#-- Paradise Genosha ||

[magnetic-regent-magneto]

𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐒

(includes descriptions and tags of everything that is not the 'normal' 616 based lore and universe. All always available.)

↪     --MAGNETO 2099 || dominion

Charles and Moira came to him-- told him of the future, of timelines destroyed and failed. And he was not satisfied with that. He lost Genosha. Lost his children. No more. A temporal storm took apart the ruins of Genosha, only contained by Storm. As a result, Magneto and her found themselves teleported to Krakoa in 2099. He is the crusader. The protector. This island shall not fall as it travels the multiverse to harbour all mutants who seek a home ... and he shall find what he seeks.

↪    -- #—GOLDEN TRACKS || AU

In a world where Art Deco 1920s meets Mafia movie, families and mobs have taken over various parts of the grand city of New Genosha, Max "Magnus" Eisenhardt rules the steel and mechanical industry and created the first, consistent cross-country train system. The Acolytes, who have the regional radio under their whim, follow his lead.It took a revolution for them to get power and more powerful groups intent to get a piece. Former alliances and enemies quickly go out the window for new eras.

↪     -- ANARCHY X ||

-- Set During #--UXBLUE ||

What if there are no X-Men to stop Magneto? After Magneto’s third destruction of Genosha, mutantkind lies scattered across the world. The X-Men are nowhere to be found. Trash dumps are filled with mutant bodies, in whole city parts, mutants sleep an eternal sleep. 

Magneto destroys London on a grand scale to unearth the perpetrators behind the ruthless torture. Mutants become more and more riled up. With no place to go, their fear becomes rage. Humans believe Magneto gone after the London incident, but a team of unlikely and chaotic allies form.

↪     -- PARADISE GENOSHA ||

-- Alternate Storyline to #--UXBLUE || Continues AnarchyX

What if Krakoa!Magneto was already existent during this time? What if someone else took the mantle of the mutant fighter? A year after London’s destruction, Genosha rises from the sea. It is formed from metal and debris of humankind, a new home for mutants. Magneto wears a holy white. The X-Men have gone more or less rogue. Pride is celebrated and mutants allow themselves to live in safety and flourish. But something is afoot. Sharks don’t sleep.

↪     -- Mutantmen of the Apocalypse ||

-- Alternate Storyline to #--UTOPIA || Continues & Ends Paradise Genosha

#Mutantmen of the apocalypse (Formerly DC/Marvel Crossover Event)

What if the pest of death strikes, controlled into armies that take down all that lives upon Earth? All heroes unite to fight on their own fronts. But there are other forces interested in playing against death that offer a helping hand if one can stay alive long enough. (Black Lanterns or the Symbiotes invade Earth. Verse to play god to)

↪     -- TERRA X ||

-- Alternate Storyline to #--KRAKOA and includes #--ARRAKO ||

Earth and Sol is still a habitat of mutantkind. As much as humans seek to destroy it, or it seeks to destroy itself, a group of mutants has taken it as their task to take care of Mother Earth and the other planets of the solar system, the natural needs of Krakoa. (includes Planet-Size X-Men and Storyline of Magneto:Jupiter)

↪     -- DARK FANTASY || ↪     -- HOUSE OF THE DRAGON // GAME OF THRONES || ↪  --WILL BURN THE WORLD TO FORGET || OLD GUARD

[emmatriarchy]

Rogue had tried to ignore the shifts and tugs she felt, but when her green gaze fell on a familiar shape... she could deny no longer that Erik knew where she was as the melody died on her lips. She was on his turf, uninvited. She was not there as an antagonist, or to bring up the past, but she couldn't help but wonder how he saw her.

How he perceived her.

She wouldn't know unless she took a peek in his mind - which wasn't a power at her disposal right then. She would need a touch under his electromagnetic field, and that would be less than ideal.

Erik was a person with deep wounds and scars, and she didn't want them imprinted on her mind any more than he'd want to share them, in her opinion.

She stepped forward, showing her palms as a nonverbal way to say she was not there to harm or cause problems. "It's been a while," came the platitude. She couldn't help it. Her mind was blank of smart ways to greet him.

Magneto sat in his makeshift high castle of Genosha. Once more he had stomped this city out of the ground, wrestled Paradise into reality. But he was always tense, always ready for the next war and attack that would inevitably come. There was no break to this. Too many times had he seen this dream he made reality broken to the very marrow of a nightmare.

