CHRONOLOGY
Note: Contains only issues that are relevant to the plots, themes and characters from the X.S.E. future, while the many other missions that Shard and Bishop perform as members of the X-Men or X-Factor are left out.
It is not known where or when Fitzroy and Bantam emerged after they teleported away from the prison riot. Apparently some time passes as Fitzroy assembles some body armor with built in weapon systems and a group of Sentinels that obey his commands. Having settled in this time, Fitzroy got in contact with the Upstarts and Shinobi Shaw (who might be his ancestor or only the son of his ancestor, if Fitzroy stems from another yet unknown/unborn child of Sebastian Shaw). The Upstarts are a group of young, powerful and wealthy mutants that are in a competition, they gain points by performing tasks named by the Gamesmaster; usually these tasks involve killing certain mutants. The first set of targets is the present and former members of the Hellfire Club‘s Inner Circle.
Fitzroy and his Sentinels attack Donald Pierce and crash a Hellfire Club party held by Emma Frost, not knowing that the X-Men were attending too. In the following battle Fitzroy kills some Hellions and captures a group of about 20 more, never before seen members of the Hellfire Club’s trainee team. He also claims the body of Emma Frost, which was shot by Sentinels, as his prize, not knowing that Jean Grey had transported her essence into the telepath’s mind, while she was in danger of getting killed. Later, when Xavier at the X-mansion realizes what Jean has done, he is able to locate Emma’s body and sends the X-Men to Fitzroy’s stronghold to retrieve it.
At the same time Fitzroy and Bantam are talking when suddenly an old timeportal re-appears. Two people try to step through but they are fused into a single mass, and are barely alive. Fitzroy absorbs the two life forces and gets angry at Bantam, who is supposed to monitor and catalog all of his portals. Bantam apologizes, but his calculations had indicated that the energies Fitzroy used to create that timegate should have expired by now. Fitzroy threatens his lackey to do a better job or else he would be used to energize the next portal. He then goes on to experiment with the captured Hellions.
He drains one of them and uses the absorbed energy of her and the two deformed people to correctly open a gate big enough to transport three future criminals from the prison riot to the present. Their names are Burke, Stylles and Kroeger. They are happy to be finally free, but Fitzroy reminds them of the pact they made in exchange for their release. Kroeger couldn’t care less about any earlier agreements, he wants to leave and so Fitzroy releases him from the pact. He tells him that the other end of the timeportal must have shifted by now and that he may step through to find a new life there. Kroeger does as Fitzroy suggests only to be ripped apart by the portal; Fitzroy laughs and tells the remaining two that his structures have only enough energy for one-way trips.
Suddenly the X-Men arrive, eager to get their teammate back. They battle Fitzroy’s Sentinels, and appear to be winning; Fitzroy then absorbs the life-energies of all remaining captive Hellions and creates a timeportal bigger than ever before. From it dozens of criminals from the future prison riot appear.
The X-Men are now completely outnumbered, but suddenly three other figures emerge – Bishop, Randall and Malcolm.
They capture Fitzroy and two other criminals and try to push them back through the portal, but as the first villain is disrupted by the one-way-gate, Fitzroy laughs at the three X.S.E. officers as they are now stuck in the 20th century with dozens of villains. Bishop realizes that they have no means to bring the criminals back so he orders Malcolm and Randall to terminate all of them. They start to fire, but the X-Men won’t allow murder. They try to stop Bishop and his men, which causes Bishop to believe that these aren’t the legends of his childhood stories but really impostors pretending to be the X-Men. During the fight Fitzroy is taken away by Shinobi Shaw‘s men and the future criminals run off. After continuing their argument for a while, the X-Men and Bishop’s squad are separated as the building collapses (all from Uncanny X-Men #281-283).
Days later, Bishop, Malcolm and Randall hunt down three villains that have split from the main group. They have been drinking very much and have captured, tortured and killed some women. Bishop and his men terminate all three of the Villains. Later the media reports this as a fight between a mutant gang and the X-Men (Uncanny X-Men #284-285).
