Five Minutes Ago:
X-City:
Baron Rachel Grey and the Beast walk across one of the bridges that spread across the city. 'What are they doing now?' Rachel asks. 'You realize that you've asked me that question every five minutes since I brought them here, Rachel' the Beast points out. 'That's not true, but if it was, what would you take from that?' Rachel responds. 'That you're a little concerned about them' the Beast replies. Rachel asks why she would be concerned about them. The Beast tells Rachel that she is almost there, but that sarcasm really isn't her thing. 'Hank -' Rachel begins. 'It doesn't work for you' the Beast remarks. 'Where are they? Where are they right now?' Rachel enquires. 'They're not screwing up the Time-Space Continuum if that's what you're asking' Hank assures Rachel, who tells him that they are going to have to disagree on that, and sternly asks again 'Where are they?' Hank sighs and narrows his eyes.
'Thunderbird is out for a run and generally enjoying not being dead' Hank begins, adding that Wolverine is watching a pick-up baseball game. Hank remarks that it is hard to tell whether he's ever happy, but he imagines that Wolverine is not only pleased with being not-dead, but also having avoided the panoply of emotional and physical traumas he had suffered in the years before he died. Hank reports that Banshee is participating in a training session with a few other X-Men in Danger Building Gamma, also happy not to be dead.
'What the hell were you thinking, Hank?' Rachel asks. 'We've been over this...' Hank reminds Rachel. 'Were you thinking?' Rachel asks. 'Yes. I'm always thinking. It's something of a burden' Hank retorts, before telling Rachel that in this particular instance he was thinking about two things – firstly that the time-transplanted X-Men are an experiment, proof of concept that they can bring their dead back by taking them from the time before they passed away. He points out that in this case, they took Banshee, Wolverine and Thunderbird just after the Krakoa mission. 'And the second reason?' Baron Grey asks without looking at Hank.
'There's going to be a major calamity – it's inevitable – and I thought we could all use a perspective from a simpler time' Hank explains. 'You know, no matter how many times you say it, it sounds like you messed with history as a morale-building exercise' Rachel remarks. 'You heard the part about “calamity”, right?' Hank asks.
'What makes you think such a calamity is on the horizon?' Rachel enquires, when, as if on cue, there is an explosion nearby. 'I did not have that planned' the Beast assures Rachel, who announces that she is psi-linked with everyone on the ball field – and it is the Genoshans. 'It's Alex and Rahne' Rachel declares. 'What could they possibly be doing here?' Hank asks. It isn't obvious?' Rachel responds. 'They think we've turned a blind eye to their virus epidemic. This is payback'.
Now:
'Holy cripes you guys are a special kind of stupid, Havok! Attacking us on our home turf? There's only five of you, and... one... two... three... four... five... there,s like, a lot more of us!' Rockslide exclaims as he rushes towards Havok, who unleashes a powerful surge of plasma energy. 'Shut the #$%& up, Santo' Alex shouts back. Rictor uses his vibration power to break up the ground, knocking Shadowcat and Lockheed into the air, while Anole manages to climb onto a chunk of land. 'We're not the bad guys here, Tabitha… you guys are!' Rictor tells Bombshell as he grabs her arm. 'Sure doesn't seem that way' Bombshell replies. 'Did you forget you turned your backs on whole nation of mutants, your own kind? Did you think we weren't going to do something about it?' Rictor shouts.
A Phoenix raptor energy signature appears around Rachel as she takes flight, 'Omega level security breach. Baseball field' Rachel telepathically announces. 'To me, my X-Men!' she orders. Standing near an X-Jet, Storm, Gambit, Longshot, Tempus and Ink receive the message, while Sunspot, Maggott, Magma and Bishop are on the field, ready for action.
Wolfsbane warns Havok that they are running out of time. 'Got it, Rahne. Phase two...' Havok begins as he fires a blast of plasma, 'Anole, get down!' Shadowcat declares, pushing Anole backwards, the plasma energy strikes her. 'Kitty!' someone shouts. Rogue calls out to Nightcrawler, informing him that Kitty is down and it looks bad. 'I see her' Nightcrawler replies as he teleports down to Kitty. At the same time, Havok's teammate in the Press Gang, Bombshell, lunges at rogue, pushing her backwards. 'Let's get you to the infirmary' Nightcrawler tells Kitty as he picks her up and teleports away.
An instant later, within X-City, at the Scott Summers Memorial Hospital, 'Dr Reyes, Kitty needs you...' Kurt calls out to Cecilia Reyes, who asks what happened to her. 'She took a blast of focused cosmic energy. Point blank' Kurt puts Kitty on a bed, 'Dr Reyes -' he begins, but Reyes tells him to be quiet, as she is working. She starts to examine the motionless Kitty, 'Dr Reyes, is she going to be -' Kurt asks. 'Not if you don't let me work' Reyes snaps, before reporting that Kitty has a punctured lung, pneumothorax and a ton of internal bleeding, meaning this is serious. 'I need Triage. I need him right now' Reyes announces. 'Where is -?' Kurt begins. Reyes brings up some sort of monitor and reports that he is somewhere in this city. 'You find him and you bring him here. Do it five minutes ago' Reyes snaps. Kurt teleports away immediately.
