(Jean Grey School for Higher Learning)
Shogo lets out a loud wail and Jubilee sits bolt upright in her bed. Still half asleep she mutters that she is up and then goes to tend to the baby boy. Picking up her sunglasses, she staggers to the next room whilst wondering why he is crying like this now as he normally just says “buh.” Looking around, she also wonders where the two babysitters are too. She puts on her glasses and sees Shogo on his playmate on the floor kicking and screaming. Broo, watching over Shogo, greets Jubilee and tells him they are playing. Confused as to what is going on, she starts to asks questions but then stops and says she doesn’t care.
Later on, she is sat in a common room holding Shogo. Armor hands her a round necklace-like device that has a series of buttons on it. Jubilee asks what it is and Armor says it’s for Shogo and was Roxy’s idea and is based off her power. Roxy, aka Bling!, who is sitting next to Jubilee says that she got the idea when she heard that Shogo had gone on a mission with the X-Men. He will need some defense if he is to run with the X-Men.
As Jubilee looks at the device, Bling! explains it’s like a panic button. Jubilee still doesn’t understand what it does but before anyone can say anything else an alarm rings out. Armor gets up and tells her it’s the proximity alarm. One of the X-jets must be coming back in. Bling! tells Jubilee the important thing is the device will keep Shogo safe. It is already keyed to Jubilee’s biometrics but she might want to program in someone else so they can work it too. She asks Jubilee if there is someone else she trusts like Storm or Wolverine. Jubilee smiles and says it should be Bling! since she designed it.
Bling! is taken aback and tells her it would be an honor. She then tells Jubilee that she could really do with talking to her about the thing between her and Mercury. But before she can continue, Armor comes back and gets their attention. Apparently, Rachel contacted her in her head and told her to secure the young Beast and Iceman. Armor says that they bugged out with Magik, though.
The Dove and the Blackbird are on approach to the school. On board the Blackbird, Wolverine gets Rachel’s attention but she tells him not to give her another lecture. Wolverine points to his head to indicate for her to use telepathy. Telepathically, Rachel tells him that they may talk privately like this but it is not invisible. If anyone wants to check, they will find a neat little black hole where her brain used to be. Before he can say anything, she adds that it wasn’t an opening for a joke either. Wolverine says he has to ask her a favor. Something is not right with these future X-Men. He can’t say what or why but something is not right. She asks if he wants her to spy on them. He tells her he does but to be careful as he might be wrong. She asks him if he’s wrong and he replies no way in Hell. As the jets land at the school, she tells him she’ll see what she can do.
As the groups of X-Men walk through the hanger deck modern, Beast tells young Jean that he appreciates it’s difficult but it’s the right thing to do. She snaps back and tells him to save the platitudes as it isn’t helping. Jubilee stands before them and happily greets them, not as X-Men but as potential babysitters. Xavier dryly tells her she’s amusing and says their time is in short supply. The future Jean says she will take the three original X-Men they have to the time cube.
Young Jean goes to speak to Kitty but she tells her to be quiet or she’ll start crying. Young Cyclops turns around and says he is proud of everyone for the first rate class heroics. They are a credit to Charles Xavier’s name. From the back, Xavier adds he is Charles Xavier and sarcasm doesn’t suit him as he’s too clean cut. He then brings up the matter of the remaining two of the original five.
Bling! enters the hanger at this moment and asks if he means Iceman and Beast, because they are gone. Xavier angrily turns to her and asks where they went. Bling! is a little surprised and asks why he is so mad at her. Xavier points out that was minor irritation, perhaps a bit of annoyance. He then shows her what mad feels like and she grabs her head in pain. He demands she tells him where the two X-Men went. As he looks into her mind, he sees they went into the future, his future. He cannot believe it and it shocked that they let them. As Bling! kneels on the floor in pain Wolverine goes up to Xavier and tells him that’s not how they do things there. Xavier angrily tells Wolverine his entire life is a manual on how not to do things.
