Passaic, New Jersey, inside a grocery store, a man holds up a carton of 2% milk, while his basket is filled with assorted fruits and vegetables. Suddenly someone calls out to him, 'Calvin Rankin?' 'Yep, I'm -' Calvin Rankin replies, turning around. He suddenly looks shocked: 'Hey now, just wait a -' he exclaims, wide-eyed, before someone fires a weapon at him, knocking him back. Other civilians begin to run as a younger version of Cable stands over Calvin Rankin a.k.a. Mimic, who has been knocked out with a tranquilizer dart. 'Your services are required' the time-displaced young Cable announces.
New York, specifically Central Park, the Xavier Institute for Mutant Education and Outreach:
The time-displaced Scott Summers a.k.a. Cyclops sits on the front steps. He looks more solemn than usual, as his teammate Jean Grey a.k.a. Marvel Girl approaches him and asks him if she can join him. 'I... I just want to be alone right now' Scott replies. Jean tells him that she knows he does, so sits down next to him and tells him that is not what he needs right now. Jean assures Scott that she is going to stay out of his head, that she isn't going to intrude – but she isn't going to leave him alone. Jean smiles and tells Scott that if he wants to talk, she is here, and if not, she is still here.
Scott looks at Jean, and asks her how she can do that, sit there and be so calm. 'Bloodstorm and Cable are dead. We don't know what happened to Bobby. And we... I... Bloodstorm... that's my fault. Ahab, he... he wanted me, not her' Scott declares.
'God' Scott utters as he puts a hand to his face. Jean tells him that it is not his fault, that he is taking on guilt for something a madman did. 'Ahab killed Bloodstorm, Scott... not you'.
Scott reminds Jean that this is what they have been fighting against since forever, and now, here they are, in the future, where they should already have made a difference – but nothing's changed – they're still fighting. 'Only now... we're dying'.
Shortly: 'Tell me it is not true! That Cable has not been slain!' Shatterstar gasps as he rushes into Kitty Pryde's office at the Xavier Institute, where the present day Jean Grey stands in front of Kitty's desk and tells Shatterstar that she is afraid so. 'Now that we're all here, let's get started' Jean adds. Sitting behind the desk are Armor and Rachel Grey a.k.a. Prestige. To Jean's right, are the various versions of the original X-Men: Bobby Drake a.k.a. Iceman, Dr Hank McCoy a.k.a. Beast and the shirtless Warren Worthington a.k.a. Angel, along with the time-displaced Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast and Angel. On the other side of the room are Kitty Pryde, Old Man Logan, Kurt Wagner a.k.a. Nightcrawler, Laura Kinney a.k.a. X-23, founding members of the original X-Force team Neena Thurman a.k.a. Domino, Sam Guthrie a.k.a. Cannonball, James Proudstar a.k.a. Warpath and Tabby Smith a.k.a. Boom-Boom. With them are two students Rockslide and Glob Herman, and the two unusual children recently rescued by the time-displaced X-Men.
Kitty Pryde states that in the last twenty-four hours, both Bloodstorm and Cable have been killed, and young Bobby is missing. 'We can only hope that he's still alive' she adds. 'If he were dead, I'd be gone too, right?' Bobby asks, reminding everyone that when the kids first came here, young Cyclops died for a minute, and adult Scott was vanished, like he was never there. 'So, it only stands to reason that if I'm still here, then so is Bobby' he suggests.
'Perhaps' the present Beast replies. 'Perhaps?' Bobby asks him. Beast cleans his glasses as he explains that time paradoxes are difficult to unravel, and that if the timeline has been sufficiently altered by the children being here, then it is possible that what happens to them here will have no impact on their present-day counterparts. 'So. He could be dead?' Bobby asks. 'I don't know' the Beast frowns.
Kitty Pryde tells everyone that they should assume young Bobby is alive, and adds that all they know at this point is that Ahab claimed he was here for Scott, then later, Bobby goes missing, and at the same time, Cable is killed by someone else, someone possibly working for Ahab. The former members of X-Force are grouped together, and Domino asks what they are standing around for, they should go find Ahab.
'We shall have our vengeance for what he has done! Cable was a mentor to me. To many of us' Shatterstar exclaims.
'It's not that easy' Rachel declares. Everyone turns to Rachel as she explains that Ahab can time-travel, that he could be hiding in another year, or another century, which would explain why he had Cable killed – the one person who would have been able to track Ahab through time. 'And... if he's here, if he's after the kids...' Rachel's voice trails off, while across the room, the little girl takes Old Man Logan's hand, and in her native French tells him that his hand is hurt. Logan tells her to shush.
