The GeNext youngsters find themselves abducted to Genosha by the Shadow X team, a group of evil original X-Men from another dimension. While the groups stand facing each other, Rico tells Oli that, if he has a plan, now’s the time. He thought Rico was supposed to be the genius, Oli shoots back. Problems hesolves. This team Oli leads, comes the reply.
Shadow X’s leader Jenna Grey aka Black Marvel addresses them, explaining they have a simple choice. Let them have No-Name and they’ll let them live. These terms are not subject to negotiation.
Time’s up, she announces a moment later and gestures, drawing No-Name telekinetically towards her. Did they actually think Shadow X would be playing fair? she mocks. They didn’t think GeNext would give up their friend without a fight, did they? Rico announces and creates an invisible forcefield meant to grab No-Name. Jenna commends him, but still easily holds him off.
Pavel’s turn to attack, as he tackles Beast, who quickly frees himself and attacks him with acrobatics. Pavel doesn’t realize this is only a diversion. Suddenly, Cyclops fires an optic blast at his feet. Pavel stumbles, drags him up and smashes him down.
Becka flies after Angel, sure she won’t have much trouble. How hard could it be beating such an old guy? Angel blinds her by throwing some dust into her face, then throws her down. Oli orders her to relax her body and catches her. Becka whistles up some rain to clean her eyes and rinses them out, eager for round 2. Unfortunately, Cyclops has his eyes (literally) on them and Iceman attacks them next, freezing Oli’s lower half. Luckily, Rico tears the ice apart with his invisible forcefield and next rams both evil X-Men with invisible force fields.
Unfortunately, Shadow X also works as a team, as Angel hits Oli and Black Marvel telekinetically slams Rico.
A feral Becka claws at Jenna’s face and gets ready to do more harm, though Jenna uses her telepathy to manipulate specific areas of Becka’s cerebral cortex, causing her great pain. A recovered Cyclops shoots the girl in the back, finishing her off. Disgusted, Jenna orders him to get that loathsome slug off her. The next moment, she tears into her lover for interfering, claiming she had everything under control. And there he thought she liked getting rescued, he mocks. Only when it’s necessary, she insists and telekinetically floats No-Name to the group. Or when it’s fun. This was neither. They have their prize. They should be on their way.
What about he others, Cyclops asks. Suddenly, a young woman dressed in Goth clothes and surrounded by ghosts orders them to go with the girl. They’ve got what they want. The other mutants stay. Jenna seems to agree but telepathically orders Cyclops to take care of the loose ends. However, even as they leave and Cyclops fires a parting shot, Wicked blocks it.
Oli is in dreamland recalling his childhood.
Flashback:
He, his sister Raven, his parents and his friend Megan Summers were frolicking in Genosha on the beach. His parents were helping Professor Xavier try to rebuild the island to heal the wounds left by the killer Sentinels. They thought they had a lifetime.
Oli stares at his happy folks and Megan asks him what’s wrong. It’s his mother, he tells her. Shortly after this, the mansion got nuked. And all of them kids got abducted. Megan’s mom, Emma Frost, was hurt and Rogue absorbed her powers and came to help his dad save the kids. But Rogue died in the process.
The Astral plane:
Oli suddenly is his teenage self, dressed in a training uniform as is Megan. He realizes that she is really with him. But he’s dreaming, he exclaims. And she’s a telepath, Megan replies with a smile. What’s his point? She felt his pain and came to help. But he’s too far away. She doesn’t think anyone can get to them in time. Then, they’ll have to save themselves, he replies, looking at his still unconscious friends. Will he be all right? she asks and takes his hands. He promises to see her when this is done. He’d better, she warns him, alive and well. They kiss…
reality:
And Oli awakes with a faint smile.
A little while later, once the whole team has awakened Oli talks with the woman who intervened on their behalf – the Genoshan survivor Wicked, while Rico tries to calm Becka that things will turn out well. She’s weirded out by Oli talking to Wicked’s ghosts of the Genoshan dead. Rico points out practically that nobody knows the island better than they. They note that Pavel keeps pacing, worried about No-Name and wonder what the evil X-Men want with her.