Xavier tells the future Kitty that it is exactly what they feared and it’s not a matter of if they are coming but when. They don’t have time to maintain the charade, so they should skip to the punch line. Wolverine goes up to Xavier and tells him he isn’t done with him yet. Xavier tells him to get his hands off him as he is so uninformed it’s pathetic. Jubilee tries to calm them down and asks what’s going on. Behind her, Rachel clutches her head and says it’s all wrong… they’re all wrong. Jubilee asks her what the matter is and Rachel screams Logan was right. Wolverine unsheathes his claws and damns himself for being right.
Xavier calmly looks towards the future Kitty and tells her to do it. Kitty leaps forward but, as she does, she begins to change. Her skin turns blue and her hair red. She unsheathes three metal claws out of her fist and then stabs Wolverine with them. The face staring into Wolverine’s now belongs to a man who bears a remarkable resemblance to Mystique. He tells Wolverine that the look on his face is totally worth it and then calls him “dad.”
(Beast’s lab)
As the other group of X-Men prepares to send young Jean, Cyclops and Angel back, the future Jean steadies herself for a moment. Storm asks if she is okay and Jean tells her it’s been a hard mission. Time travel affects telepaths more than others and she has been a telepath for a long time. She says the end is near but her younger self stares at her and tells her it’s a funny way of putting it considering what she is going back to.
Older Jean tells her that what’s happened has happened and it’s something she needs to accept. She tells her to enjoy her youth and maybe a live-fast-die-young ethos is the way she should go. Young Cyclops comes over and yells at her, telling her she should be more understanding. They agreed to go back, the least she can do is shut up and let them feel bad if they want to. The older Jean tells Scott to never change.
Xavier suddenly psychically contacts the older Jean. He says their cover is blown and the original Iceman and Beast are AWOL. He tells her to lock down the time cube and secure the three X-Men they have. Jean tells him she understands and then lets out a telepathic blast that knocks everyone in the room down. She apologizes to Beast’s future counterpart as she had to act quickly, because young Jean is too powerful. Holding his head, he tells her he understands but he wishes it didn’t hurt so much. She reminds him they are old and that, if they have been discovered in the future, then their contemporaries won’t be far behind. Beast says it doesn’t change their plan, only the time schedule. He will whip up some power dampeners and hack into the school’s defensive systems. He asks Jean if they will need any help upstairs and she points out they would ask if they did.
Upstairs, Rachel rushes over to a bleeding Wolverine. Behind them, the shapeshifter, Raze, looks at his hands and comments how he is still there, which means he didn’t kill his father. Rachel sends out a telepathic message to Storm to warn them they are under attack. Xavier mind blasts her though and tells her Storm is unable to hear her at the moment.
Jubilee hands Shogo to Psylocke and then lungs forward, baring her claws and teeth. She says she hates it when telepaths fight because she has no idea what’s going on. But she is blaming Xavier anyway because she doesn’t like him. She pounces on Xavier and he tells her it’s all unnecessary. Jubilee says they tried to kill Logan and they hurt Rachel. Xavier tells her he doesn’t want to kill any of them. As Jubilee fights with Xavier, the huge Iceman grabs her from behind and tosses her high into the air. Rogue rushes forward and attempts to borrow some of Iceman’s powers but, when she touches him, she finds there is no one inside it. He spins around and punches Rogue down but he in turn is knocked down by Psylocke and a telekinetic mace.
Standing over Iceman, she says that the ball weighs ninety pounds and she swung it one handed and she thinks the baby just pooped too. Being a mum is easy. Rachel and Xavier square off against each other in a telepathic battle. She tells him that he is not part of the X-Men and he replies that it’s all a matter of perspective. He has no interest in killing her but he will hurt her for helping Scott and Jean escape. He tells her to look at Logan, as he is now down one pint of blood more than he would recommend anyone being without. Plus, she has a building full of children so she should be smart and stand down. Alls he wants is the original five, so deliver them and be spared further trouble. Channeling her hound persona, Rachel says he will have to take them from her. With that, she lets out a huge blast and smashes Xavier’s astral form.