He had not slept in days. Magneto did not like calling himself paranoid... but perhaps he dared to think he was anxious. Something was always lurking. Inevitably, something of his own creation. And his magnetic fields, the power at his finger tips, had picked up on the faint familiar signals of doom again ... and again these past days.

The days were sunny in Genosha and streets were filled with music. Yet, Magneto had his hands in fists and held onto those familiar magnetic vibrations in the air that reminded him of something he had let go.

Only now, the master of magnetism dared to consider that the presence might not be a threat. A part of him wanted to keep holding onto the illusion of safety. His powers keep surging.

Then there are those energies. Some energy writhes its way right to his core and makes him dizzy. He can never control himself long enough to just tug at that familiar frequency. Until now. He tugs. And when he looks up, yanking at the magnetic fields. Nothing but an illusion of who he missed was facing him. Rogue. As sunny as the days in the Savage Lands.

-- @emmatriarchy ||

[rei-ismyname]

Logan tried to murder Chuck. What then?

After the sun set on Krakoa and the dust settled, Charles Xavier surrendered himself to 'human authorities.' He was being transported to his super prison built by Reed Snitchards and Tony Nark when...

Logan came to kill him in a very unsubtle way. Surely those guards died or at minimum suffered serious permanent injuries. What little we get of his motivation is an objection to Chuck's time as Sentinel X - killing a bunch of humans. Logan Behavior, basically. Certainly hypocrisy.

Pretty stylish entrance though, The Shining style. He's just about to gut him after Chuck declines explaining himself or speaking at all. Keep in mind resurrection Protocols just phased into another dimension - Logan is aiming to kill Xavier permanently (comic book permanent obviously) here despite the fact he's going to prison for life. He'd actually be subverting punitive state justice here.

I hardly need to say that this is pretty extreme for Logan. He's killed countless people, but for the last few decades he's worshipped the ground Charles walks on. After AvX, when Chuck committed suicide by Phoenix, Logan appointed himself the custodian of 'the dream' and ran the school (though he renamed it after Jean because he's a creepy and petty man.) Cyclops is often held up as Chuck's heir, but I think Logan is just as much. (Though Jean and Storm beat them both out and surpass him.) Maybe this is a hypocritical broken pedestal moment.

Magneto objects, freezing him in place and proclaiming 'no more martyrs.'

Did you know 9/10 failed murderers say 'cripes?'

Then he yeets him out of the prison and levitates it so he can't get back in. Mags and Chuck have a chat and we see nothing of Logan until Wolverine #1.

These people all need therapy. Emotional intelligence so low.

That murderous unilateral motivation seems to have cooled - 'Charles doin' what he did' is third on his list of things that took their toll. Not to minimise his pain, but everyone else has experienced those things too. Many had it worse. Scott, for example, was tortured for six months with his eyes sewn shut and a broken back (which... healed somehow.) If someone else was doing this he'd call them out at best, more likely he'd tell them to get over it. This is #Logan Behavior, though it's weird he doesn't mention Daken's death.

Brief aside - was he truly needed in the pack? I can't see what use a throng of wolves would have for a naked guy with opposite sleep patterns, very different dietary requirements, and the inability to breed with them. His presence got them killed. He was tolerated at best, more likely an imposition. Kevin Costner motherfucker.

I'm 99% sure this is next chronologically. Scott says Logan was 'in the area so he asked him to investigate' - 'the area' being Santo Marco, a fictional South American country that Magneto briefly conquered in 1963. The X-Men answered his distress call.

No mention of Chuck here, and he greets Scott warmly. No thank you though. They patch him up back at the Factory. Looks like he does have use for X-Men.

Wolverine can absolutely give up. It's his thing.

From 'I never should have left the woods' this has to be after Wolverine #1, but before Uncanny X-Men #1-4, because that takes place over a few days and the phone call between Rogue and Scott implies so. We only get the end of this conversation, but it's very safe to assume it was a soft recruitment offer and assumption of a family relationship. No mention of Chuck here either. He claims he's done, citing Krakoa as a loss. It is a loss, but it also bought back the 16 million Genoshan dead and established a mutant paradise in a heaven dimension - one he could have gone to.