Rachel continues, elaborating on where she left off, she tells the others that if Ahab is after the kids then it is because their deaths mean something bad, something terrible for mutantkind in the future. 'I've seen the future that Ahab wants. I should have known that he was coming when I started to change, when my Hound marking started to return' Rachel remarks, adding that they have to do everything in their power to stop it, that they have to protect young Scott, Jean, Hank and Warren like their lives depend on it – because they very well may.
Kitty proposes that they split into four teams, that each team will take one of the remaining original five back to their base and protect them. She explains that if they split the originals up, make them harder to find, then they can buy themselves the time they need to find Ahab, while also keeping them safe. The young X-Men look at Kitty, and Cyclops opens his mouth – but closes it when Kitty remarks that if there are no objections, she has made a list of how they should split up – but suddenly, Scott stands up and storms out of the room. 'Scott?' Marvel Girl calls out behind him.
Scott is outside now, and runs across the rain-soaked grounds in front of the Xavier Institute, with Warren running after him, 'Scott, they're just trying to help us' Warren explains, while Marvel Girl and Hank follow. 'They're trying to babysit us. Ahab's out there trying to kill us and they want to take us off the board, put us in little hidey holes' Scott exclaims angrily. 'That's not what -' Warren remarks, grabbing Scott's arm, but Scott spins around and tells Warren that is exactly what they are doing. 'This is our fight' Scott exclaims. 'Scott, they're -' Warren begins, but Scott tells him again 'Ours. And they're trying to keep us out of it!' Marvel Girl and Beast catch up to their teammates, and Marvel Girl concentrates hard, while Scott declares that Bobby needs them and they need Bobby, for without him, they can't go back, it doesn't work if it isn't all of them. 'Scott...' Jean begins. 'They're trying to sideline us' Scott exclaims. 'They're not. They're -' Angel tries to explain, before Jean calls out to him, then screams 'Shut up! Both of you!'
The rain pours down hard around the four young mutants, 'Something's wrong. Someone's -' Marvel Girl begins, when suddenly, Warren is struck down by a tranquilizer. 'Oh my God, he is -' Cyclops begins, while Beast reports that Warren is unconscious. 'Ahab! Show yourself, coward!' Cyclops shouts, readying an optic blast, while Hank asks Jean if she can get a read on him. Jean concentrates, but explains that whoever it is, they are blocking her from seeing them. There is a bang, the sound of a weapon firing, and Hank is struck in the neck by a tranq dart, but he quickly pulls it out, before collapsing. 'He's out cold' Jean reports as she checks his vitals. Scott tells Jean that he needs her to focus, and asks her where the shots are coming from. Her rain-drenched hair clinging to her face, Jean hangs her head, 'There' she indicates ahead into the woods, telepathically informing Scott that she thinks she has their attacker – she can't see him, but she can sense a void, that there should be something there, but there isn't. 'On it!' Scott replies as he runs towards the forest, and hears a gun click, as the hooded attacker stands behind a tree. Without hesitation, Cyclops fires a powerful optic blast, that blows the tree up and sends their attacker careening upwards, where Cyclops reaches him when he lands on the ground.
'I'm going to kill you for what you did to... Cable?' Cyclops remarks, surprised when the attacker's cloak falls backwards and he sees the young Cable looking up at him. 'Get off' Cable snarls, kicking the distracted Cyclops backwards, and knocking his visor off in the process. 'Wait!' Cyclops calls out, covering his eyes as the time-displaced Cable runs away. Scott contacts Jean telepathically and informs her that it is Cable and that he is coming her way. 'What?' the wide-eyed Jean responds, before noticing Cable running her way. Jean gets to her feet and stands in front of the unconscious Beast, 'Stop right there! I'll hurt you if I need to! I'm giving you three seconds to explain yourself' Jean warns Cable, telekinetic blasts ready as the rain continues to beat down on her. 'No. No talking' Cable replies as he comes to a stop near the unconscious Angel. Jean asks Cable if he took Bobby, to which he simply tells her that she can't be here, that she has been told, she already knows – and yet she is still here. 'The time for talking has long since passed' Cable decides, before grabbing Angel and shouting 'Bodyslide by two' and a blue glow surrounds him as he and Angel vanish. 'No!' Jean shouts.
Suddenly: 'Jean? Was that...?' the present-day Jean Grey asks as she rushes out into the rain, leading the others behind her. 'It was Cable' Marvel Girl replies. 'He looked... like a kid' Jean remarks. 'Great, more kid versions of X-Men. What could possible go wrong?' Iceman asks above the others on an ice-slide. Marvel Girl informs the others that Cable got Angel and hurt Hank. 'Is he going to be okay?' Cyclops asks as he returns and watches as the present-day Beast checks on his younger self, reporting that young McCoy is unconscious but seems to be otherwise fine. Beast adds that he will run a diagnostic on him in his lab, just to be sure.