As a stunned Xavier kneels on the floor, with blood coming out of his nose, Rachel stands over him and tells him he can’t always get what he wants. She is suddenly hit on the back of the head by Molly Hayes, who tells her that is the worst cliché ever. She helps Xavier up and he tells her they need it to end before their contemporaries arrive. As Wolverine groans in pain on the floor, Raze says he forgot about his missing healing factor. It must suck for him. Like watching them work over his friends and he being able to barely take half a breath of air.
Deadpool apologizes to Psylocke as he draws his sword out. He means it too, as she is the scariest X-Man and he is basically half in love with her. He corrects himself and says that he is fully in love with her and mostly scared. Still holding Shogo and pointing a telekinetic katana at Deadpool and Raze, she reminds them what she just did to Iceman.
From above, Jubilee pokes her head through the hole in the roof she made when she was thrown through it. She yells at Shogo and tells him to push the beep-beep. Shogo pushes it and a small red force-field forms around him, much to Psylocke’s surprise. As Shogo gleefully spins in the force-field, Deadpool and Raze attack Psylocke. Shogo bounces away and Psylocke yells for Jubilee to get him out of there. Jubilee leaps down and grabs him. She says to Bling!, who has just recovered from Xavier’s telepathic attack, that she can’t believe she made him a hamster ball.
As Psylocke continues her fight, she yells for Jubilee to get going and she will be right behind her. Jubilee grabs Bling!’s hand and leads her away, saying that she hates bailing on friends. Psylocke kicks Deadpool in the throat as Raze comes up behind her. He asks what the matter is, as he thought she said she would be right behind Jubilee. Psylocke turns around and the two square off against each other.
Down in Beast’s lab, the three captured original X-Men are in handcuffs and are stood on the time cube. Future Beast is operating a console as Jean talks to the other X-Men, who are handcuffed and sitting on the floor. She walks over to them and apologizes for how it has gone down. She looks at Storm and tells her they are all innocent bystanders. Storm says that she may have taken them down but they are in a school full of students and teachers ready to take any attacker down. Jean says she never had anything but respect for her and she is a superb leader with a priority of getting the job done. But she has been out-played here. Future Beast says he now has control of the school and it only took one try of the password.
All dormitories and classrooms have been locked down and blast doors are in place. Oxygen is also at minimal levels to discourage proactive movements. All teacher’s rooms and quarters are locked down with full security protocols. Cheyenne Mountain doesn’t have fail-safes like this school does. Beast says that Xavier has subdued Krakoa and he has all the defenses primed. Plus, he has a handful of tricks he just whipped up. He gets excited and says he feels like he is twenty years old again. Jean says she always enjoyed watching him work and he tells her it’s been a pleasure. He then gets her to tell the others they are now set for the arrival of their friends from the future.
Outside, a little way off from the school, present day Cyclops and his team stand alongside the real future X-Men. Future Jubilee asks if that is as close as Magik can get them. Cyclops says the school will have perimeter sensors, so this is exactly where they should be. They can assess the situation before making a move. Sentinel-X blasts up into the air and tells them that waiting around won’t get the job done. If they need recon, then he is heading in. As he flies away, Cyclops looks at Jubilee but she tells him Sentinel-X is right and he knows it.
Sentinel-X lands in the school yard and spots signs of a fight. He radios back and says that something big went down there but there aren’t any signs of students, casualties or combatants. Something gets his attention and he turns to a small tunnel in the earth. From inside the tunnel, Jubilee yells at the figure before her not to come closer. Sentinel-X is stunned to see Jubilee, Bling! and Shogo making their way out. Jubilee says that if he doesn’t identify himself now she is going to knock him and his cheesy battle suit into next week. She has had a real bad day so give her a reason. Sentinel-X takes off his face-mask and tells her he recognizes that tone. He then calls her mum, much to their shock.
Realizing that she is looking at a future version of Shogo, Jubilee leaps into his arms and thanks God that they didn’t take them away from her. He hugs her and notices that she is crying. He tells her it’s going to be okay but another voice tells him he is wrong. Psylocke, bleeding and holding her arm, emerges from the tunnel too. She tells him that okay is the last word she would use to describe it.