Also, Logan didn't build shit. He had nothing to do with Genosha, in fact he opposed and obstructed it. He bailed on Utopia and the narrative kept genocidal threats away from the school. He had little to do with building Krakoa itself and while he went on the missions he was asked to, he remained a skeptic the entire time. He didn't trust the island and lived on the moon in a polycule. Anyway, he tells Scott not to come looking for him. I promise you he wouldn't say that to Jean.

Sure, stay in the woods, idiot. Get more wolves killed.

She's right, they're not strategists.

Looks like he's fine hanging out with Rogue and Gambit. Rogue seemed fine with joining Cyclops and co, but doesn't argue at all when Logan (who is hours away from leaving and has no intention of staying) shoots it down for... reasons? They were X-Men enough when they rescued him from Santo Marco, ingrate.

Neither should struggle to imagine a community 'run' by Scott Summers. Logan has been living with him for at least 3 years and he wasn't everywhere when Logan and Jean were banging. Rogue was on a Krakoan X-Men team with Scott and he and Jean prepped new leaders and stepped back. They all considered themselves Krakoan and Scott 'lived to serve.' How does it end this way? The Chuck question answers itself, though Logan doesn't say 'I wish Magneto didn't stop me killing him' or something. Scott? Uhhh, you took this misanthrope's grumbling as gospel. Go to Alaska and say hi! Or maybe he'll call you. Kate? Uhm, she just told you. She broke in Fall of X, you know this.

Interestingly, Logan uses the term 'fill Chuck's chair.' I thought he was quitting the parts that don't work? 'Why do you even want to?' should be self explanatory. Rogue receives a phone call after this from Scott, and she says he's 'the last person she wants to speak to.' Maybe Logan is right and he shouldn't be around people. He infected Rogue with Scott haterism very quickly.

The Outliers show up and less than a day later he leaves, heading for the nearest forest. Even the swamp hag that guts him thinks he's a whining bitch. Logan is aware that Rogue's group are planning a prison break, that children are being hunted, though it doesn't stop him leaving.

Put all this together and it paints a very human portrait of a traumatized person pushing everyone away, albeit in the most immature way possible. This is what Magneto referred to when he said Logan Behavior, and he's right. If I was talking about a real life person it'd be unforgivably callous, but I'm not. I wrote this piece to interrogate his continuity from Krakoa to FTA, and I was expecting it to make less sense to be honest. As I said, this is textbook trauma response. It portrays that well, but the whiplash of Logan going from 'murder Chuck no matter the collateral damage' to 'Chuck did bad things but Cyclops is worse - don't be friends with him, Rogue' is severe and unsatisfying.

Uncanny #700 was one of the last things written for Krakoa, so it's likely that information wasn't available for FTA writers. Except Logan and Kate had both sworn they'd kill Chuck with plenty of notice, so I don't think that deserves a pass. Is anyone surprised by this? Maybe I should just write a post that says 'From The Ashes doesn't care about smooth continuity and has clumsily broken up these teams by fiat. Just ask Havok, Polaris, Angel, Storm, Omega Red, Jubilee and Shogo, etc etc. Also, it's pretty fucking mid' and pin it on my Tumblr.

That's no fun though. Even when it sucks, when it's safe and nostalgic, when everything you loved has been swept away and replaced with cardboard cutouts, when it's 'fine I guess', and even when it's great; the play's the thing. I love the X-Men and fans have as much ownership of the story as anyone. Not entitlement, just the right to be a part of the narrative, close to the characters. I find it fun and if I ever don't I'll stop (or spend a few years covering Krakoa). I hope you do too. Importantly, you should be critical of the things you love in good faith. As for Marvel the capitalist entity - all bets are off. Fuck em. They do it for the money, we do it for the love.

[honey-minded-hivemind]

Fool, you think I can't handle such dark ideas?

I live for this kinda stuff!

imagine Reader was used as a tracking device to find Genosha without them realizing it- imagine if Reader survived and found out before anyone else and just-

Stared into nothing, their poor robotic brain racing with too many thoughts to properly function

And like- when they're found imagine they just slowly reached up, and without a second thought, began tearing themself apart

They caused so many of their friends to die without realizing it, they're horrible, they're a monster

Those are thoughts that ran through their mind as they tore off their own head

Cube Anon

Oooooo... I see you like where the darkness is taking us...