Again some time passes till the X.S.E. officers locate the rest of the future villains who are all hiding in a dance club in New York. They storm the building and try to kill all the fugitives. At the mansion cerebro reacts to the many new mutant signatures, but it also recognizes that their number is declining; obviously mutants are dying. In the night club, Bishop, Malcolm and Randall have terminated many of their foes, but then the remaining villains regroup and fire upon the three friends. Bishop orders Randall and Malcolm to seek cover as he tries to absorb the gunfire and redirect it at the enemies, but they disobey and stay by Bishop’s side. The firefight seems to go on forever and in the end, only Bishop is left standing as the X-Men arrive. They find him mourning over the loss of Randall and Malcolm, and since he seems to be responsible for the multiple murders they try to capture him. He suddenly sees Styglut, one of the future villains running away. Bishop fires a blast that narrowly misses Storm by a few inches. He wants to follow Styglut but the X-Men knock him out with a combination of Archangel’s neuroblades and Colossus‘ punches. Jean Grey discovers that Bishop had not intended to kill Storm, but actually saved her life by firing at a villain standing behind her ready to shoot. The X-Men take him to the mansion, where Xavier probes his mind and talks to him in private for about twenty minutes. Much to the surprise of the others, Xavier then announces Bishop as the newest X-Man (Uncanny X-Men #287).
When first introduced to the other X-Men, Bishop calls Forge by his future alias Genesis, reveals that Jubilee was the last X-Man of his timeline, and freaks out when meeting Gambit. Bishop believes to recognize him as the Witness called LeBeau, who was the last person to see the X-Men alive. Now seeing him among the X-Men only shortly after seeing the Traitor Tape (which he saw before arriving in this time), where Jean Grey had said that the X-Men were attacked from within, Bishop assumes that this traitor will be Gambit (X-Men (2nd series) #8).
Storm and some others take Bishop sightseeing to New York City. He is amazed by the structures that he only knows as ruins in his future. Suddenly he becomes aware of Styglut accompanied by two ladies. Immediately Bishop snaps into his X.S.E, attitude again and starts a fight, Styglut is the only future prisoner still alive, besides Fitzroy and Bantam and Bishop wants to finish his task. Styglut absorbs the life-energies of his two admirers and shoots electric blasts at Bishop, who simply absorbs them. Storm throws some lightning hoping to separate the combatants, but unwillingly she provides Bishop with more electricity, that he re-channels and uses to hurl Styglut into a nearby building, killing him. Storm reasons with bishop, she knows that the man was a convicted criminal, but the X-Men do not kill and also innocent bystanders were endangered by his actions. Bishop realizes that in his timeline he did not have to worry about civilians because they scurried for cover whenever the X.S.E. were seen. Bishop finally accepts that he has a lot to learn in this new time era (Uncanny X-Men #288).
Later Fitzroy betrays ...
Later Fitzroy betrays the Upstarts' secret founder Selene and puts her into a torturing device called the spooling chamber to get the Gamesmaster's attention. The Gamesmaster holds a telepathic conference of all Upstarts and announces their next target: Forge. Soon after the meeting Fitzroy attacks Forge and Mystique, who currently lives at his place. The X-Men interfere and rescue Forge from certain death. During the battle Fitzroy reveals some details of the future and calls Forge by the name “Genesis“; he is then beaten and caught (Uncanny X-Men #301-302).
Free again Fitzroy also competes in the Upstarts‘ final game, which involves hunting down former members of the Hellions and the New Mutants. Siena Blaze captures Cannonball and Boomer. In Kentucky X-Force learns from Cannonball's family that he and Boomer were kidnapped by Siena Blaze. With the game now officially open, Fitzroy confronts X-Force demanding Rictor and Warpath as they are also on the hit list. The group starts to fight him and are able to capture his lackey, Bantam, who was hiding nearby. From him they learn that life force is needed to activate Fitzroy’s teleportation gates. Cable tricks him into trying to drain his techno-organic arm and Fitzroy’s power backfires and he accidentally drains himself. Fitzroy is presumed dead and, energized from his own energies, a last portal is opened. X-Force order Bantam to make sure that the portal will bring them to the other Upstarts that captured some of their friends; in exchange Bantam is allowed to escape (X-Force #32-33).
Bishop is plagued by guilt as he sees the deaths of Malcolm and Randall as his responsibility. He creates scenarios in the Danger Room and tries to prevent their deaths in holosimulation, although the other X-Men think he should let go of the past (Uncanny X-Men Annual #18) . Xavier interrupts one of theses many training sessions and orders Bishop to spend some civil time. He orders him to go to New York City with Ororo. Before leaving Bishop speaks in private with Forge. He hands him a holographic projector from his own era, containing the brain patterns and memories of his sister Shard. He wants Forge to repair it since it seems to have developed a glitch. (Although the projector was never been seen before, Bishop must have had it with him since jumping to the present).