'That seals it. We need to get the kids out of here. Now' Kitty announces. Jean asks her younger self if she would like to come with her to Searebro, but Marvel Girl folds her arms: 'No. I want to go with them' she announces, turning to the former members of X-Force – Domino, Cannonball, Shatterstar, Boom-Boom and Warpath.
Later: 'GUH!' young Hank gasps as he wakes in a lab his present-day self is using. 'What happened?' Hank asks. Hank the older informs him that he was shot with a pretty sophisticated tranquilizer dart, but luckily, he pulled it out before it could deploy the full dosage. 'Otherwise you would have been unconscious for much, much longer' he explains. Young Hank rubs the back of his neck and asks if it was Ahab and whether everyone else is okay. 'It was Cable' older Beast reveals. 'But he's -' young Beast remarks, to which older Beast explains that this is a younger version of Cable. 'What?' young Beast asks, confused, before older Beast informs him that Angel was taken. Older Beast then injects his younger self with something, explaining that it will help him deal with the grogginess due to the residual drugs in his system.
'He... he attacked us right on the front lawn of the mansion, while more than a dozen X-Men were sitting just feet away' young Hank remarks, adding that it is brazen. 'I don't believe so' older Hank replies, suggesting that it is actually desperate. 'I know Cable... well, the older Cable... and he has a brilliant mind for military tactics. I don't believe that he'd stage an attack like today's unless he was desperate' older Beast explains.
Young Hank asks if this Cable killed his older self and took Bobby, to which older Hank tells him that it only stands to reason. Young Hank glances away, wondering why Cable would do this, why he would attack them. Older Hank tells him that he doesn't know, that he has theories, but supposes that they will find out soon enough.
At time-displaced Cable's base, young Angel is strung up by chains, the mechanical device that his cosmic wings emerge from is clamped down – and a piece of machinery like a buzz-saw suddenly starts lowering towards where the mechanism connects with Warren's back. Warren glances backwards, before screaming in agony as the saw begins to cut the mechanism from him. Young Cable sits nearby watching. He sips a hot drink and declares 'You brought this on yourself'.
Back at the Xavier Institute, Storm has arrived and follows Kitty and Old Man Logan down a corridor as Logan asks Kitty if she thinks this is the best idea – splitting everyone up. 'I don't know, Logan. I'm hoping -' Kitty starts to reply, when suddenly, several Hounds burst into the mansion. 'Mutants! Kill the mutants!' one of them roars, as an alarm begins to sound. 'Well, that didn't take long!' older Hank remarks in the lab as he and young Hank hear the alarm. Ahab blasts through the front doors of the mansion and asks 'you think that you can hide the young X-Men from me? That Ahab the Hound Master wouldn't just come directly to you...and snatch them from your grasp?' he asks. 'You'll have to go through me, Peg Leg' Logan snarls as he starts battling one of the Hounds. Storm charges one of the Hounds with a blast of lightning, while Armor fights back several Hounds at once, and Hellion knocks two back with a surge of telekinetic energy. Glob Herman tries to keep one of the Hounds at bay, while Kitty looks after the two young children who were in the corridor, and reaches out to a young woman as a Hound shoves its hand through.
'It's really him' Rachel Grey goes wide-eyed as she sees Ahab. 'Rachel?' young Beast calls out as he and his present-day self arrive on scene. 'No! Not again!' Rachel shouts as she flies towards Ahab, telling him that he made a mistake coming here and that she is going to make sure he regrets it. 'You monster!' Rachel exclaims. 'Monster? That's rich, coming from one of the most notoriously bloodthirsty Hounds' Ahab responds as he throws his harpoon spear at Rachel, striking her in her shoulder and knocking her back 'Tell, me, Rachel, do your friends know how many of their kind you killed in your time? Do they know how much joy you took from it? How you lapped up the blood of other mutants and begged for more?' Ahab asks.
Young Beast calls out to Rachel as she lands near him, spear still sticking out of her shoulder. 'Are you okay?' young Hank asks, but Ahab moves towards him and informs him that he is not interested in killing her, that it does him no benefit, gives him no advantage. 'Not like killing you would' Ahab adds, telling young Hank not to worry, that Rachel will survive – unlike him. Suddenly, there is a snap, and Ahab declares that it is his other Hounds they should worry about, as young Hank, holding Rachel in his arms, looks up to see Old Man Logan, who now has Hound markings on his face, turn to him, roaring, with claws at the ready....