Reader rips themself apart slowly, unable to cope with the fears and despair and unending unrelenting pain that drenched their core, that smothers each breath, each thought.

Friends of their's were gone.

Gambit was gone.

Leech was gone.

Magneto was gone.

Genosha was gone.

And it was... Reader's fault...

Hearing their friends find our, hearing their anger, their pain, their hate...

Reader couldn't live with it.

They don't go with them to find Trask. They can't. Their friends hate them, and all they want is for Reader to leave tbem alone, to go away, to not come back or cause more damage.

So here Reader is, at the edge of a cold, freezing lake, in the middle of the night, alone, about to plunge in.

They tore open their arms, their legs, exposes the wires in their neck, their stomach, tore their core out and ripped their false hair off and tore at their eyes, breaking them to pieces.

They hated themself.

They couldn't live like this.

They couldn't exist this way, knowing they were the reason everything was bad and their friends were dead and the surviving ones hated them.

So with that final, heartbreaking thought-

They plunge in, screaming as the water burns their system, and their being, into nothingness...

***************************************************

For the X-Men, fighting Bastion amd Sinsiter had been brutal.

It was filled with pain, despair, blood...

What was worse?

Knowing their old friend, Reader, was dead now?

Or knowing that they were innocent, save for the fact Bastion had uses them, created them to be a scapegoat, and would have killed Reader before they'd met the X-Men for being too human for his tastes?

They don't know.

And it burns.

Kurt hadn't turned his back on them. He kept checking the one gift, the one piece, he had left of them, a small wire butterfly, beaded and bright and colorful, just like him, they'd told him. He hated not knowing if they were gone, forever, or if they were possibly in Heaven... He wasn't sure he wanted to know...

The team had decided to build a new safehaven, somehwere safer and more hidden, a place that only allowed mutants and trusted humans into its paradise... It was an island, one that seemed... almost sentient... at times... But it hosted many wonders, good plant life, beautiful animals, clean water, and it opened itself to them, to their kind... It was easy to shut themselves, their new home, everyone and everything, off from the rest of the world. It seemed the only reasonable, the only sane thing, to do, after all they lost and sacrificed amd had destroyed.

And when they discovered pools that could create bodies...

And found out that they could try to enter the spirit realm to bring back those they'd lost...

It was only a matter of time before they started bringing back those who had died unfairly, to give then healthy bodies and a better life and new hope...

All anyone asked, was that they drink of a special liquid and eat its fruit, for then they would know peace...

And it seems the next two they needed to find, the last two, were Gambit and Reader...

***************************************************

(Meanwhile, in the afterlife, Gambit hasn't left Reader, begging them and pleading with then then tell him why they think their friends hate them and who the h*ll told them they were some robot-! How dare someone say that to them?! They're with him, aren't they? So obviously they ain't evil! He's hugging them, murmuring soft words and letting them cry into his shoulder, all to try and stop their sadness, their self-hatred, their pain... He isn't leaving them, no, not for one minute. They need him... But they need to figure out what's taken everyone else, and see if they can't stay safe... So can they please calm down, just for Gambir, please-?)

[everything-person]

Okay after rewatching Xmen Evolution and watch Wolverine and the Xmen for the first time I gotta say they both deserved to be continued. With Xmen 97 being a thing I don’t see it happening.

BUT

Imagine if they did continue them along with continuing Xmen 97. Since we are in a space of multiverses think about all those Xmen teams meeting. Imagine the things they’d discuss. Her are somethings I’d want to see in this multiverse craziness.

- the reason for their meeting could be they need a physical Professor Xavier (since Xmen 97 and Wolverine and the Xmen the professor aren’t all there) or the other two universes could be called to help Xmen evolution save Jean from the Phoenix

- all the Wolverines together and wind up asking if they are with Jean in the other universes and XmE is like “what?! she’s a child?!”