In New York Bantam searches out the help of Bishop and Storm. He says that for weeks a future villain named Mountjoy has chased him, and without Fitzroy he is without protection. Bishop does not believe him, since he had an exact body count of all villains that made the timejump to the present, and Bantam should be the last unaccounted for, but Bantam explains that Mountjoy had been riding inside him and now attempts to kill him so that Bishop might not learn of him being in the present.
Bishop fills in Storm about Mountjoy, as a so-called merger his powers manifest in two different ways. He can either merge into another body like a silent partner, Mountjoy’s will is dominant, but the victim is conscious and aware of everything happening; the other possible usage allows Mountjoy to absorb others into himself, then he gains everything (soul, power, memory) of the victim, who after a short while is digested and killed, if not pulled out again.
While they are talking Mountjoy already sneaks up on them and absorbs Storm into himself. Bishop is forced to fight his teammate and Mountjoy taps into Ororo's memories to learn how to use her elemental powers, additionally he shoots Bishop with some poisoned darts. Knowing that Ororo will soon die Bishop gains the strength to grab the merged being and threatens to kill him if Mountjoy doesn’t release Ororo. Mountjoy does as he is told and before Bishop passes out. Storm fights Mountjoy before he decides to flee. During the battle Bantam runs away (Bishop #1).
Bishop is taken to the mansion‘s medilab, where upon waking up, he finds Shard sitting at his bedside. Forge comes in and explains that he was able to repair the holoprojector and also made some improvements as Shard is now completely interactive and linked to Bishop’s brainwave. To activate all he has to do is think of her. Xavier and Shard discuss about how to approach the Mountjoy situation, Shard says that Bishop should have killed Storm in order to get rid of the villain. Bishop agrees partially, as he considers hunting down Mountjoy his responsibility and others should not be endangered. He decides to hunt down Mountjoy on his own. In New York City Bishop is able to track down Mountjoy, but his injuries and the dart poison have caused Bishop to hallucinate off his past. This causes enough distraction for Mountjoy to take over Bishop. “Riding“ his opponent he decides to use the opportunity to infiltrate the X-mansion. Once there however Bishop fights back for control and Mountjoy lets go off him only to possess the unsuspecting Psylocke. Before Bishop can do anything to stop him, Mountjoy also absorbs Gambit and Archangel and has now the combined abilities of all three X-Men. Shard tells Bishop that by killing Storm under possession it would have cost only one X-Man’s life, but now there are three that have to be killed, but Bishop comes up with another plan. He lures Mountjoy into the Danger Room and seals it off to prevent him from absorbing anyone else. Then he displays Shard’s holomatrix through the Room’s technology so that she can become solid and hold Mountjoy in place, as his powers can't affect her. Bishop uses amplified electricity blasts to force Mountjoy into releasing his captives, unfortunately Shard’s matrix destabilizes and the projector is majorly damaged. Xavier oversaw the battle from the control room and is proud of Bishop's‘ decision not to kill his opponent (Bishop #2-4).
Every now and then, when he’s not busy with X-Factor, Forge once more tries to repair the projector and discovers an amazing amount of untapped potential within the device. Shard becomes a worthy addition to X-Factor and helps them out many times although her matrix sometimes destabilizes (X-Factor #116 and following issues).
Mountjoy soon escapes the local authorities and makes his way to England where he infiltrates the London branch of the Hellfire Club “riding“ the Scribe. In Paris, Selene discovered an amnesiac Madelyne Pryor and uses her for a very special revenge. For months she had been spying on Fitzroy who survived his own power drain but needed time to recover. Madelyne is able to distract Fitzroys attention as Selene approaches him. She uses some sort of Vampire kiss to place him completely under her control as payment for having been put in the Spooling Chamber. Selene and her allies then help to (re)form the Hellfire Club III. To test Madelyne’s abilities Shaw asks her to battle the London Scribe. Surprisingly Madelyne is able to pull the merger Mountjoy out of her opponent’s body (Excalibur #100, X-Man #17, 23)
Around the same time during the so called Onslaught crisis it becomes clear that it was actually Xavier who is the traitor that Jean Grey tried to warn about in the scrambled videotape. It’s Bishop’s presence that prevents the X-Men from dying as he is able to absorb a psionic bolt meant to kill them (X-Men Onslaught)
Even though Bishop knows that Forge repaired the holoprojector he refuses to accept Shard as his sister. For him she only represents a videotape of a fading memory. Wildchild and Storm arrange a meeting for the two during which they attempt to sort out their differences but a hound attacks them. Certain governmental agencies have learned of the existence of the holoprojector and they want to access the knowledge held within it. The hound renders Bishop unconscious and steals the projector. Placed into a containment chamber Shard is separated from the projector and scientists then start downloading the data files from it when Bishop, Storm and Wildchild arrive. Shard is freed from the chamber and uses the last of her coherent light to blast the projector apart. She knows that this would end her existence but she wants to prevent anyone gaining data from the future. Bishop and the others destroy the complex and leave. They board their plane only to find Shard. Somehow the projector destruction by herself had led to her rebirth as a photon based lifeform, completely independent from any outside device. Bishop is glad to have his sister back (Uncanny X-Men Annual ’96). Later Bishop asks Shard to join her among the X-Men, but Shard gets angry with him. In their future everybody only saw her as Bishop’s little sister and she wants to prevent this in the present and make a mark for herself. They discuss and bring up many old unresolved arguments between them and but they learn much more about each other in the process. In the end Shard offers to follow Bishop’s wish but he agrees that she needs to build a life on her own and so she becomes a full time member of X-Factor (X.S.E. #1-4).