Back on the baseball pitch, the battle continues, while in the air above, the Press Gang's vessel hovers, with Chief Magistrate Anderson inside. 'Phase three asset on site...' she remarks. 'Okay, runt. Fastball Special time' Rogue exclaims as she grabs Wolverine with her organic-steel arm. 'Um, Rogue... what the heck is a flamin’ “Fastball Special”?' Wolverine asks. 'Oh' he utters as he is thrown into the air. Claws at the ready, Wolverine strikes the Press Gang's ship, which explodes. 'Fastball Special... I like it' Wolverine remarks as he falls towards the ground. Mid-air, he encounters Baron Grey and the Beast. 'You're late, Red' Wolverine points out. 'Sorry... I was gathering a few friends' Rachel tells him, as Storm, Gambit and the others appear below. 'TAM!' Wolfsbane screams as the wreckage of their vessel lands nearby. 'She's gone, Rahne! She's gone. Along with our Quinjet' Havok points out. He then uses his communicator to contact Karma, and informs her that there is a change of plans.
Baron Grey hovers over Alex and Wolfsbane and tells them that she is very disappointed. 'Wicked... it's time for a family reunion' Havok calls out. Green ghosts rise around Rachel – they all resemble deceased members of the Grey family. “Disappointed” one of them calls out. 'That's a word you could use...' one of them adds '...to describe us' another remarks. 'Your family' one of them calls out. 'Your cousin' another declares. 'Your blood'. 'Your grandfather'. Rachel looks confused. 'No... no... get away... get away from me!' she screams as she flies upwards, the Phoenix raptor blazing around her.
'This is nae right...' Wolfsbane utters to Havok, who tells Karma that she is up. Karma announces that she has control of Rogue, as she takes psychic possession of their quarry. 'Hey, dipwads!' Ink calls out as he, Storm and Armor move towards Havok and Wolfsbane. Storm tells Rahne that she is especially disappointed in her. 'You left us no choice, Storm!' Rahne exclaims as she lunges into the air towards Storm.
Havok fires a blast towards Armor and reminds Ink that this wouldn't be happening if the X-Men just helped them. 'This wouldn't be happening if you guys weren't such #$%&#$%&' Ink replies. Bulletproof slams his fist into some machinery that is controlled and moving towards him, while Havok contacts Karma, asking her what the situation is. 'Give me about ten more seconds, Alex' Karma replies through the possessed Rogue, who flies towards Rachel Grey, 'Beddytime, sweetheart' Karma tells Rachel as she uses Rogue to drain Rachel's energy. Rachel plummets to the ground, as the Phoenix raptor blazes around rogue. 'The X-Men and Press Gang look up at the sky, 'Sorry, Tabby' Rictor tells Bombshell.
Back at the Scott Summers Memorial Hospital:
'All right... I have Triage' Nightcrawler announces as he teleports in. 'Don't throw up. Don't throw up' Triage tells himself. 'Christopher Muse?' Reyes asks. 'Yeah. We've met. I've been in here, like, a dozen times -' Triage replies. 'You're right, of course. My mistake' Reyes replies, before firing something from her gloves at both Nightcrawler and Triage, knocking them both out. Suddenly, Reyes disappears as Mystique reveals her true form. She radios Alex, reporting that she has Triage. 'Come get us' she tells Havok, who replies that there has been a change of plans. 'What do you mean “change of plans”?' Mystique enquires.
Back on the battlefield, Havok reports to Mystique that she is going to have to bring Triage here. 'You're joking, surely' is Mystique's response. 'Quickly, please' Havok replies as he dodges a lightning blast fired at him by Storm, while Banshee has joined the battle and floats nearby, and Rogue, still possessed by Karma, streaks across the sky with the Phoenix raptor surrounding her, she sends energy down to the ground, striking some of the X-Men. Nearby, 'Okay, so I've got a question...' Tempus begins. 'Isn't Rogue supposed to be on our side, Tempus?' Longshot asks. 'So you've got the same question' Tempus points out, as Karma suddenly takes possession of her. 'They must have a telepath. Someone with psychic powers' Longshot realizes. 'Close' Tempus declares, fully possessed, she smacks Maggott in the back of the head. 'Nice. How many bodies can you take control of at once, Xi'an?' Longshot asks, 'Don't worry. My powers don't work on alien physiology, Longshot' Karma reveals through Tempus. 'Which is why I'm controlling this guy' she adds as she takes possession of the Beast, who pulls Longshot backwards.