- all the Gambit to meet up and ask if they’ve gotten with Rogue and WaXM asks whos rogue

- Xm 97 Magneto and XmE Professor Xavier having a talk and Professor asking what finally made him change and Magneto telling him

-all Magnetos talking and WaXm Magneto talking about his children and Genosha and the others reactions to that honestly I think at least one of them would be mad that he had a paradise for mutants and he threw it away to start a meaningless war (probably Xmen 97)

-Jubilee seeing that she is the only one that doesn’t have a duplicate and someone from Evolution saying that they did have one but she was pulled out of school after mutants came out

-all the Beasts comparing notes

-all the Scott’s not liking each other

-all the Nightcrawlers/Kurt’s seeing XmE Kurt image induser that makes him look human

The Ninja Turtles did a similar thing for a tv movie and with Spider-Man meeting all the spidermen and Droctor Strange and Wanda going on there own Multiverse run. This isn’t a wild concept. Though I know it would never happen but it’s a fun thought.

[magnetic-regent-magneto]

Magnus couldn't help but sense the underlying concern in his daughter's question, a question she asked despite her own reservations. His gaze was still focused on the dim lights of the sunset that tinged paradise Genosha into pink and orange. The master of magnetism wore a shining, innocent white suit. Not the colours of war.

"What makes you assume I am not well, meyn takhter?"

He raised a brow at her, not willing to give an inch. At least he assumed her question prompted him to reveal ills of his mind. He regarded her with a measured gaze, his thoughts a tempest beneath the surface. Finally, he replied, his tone heavy with the weight of his own experiences and the uncertainty of the future.

"On most days, life is a struggle against a cruel universe and its harsh indifference to everything and everyone. However, this night is most definitely not 'most days'."

He calms his breath. His response revealed so little, vague in its nature. He could feel a thousand eyes burning through his every move. The master of magnetism turned to Wanda and attempted to gauge the depths of her observation.

"You need not concern yourself with the burden of mine, my dear."

Magnus looked beyond the words he uttered to Wanda. He wanted to tell her. To share his troubles, as well as his successes, his triumphs, and his defeats. It was not that he felt she should not know. She was, after all, his daughter. But it would be better if he knew how he felt first before speaking.

|| -- @writteninscarlet

ᗢ o○☆*ﾟOne-Line Starter Call ; @magnetic-regent-magneto

“Against my better judgement, let me ask, how are you?”

[lunarspiral1127]

X-Men 97 episode 5 *SPOILERS*

The interviews

The reporter seemed nice and doesn't act like a typical controversial one. And, seeing Beast blush was adorable. But, Scott's interview was a doozy. What he said when he lashed out, well....he ain't wrong. I just thought Magneto would be the one to say those things, not Scott. Still, not wrong.

Jean/Scott/Madelyn/Logan drama

UGH! I hate love triangles that bring out so much stress and drama. And, I'm worried that Jean and Scott will break up because of the crap Mr. Sinister pulled. I wasn't expecting Jean to kiss Logan, and it was HIM who told her to go talk to Scott. Despite his feelings, he's still trying to be respectful to their relationship. But, seriously, Jean, why did you kiss him?!

Then apparently, Scott and Madelyn were checking up on each other telepathically, which I get why Jean would be mad at that. But, Madelyn during her time at the mansion WAS Jean and Scott thought that was her! They're the same! At least they were? Then again, they're in contact for a month and Jean kissed Logan once....UGH! I hate this drama. SINISTER THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!!

Genosha

Beautiful. It was a paradise for mutants. They deserve this. The gala looked pretty, I liked the statues of Charles and Magneto, I was not expecting the Hellfire Club to be a part of this council cause I don't trust them (especially the crap they pulled in the previous show). Lots of cameos from other characters that I couldn't keep track on, but the place was lovely. It's a shame though on what happened later on....

Nightcrawler

This lovely, precious German Christian man. 🥰 I love Nightcrawler and I'm glad to see him in this show. The original voice actor who played him in the previous show still does a great job voicing him. And, he approves of Gambit and Rogue (adopted sister) being together, so that's extra bonus points. He got a new look compared to his previous one, but I still like it. Then when the massacre happened, I was so worried that he was gonna die. Thank goodness he survived, but I hate seeing him so hurt.

Gambit/Rogue/Magneto drama

I hate this love triangle SO MUCH! We get an explanation on how Rogue and Magneto got together, and I'm questioning how old she was when they first met and whether Magneto was influencing her in a bad way. Either way, still don't like this ship. Even when them dancing looked good animated, I STILL don't like it. Plus, it still doesn't make sense cause they've been against each other in the previous show, where there was no signs of the two having that past relationship.

