Archangel finds himself shedding the metal wings given to him by Apocalypse, and it is a painful experience. During this ordeal, Ozymandias appears to him and tells him that this all part of Apocalypse’s plan for Archangel, whom he knew to be a survivor. Ozymandias leaves, and soon Archangel discovers that underneath his metal wings are now a set of feathered wings like he originally had, then he passes out from the shock to his sytem.
In the Danger Room, Storm, Wolverine and Quicksilver witness as Cyclops, Beast and Jean Grey confront Joseph with a holographic recreation of Magneto’s first battle with the X-Men. Seeing this past crimes, Joseph marvels at how he is accepted by the X-men so easily. The reactions of Quicksilver and the arriving Gambit, however, show he is not as much accepted as he thought.
Psylocke suddenly melts out of a shadow, having used a new “shadow-porting” ability, which seems to be a side-effect of the Crimson Dawn (Uncanny X-Men 330), to go from Archangel’s apartment to the mansion. The other X-Men are quite startled at this new power manifestation, but Betsy has no time to explain. She is concerned because Warren is missing, at his place she just found a feather (X-Men 57).
Meanwhile in San Diego, Graydon Creed is on the campaign trail. Carly Alvarez welcomes two new volunteers into their ranks, “Drake Roberts” (Iceman), and “Samson Guthry” (Cannonball), who are actually infiltrating the campaign for the X-Men. Also there is J. Jonah Jameson, who rails against Creed’s message, and is determined to dig up Creed’s past.
Archangel, feeling weak from his transformation, finds himself drawn to a church where the Legacy-Virus-infected Pyro is confessing to a priest. Some of the X-Men (Psylocke, Beast, Gambit, Wolverine, Joseph) take the Blackbird and use a smalll cerebro unit to track Warren down. They find the church, which is now on fire, and rescue the priest, who tells them that Pyro is there. Pyro’s power is going out of control due to the virus. The X-men manage to subdue him, and he starts to warn them about someone (“her“) wanting to assassinate Graydon Creed, but he is taken by Avalanche before he can say who it is. Archangel wonders why his wings have come back, and thinks about changing his codename back to Angel.