Through Tempus, Karma tells Alex and Wolfsbane that if they are leaving, they had best do so now. She points out that she has possessed Tempus so they have got their ride out of here, but she is maxing out her possession bandwidth now. Longshot and Gambit approach the possessed Beast, while the possessed Rogue knocks Storm back, and Wicked confronts Anole. 'Where's Mystique? We can't leave without her' Havok calls out, asking Karma if she can use Tempus' powers to teleport Mystique here. 'Not blind I can't. If she's not in the infirmary...' Karma responds through Rogue. 'She's nae in the infirmary' Wolfsbane calls out. 'How do you know?' Havok asks her, blasting Anole, he then notices Mystique, with Triage slumped over her shoulders. 'Ah. Welcome to the party, Raven. He tells her that he hopes she enjoyed her stint as Dr Reyes. 'Are we going? I would really like to be going now' Mystique replies. Havok tells Karma to get them out of here. Havok, Wolfsbane, Bulletproof, Rictor, Wicked, Karma and Mystique carrying Triage gather together, and still possessing Tempus, whose time bubble starts to wrap around them, Karma remarks that she is going to have the mother of all migraines when this is over.
'Nope. No flamin' way am I letting you guys bug out...' Wolverine declares as he moves closer to the time bubble, which also spread towards where Bombshell and Graymalkin lay on the ground. 'Wolverine?' the Beast calls out. 'Name's Logan, actually' Wolverine remarks. 'Don't wait up for me' he exclaims as he dives into the time bubble. 'Logan?' the Beast calls out, but too late, as the time bubble vanishes.
'Nailed it' Karma remarks as as the Press Gang arrives back on Genosha – with Triage, Tempus, Rogue, Wolverine, Graymalkin and Bombshell. Havok instructs Rictor and Wicked to get the prisoners secured – with full containment protocols. 'Those “prisoners” were our friends' Rictor points out. 'If they were, we never would have had to do what we just did' Havok replies. Karma asks Rictor and Wicked to take Tempus and Rogue, too, as she is spent controlling them.
'My God, you did it...' Dr Aldus Kluge a.k.a. The Genegineer gasps as he enters the room. 'Which one's the healer?' the Genegineer enquires. 'The boy. His name's Christopher' Wolfsbane tells him as Bulletproof picks Triage up when the Genegineer asks him to take “Christopher” to his lab. 'I'll need to run a few tests to confirm his mutation will be effective against the Extinction Plague' the Genegineer announces. “A few tests” Wolfsbane quotes. 'To see if we sold our souls for nothing' she tells Alex. 'You can't think like that' Alex tells her. 'Of course I can' Rahne replies. 'And you should, too' she adds, throwing her hands into the air as she walks past Mystique and Karma.
In his lab, the Genegineer stands before a monitor, while Christopher's body is levitated above a table, and a shadowy form looms over him. 'Well, “Christopher” here we are. I apologise for keeping you in this manner' the Genegineer remarks. 'And for talking to you while you're unconscious' he adds, remarking that it is all in service of getting his power to work properly. The shadowy figure is rfevealed to be the head and neck of Cameron Hodge, as the Genegineer admits that he lied a bit about how he will be using that power. 'I've got an old friend that could use your help' he explains. The Genegineer connects two cables, and assures Christopher that he is using him to stop a plague, that much is true – but he is going to need Mr Hodge's assistance – to eradicate the plague that is called “mutants”!
'What just happened?' Rachel Grey asks back in X-City as she hovers over the destroyed baseball field. The Beast, Longshot and Storm gather themselves and look around at the destruction. 'We had out butts well and truly kicked, I believe' the Beast points out. 'I mean...how did it come to this?' Rachel asks. 'You think if we helped Genosha like they asked, this wouldn't have happened?' the Beast enquires. 'Don't you?' Rachel responds. The Beast pauses, before replying that he doesn't know. He tells Rachel that what he does know, is that this “Extinction Plague” is aptly named, and they did the proper thing in observing the quarantine. 'The “proper thing”' Rachel quotes. 'Is that what we're calling cowardice?' she asks. Hank hangs his head and tells Rachel that his point is that the quarantine was a legitimate consideration – one they must turn to now, for if any of the Genoshans were infected, they could have brought the disease here. 'And if, God forbid, they did, then we're facing the end of the mutant race' Hank announces.
Rachel levitates Hank into the air, 'What of the injured?' she asks. Hank reports that there was blunt trauma, a few fractures, nothing serious – even Shadowcat only has concussion. 'They were holding back' Rachel realizes. Hank tells Rachel not to lose sight for a second of the fact that the Genoshans attacked them. 'I'm trying not to lose sight of anything' Rachel replies, before asking if they know who was abducted. Hank reports that Bombshell, Graymalkin and Wolverine, along with most of those Karma was possessing during the battle were taken. Rachel asks Hank to spread the word, she needs people for a mission to Genosha to get their people back. 'Finally, an ounce of sense' Hank mutters. Rachel reminds Hank that the team will be exposing themselves to the plague, so she needs volunteers. 'I'm sure there won't be any shortage' Hank responds. Rachel tells Hank that it isn't that simple, as they are not going up against Magneto or Sentinels or Cassandra Nova – they are invading a foreign country populated by old friends. 'We're going to war!'