Anyway, I'm glad Rogue finally told Gambit the truth, and I feel so bad for him. But, he knew what she wanted and how much it hurt, even going as far as to distance himself, which he showed a lot of emotional maturity, so respect to that. But, that thing where he'll lead Genosha if Rogue stays as his "queen"? DA FUQ?! Look, I like Magneto, but I did not like that. Still wish Rogue could've gotten one of those collars to nullify her powers so that she can touch Gambit. Would've solved a lot of drama, just saying.

I was SO relieved though, that Rogue said that he was right, and rejected Magneto, but I wish she could've done that without kissing him right where Gambit can see it. Either way, it seemed like she'll choose Gambit and not stay with Magneto in Genosha, THANK GOD!

So, you think this would be the end of that love triangle right? Well, yes and no? Cause what happened afterwards hurt like hell.

Genosha Massacre

So, a giant Master Mold thing showed up, killing mutants and destroying Genosha. It was cool seeing Cable again trying to stop it and seeing his mom after so long, which is a glimmer of hope but I'll get to that later. So, many people died. Sebastian Shaw, Calypso, Banshee, Marrow, pretty sure that was Dazzler or Moira not sure, and three more that hurt me so much.

Magneto. Okay, I may not like that love triangle, but I didn't hate the guy. Dude was fighting that Sentinel with a train as a whip, that was pretty cool. And, he tried to protect the Molocks. He tried to protect Leech! He got Rogue and Gambit out of the way. What hurt the most was he told Leech not to be afraid IN GERMAN! Again, didn't want him to die. Although, I wished he could've used his magnetism to push the Molocks away like he did with Rogue and Gambit, but nope. They all died!

Leech. Precious innocent Leech. He was just a kid, man! And, he got to hang out with other mutants his age. He was making friends. Only for this to happen. And, not a lot of people talk about Leech and what happened to him. But, I liked him, and that hurt.

And, finally, the one that hurt the most.....Gambit.....Remy.

He went out like a hero. He sacrificed himself to destroy that Sentinel from killing even more mutants. "The name's Gambit, mon ami. Remember it." Well, now we know why this episode is called Remember It, cause it was Gambit's last words. And, if that wasn't enough, Rogue holding onto him, crying over his body, finally able to touch him....only to not feel him.

THAT. FREAKING. HURT. SO. BAD!!! 😭 Gambit was one of my favorite X-Men characters, and I legit was crying seeing that end. It really hurt to see that happen to him, but at least he went out saving people. However! There is that slight glimmer of hope! Cable. He tried to go back to stop this, who's to say he won't try again? Time travel shenanigans will happen and he can team up with Bishop and the rest of the X-Men to prevent this from happening. It happened many times before, it can happen here. And, maybe, just maybe, Gambit, Leech, Magneto, and all those people won't have to die. This may the denial talking, but I'll be so pissed if Gambit's dead and he Rogue won't be together for good anymore, cause that would be bullcrap.

God, how am I gonna be okay when we're getting Storm and Forge vs. The Adversary next week?! And, jeez, if things keep up like this, Storm is gonna return to the whole mansion on fire. I can't imagine what her and everyone's reactions are gonna be when they find out about Gambit and even Magneto.

Anyway, good episode. Much better than last week's. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go find a way to cope from all of that.

[darkndeerly]

Ok, to the epic the musical/X-Men/X-Men 97 fans out there hear me out.

Love in paradise:

Genosha happens, Gambit 💀, wakes up on an island like Genosha but seems abandoned, a mutant guardian of the island comes over:

[Mutant (oc or otherwise)] "Morning, sleepyhead, you've been resting for a while I swore that you were dead when you washed up on my isle Did you know you talk in your sleep? Tell me, though, who's Rogue?"

[Gambit:] "She's my wife."

*Long pause, expression*

[Mutant:] "Anyways,"

[Mutant:] "Gambit?" [Gambit:] All I hear are screams [Mutant, spoken] Remy, get away from the ledge [Gambit] You don't know what I've gone through You don't know what I've sacrificed Every comrade I long knew Every friend, I saw them die And all I hear are screams [Kurt, Logan, Rogue, Gambit] This life is amazing when you greet it with open arms How much longer 'til your luck runs out? Waiting, waiting Whatever we face, we'll be fine if we're leading from the heart How much longer 'til the show goes south? Oh Waiting, waiting No matter the place, we can light up the world Here's how to start How much longer 'til we all fall down? You rely on wit— Oh Waiting, waiting Greet the world with open arms, greet the world with open arms [Gambit] Apocalypse!