Wicked’s ghosts search the island and finally one of them spies the five members of Shadow-X. While it stays out of sight, Iceman senses its cold, believing there will be trouble. Black Marvel addresses No-Name, telling her she has information they need. She presses home that there will be consequences. No-Name’s world will be destroyed, dimensions could be destabilized. No-Name shouts she doesn’t care. They are going home!
Jenna warns her it’s up to her how much the process will hurt. No-Name attacks her but Jenna simply smiles, anticipating a fight. Quickly, she beats the girl and orders Iceman to ice her in place. Does she want her broken? Iceman asks. She prefers her moderately tamed, Jenna replies… for now. No-Name cries that this hurts and Beast suggests she should stop fighting then.
Jenna presses her telepathically until she sees that her friends are preparing for the rescue. Hearing this, No-Name pummels her with her fists on the astral plane.
The other X-Men don’t notice, though Scott senses something wrong, only to chalk it up to his imagination.
In the shadows, Becka is relived she hasn’t been spotted. With her more feral attributes showing, she jumps down to attack and is immediately nailed by Jenna’s telekinesis. Again, she has left an opening for No-Name during their battle in the astral plane.
Angel intends to finish Becka off, but is hit by Rico, who turns visible. Rico grabs him with an invisible forcefield claw and slams Angel against the wall.
Iceman intends to freeze Rico but Colossus takes the iceblast meant for his friend and moves forward against Iceman. While worrying if Colossus can take the strain, Oli jumps Beast and absorbs his powers. With Beast out, Oli sprouts beastlike fur and is embarrassed. Then he tosses the unconscious Beast at Iceman.
He uses his newly absorbed acrobatics to evade Cyclops’ optic blast. Becka tries to help him and is nailed by Cyclops. Bravely, she returns the shot at him.
Oli, in the meantime, thanks Pavel for catching him. The least he can do, fearless reader, comes the reply. Will he please not call him that? Oli sighs. Did he say something? Pavel retorts and uses him in a fastball special towards Rico. Oli warns him that Cyclops is about to fie at him. Colossus stands fast to protect Becka.
Rico catches Oli with his forcefield and tosses him towards Cyclops, who easily takes him out with a blast.
Suddenly, though, the fight stops as Jenna screams that No-Name is more powerful than she suspected. She switched their bodies, comes from No-Name’s body. Jenna screams “no!” No-Name tells them to ignore the body. Listen to her speech, Trust their instincts. She is trapped in No-Name’s bloodsack while the girl has access to her telepathy. She begs Scott to stop her before she fries their brains! No-Name screams No. She lost Scott once. She won’t let anyone take him again!
The Shadow X members decide to believe her and take out Jenna. Oli uses the opening to kayo Cyclops.
Rico can’t believe they actually won. Easy for him to say, Becka remarks grumpily. She’s going to hurt for a month! While she and Pavel argue Oli tells them they all did great. Rico asks what to do about No-Name.
What about her, she smiles. Does he really believe this would d be a fair fight, one they would even have a prayer of winning? Pavel shouts that this isn’t No-Name, it’s Jenna! She begins to laugh and tells him he is so easy. Oli explains that she pulled a fake. Can she hit her anyway to make sure, Becka suggests.
While they tie up Shadow X, No-Name explains Jenna wanted something from inside her head. They sort of merged. She thought No-Name was no threat to her. Big mistake. She was able to get her hooks into Jenna enough to make her bluff convincing, but only ‘cause she caught Jenna by surprise.
What were they after? Oli asks. Something she walked away from a long time ago, she replies darkly. Can they please let it lie? That part of her life is over. He assures her she has nothing to worry about from them. She did good. She finally cracks a smile. Yeah, she did. Who’d ‘a thought? But he wasn’t fooled. Not at all. She could tell.
So what now, fearless leader, Rico asks. They are going to be in so much trouble for breaking all the rules, Becka remarks. But it was worth it. And the five of them wait to be picked up.