X-Factor had problems with ...
X-Factor had problems with the former villains Mystique and Sabretooth on their team and sooner or later something bad had to happen. Sabretooth betrayed them and attacked the various members. Shard throws herself in the way as Polaris is attacked and unexpectedly Creed’s claws damage her energy form too. She depixelates and disappears (X-Factor #136). A short while later Lorna starts acting very strangely as she recovers from her injuries and not before long it becomes clear that her magnetism had interacted with Shard’s destabilizing matrix, pulling Shard inside of her body. In the future, Fixx recognized Shard being alive in a human body in the present. Using the fairy inside Shard’s head as an anchor she pulls the essences of the three X.U.E. members to the present. As Shard is released from Lorna’s body, three fairies emerge too and they fly away (X-Factor #141).
Across town a gangster named Jude Black has taken a woman hostage and forces a bus to drive where he wants. Among the passengers is a young boy, who only wants to leave the city. The bus gets involved in an accident and all three of them die, but the bodies are entered by the 3 psionic fairies. They come back to life, but now they are host bodies for Archer, Fixx and Greystone.
They look like the humans, but when they use their mutant abilities they manifest their true appearance. Their future leader had told them how to contact Mystique and they inform her about a terrible incident that they have to prevent. It becomes clear that they are talking about Havok, who has just uncovered the dark Beast‘s experiments in the Morlock tunnels. Alex is about to release hundreds of humans from strange pods, but the X.U.E. officers fight him to try and prevent him opening the pods. Shard arrives on the scene and is not too happy to see the extremists from her future and joins in the fight. The fighting ends, as Fixx is able to explain that the humans are test subjects for the Legacy Virus and that in their timeline, by releasing the people, Havok will accidentally cause an epidemic that kills millions (X-Factor #143-144).
Days later Greystone reads in the newspaper about a kidnapped child named Micah Leash. He recognizes him as a future hound and camp overseer and wants to kill him to prevent lots of suffering, but Fixx and Archer are against it. Still they help him to track the boy down and rescue him in time before young Micah is scared by an occult sect. Fixx realizes that this traumatic event would have led to Micah becoming the person he was in the future, but now his future path is open again (X-Factor #145).
The X.U.E. members try to adjust to the present and deal with the lives of their host bodies. Greystone in the body of Brian Young deals with an abusive father and Archer as the terrorist Jude Black re-bonds with his family. Fixx is unable to access her hosts' body, and becomes aware that Archer is being attacked, she then attempts to call the rest of X-Factor. She is forced to connect Havok with a psionic fairy, which results in a permanent link (X-Factor #146). Later Havok tries to re-organize X-Factor and asks various people to join. Archer turns him down; he decides that he has done his share to prevent the XSE future and now retires as Jude Black. Greystone starts to develop temporal insanity. He wants to know if he really changed the future, but Fixx tells him that they will never know for sure. In his madness Greystone attempts to build a time machine but the structure explodes killing him and apparently Havok (who is transported to the Mutant X universe) (X-Factor #149).
After a series of adventures in outer space with Deathbird, Bishop returns to earth only to find the X-Men disbanded. He decides to finish an older duty, namely hunting down Fitzroy, and meets Shard, who encountered him recently. Both are transported to an unknown future that is ruled by the Chronomancer, who is actually Fitzroy. (Detailed events will be in “Bishop / Chronomancer“. For now it is enough to reveal that both Shard and Fitzroy die and a chronal explosion takes Bishop back to the present (Bishop : The Last X-Man #1, 14).
Recently Bishop and Gambit met the Witness, who revealed to be at every point in time at once (Gambit & Bishop #3) .