[pullakori]

Cherik week 2023

Day 4. Protective Erik

It’s been a year since Charles followed Erik to Genosha and started living in there. The change wasn’t an easy one, but slowly the island started to feel like a home and its residents like a family. Old sorrow and guilt still followed him, but they were not as consuming as they had been right after… Well, a year ago.

Charles sipped his tea, enjoying the morning sun on his face. It seemed like it was going to be another beautiful day in the paradise, no need to ruin the otherwise beautiful day with such gloomy thoughts.

“What would you like to do today?” Erik asked him from the other side of the table. Most days he would already be working on some project on the island, but today he had decided to take a day off and that meant that they could spend the whole day together.

“We could visit the beach, return through the market and make dinner together.” Charles mused, turning to look at Erik, who was smiling at him.

“How domestic.” He teased, but continued before Charles had an opportunity to quip anything back. “Chess after dinner?”

“Naturally.” Charles replied.

Domestic. That was possibly the best way to describe their situation. They lived together and there was certainly something more between them, but neither of them had had the courage to approach it, too cautious of what it could do to the serenity they had managed to find.

As it turned out, the faith of their found peace was not in their hands at all.

It started with a knock on the door and a concerned mind on the other side of it.

“Magneto! Magneto there is a helicopter flying towards the island!” The voice was clear, as it carried through the open window and after a quick shared glance with Charles, Erik stood up and hurried to open the door. On the other side was distressed looking Corina, who was clearly trying to catch her breath.

“Where?” Erik asked, straight to the point while Charles wheeled himself to the door too.

“From the North-West.” Corina panted and pointed towards the right direction. “I saw them while I was practising my flying. I don’t think it will take long for them to reach us.”

“Were you able to identify it?”

“Nothing specific, but it looked military.”

“We’ll be ready. Find Panic so he can sound the alarm. There might be only one, but I rather not take any risks.” Erik ordered and with a nod, Corina took few running steps and jumped, flapping her seagull like wings and flew away.

“Charles, are you able to reach their minds?” Erik turned to Charles.

“I should be, if they are not that far away.” Charles said and closed his eyes, so he could focus his powers, sending tendrils of it out to scan the ocean area. He tried to find sparks of any kind of minds, but he found strange voids instead. They were familiar, reminding him of Erik’s old helmet. They were closing in on the island fast. “They are blocking me somehow.” Charles said aloud, and the grim look on Erik’s face mirrored his own thoughts. This wasn’t good.

The sound of Panic’s warning scream echoed through the air, telling everyone on the island to be prepared and soon after, the sound of helicopter propellers grew louder and louder.

“You should stay inside, Charles.” Erik told him as he stepped out himself, turning to look from the sky to Charles. But the telepath was having none of that.

“I’ll just stay near you.” He said, following Erik outside and meeting his eyes, making it clear, that he would not be hiding away.

Not that he would have time for that, as the helicopter appeared over them, landing on the clearing in front of Erik’s home. Other mutants had gathered around too, waiting for what was going to happen.

‘Do you think they know where you live, or was this just a coincidence?’

‘Oh, I’m sure they know.’ The distaste in Erik’s thoughts was clear. From the helicopter, soldiers hurried down a ramp, helmets on their heads and guns in hands. ‘Plastic.’ Erik’s mind stated.

‘That might become a problem.’ This whole thing seemed to become more concerning every second.

‘Luckily the copter isn’t.’ Charles did his best to suppress his smirk, but didn’t quite manage.

The tension in the air grew as the last person came out of the copter, better dressed, clearly in charge. Erik took a step forward and Charles followed him, staying by his friend’s side.

“Why have you come here?” Erik asked the man with an authoritative tone, speaking loudly so his voice carried through the whole clearing.

“We are not here because of you Magneto. No need to stir any trouble.” The man answered, stopping in front of his men.

“You are the ones who barged to my home with guns.” Erik stated, not impressed by the man’s attempt to be pleasant. “So I ask again, why are you here?” The man shook his head, before his gaze turned to Charles.

“Mr. Charles Xavier.” It wasn’t a question, he knew exactly who Charles was.

