices too have slowed down, and things have been pretty quiet in her head. Lilandra suddenly asks Jean if she needs a towel. Jean wants to know why Lilandra asks that. Lilandra tells Jean to look at herself… she’s covered in sweat.
The Academy…
Cyclops faces Toad. He knows that Toad isn’t a totally bad person, and tells Toad that he could do so much better than this. Toad attacks Scott with his tongue, ignoring what he says. Scott quickly grabs Toad’s tongue and finds it a shame Toad wastes his life like this. Mastermind attacks Storm. He admits that it took him some time, but he knew he would be able to find something that would terrify her. He just never knew it would be something so… odd. He continues to watch Storm crawl away in horror, until Scott throws Toad against Mastermind’s back and the two are knocked out.
Meanwhile, Colossus is overwhelmed by Multiple Man’s dupes and can’t face them alone. Rogue comes to Peter’s rescue and takes some of the dupes out. The Blob smashes Iceman down, and smiles that this is way too easy. Elliot asks Blob why he doesn’t pick on someone more his size. He suddenly realizes Blob can’t do that because there isn’t anyone his size! Elliot guesses that the Blob will just have to deal with him. Blob isn’t impressed by the way Elliot picks on him, the fat guy. He promises Elliot that he’s so dead!
Elliot doesn’t feel threatened by Blob at all. He smiles that size really does matter. He asks Blob if he knows what’s really little. An atom is. Elliot asks Blob if he knows what happens when you split an atom in half. As Scott tends to Bobby, neither of them knows what Elliot is up to. Blob doesn’t care about an atom and just wants to fight. Elliot claims that Blob should care. Elliot quickly powers up, and a bright light emerges from him, causing the Blob to move a little! Scott and Bobby are both startled. The Blob recovers and promises Elliot that he’s going to die for this. Elliot tells the Blob to give him his best shot.
Xavier’s…
Lilandra asks Jean if she’s okay. Wracked with a headache, Jean angrily tells Lilandra that she’s asking too many questions. As her voice starts to sound malevolent, Jean says she doesn’t understand how Lilandra dares to question her. Lilandra starts to panic a bit. Jean suddenly starts to glow red, and the wind in the room rises up. Jean cries out that Lilandra doesn’t know what power she is meddling with. She shouts at Lilandra that she’s just a child attempting to witness the realm of the gods. The Phoenix is here, and Jean is her! Jean’s eyes start to glow with raw power, and she tells Lilandra that she can rejoice if she wishes too. Lilandra can rejoice as the Phoenix unmakes the world, and she’ll start with Lilandra!
Jean, surrounded by the fire of the Phoenix, glares at a panicking Lilandra…