“Yes?” The helmet made it impossible for the telepath to get a reading from the man, but even though his eyes were hidden behind sunglasses, his attention made Charles feel unnerved. Like he was a fly trapped in the spider’s web, about to be killed. The man’s next words only made the feeling stronger.

“You have been found guilty for treason and we are here to take you back to the Stares.”

Charles was certain that the time froze for a few minutes, no one moved, no one said anything, even the noises of the island nature seemed to fade away.

“Excuse me?” Charles was proud how steady his voice came out, even though he felt shaken to his core. Treason? What the hell were they talking about? But the man wasn’t about to explain himself.

“This doesn’t need to be difficult. Just come with us, and there will be no reason for use to use any force.” He gave a small hand signal, and the soldiers raised their weapons. Not only at Charles and Erik, but the other mutants as well. Charles could see the bloodshed that would follow, if he didn’t do as the man wanted. And too much blood had already been spilled because of him.

He was about to move forward, but Erik beat him to it, stepping in front of him.

“You are not taking him anywhere.” Erik stood there arms crossed, unmoving and shielding Charles from the soldiers.

‘Erik…’ Charles felt frozen, he wanted to move, to tell Erik to stand down, but he couldn’t.

“What a shame.” The man said, his voice barely reaching Charles’ ears.

It was over in a matter of seconds. There was the sound of gunfire, shouting, groaning of metal and chaos of fighting, before suddenly, it was quiet again. The man and his soldiers were lying on the ground, blood staining the ground. Few mutants had been hurt too, three dead. Because of him.

“They’ll be back.” Charles managed to find his voice all the while his mind was running wild. He had to get away from Genosha, away from anyone who could be hurt because of this.

“And we will be ready.” Erik’s words snapped Charles back from his thoughts. Erik was still standing in front of him and was examining Charles for any injuries. There were none, at least Charles didn’t think so. Erik on the other hand had gotten a shallow wound to his cheek, but otherwise seemed to have escaped without further injury. Against all the odds. The thought chilled Charles from the inside. Erik could have died.

“I can’t ask you to risk your life for me.” Charles told Erik, taking a hold of his arm. The last thing he wanted was to put the lives of the Genoshans in danger, least of all Erik’s.

Erik held his gaze, and for a moment it felt like he was the telepath instead of Charles, like he could see through all Charles’ masks right in to his heart. But maybe that had been the case through all their relationship. Erik moved down so they were looking eye to eye, before he took hold of Charles’ shoulders, his left hand resting where shoulder met the neck, stroking the spot there with his thumb.

“You don’t have to ask.”

[bananonbinary]

oh shit i forgot this is how we get introduced to genosha! magneto's fun little "prove yourself to come to my mutant paradise" plot!

another one i have slightly mixed feelings about. really fun "who would win in a fight" episode, but again, i feel like magneto's motivation isn't really fleshed out enough for me to believe he's anything but a random asshole

also lol i feel so vindicated after having to watch jean LOSE to this idiot in the movie earlier tonight.

[celestialshifting]

I want Genosha to actually end up being successful in my DR. I want to experience mutant culture and life and see what it becomes. I want Genosha to be exactly the paradise it promises. I can be a hero for other reasons, trying to make life better for mutants outside Genosha

[magnetic-regent-magneto]

Genosha Pride

old RP snippet from an event of Pride in Genosha

𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒔 that bloom. ***They wilt.***

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭. Nothing is supposed to grow from the **bloodied feet** that *cross the green grass turned crimson*. **They take root**. *They still grow*. `The garden grows as it fights.` That is what its own rebirth calls forth. The garden learns to grow from the drowning blood. **The garden does not grow red.** The sacrifice still lets it grow from the muddied ground to the mid-day skies 𝕚𝕟 𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕔𝕠𝕝𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕤 of the 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗯𝗼𝘄.

`𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒔 that bloom beyond death - despite it - do not wilt.`

The greenery along the sides of the skyscrapers let in sunlight through the gaps. On this day, 𝐺𝐸𝑁𝑂𝑆𝐻𝐴 awakened to the light turning past their windows, like the shine of the sun reflects back a 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗯𝗼𝘄 from a mirror. Upon a look out their window, *dots have scattered across 𝐺𝐸𝑁𝑂𝑆𝐻𝐴* that capture the sun’s bright shine and returns it in all colours created by nature. The dots have a **metallic shine**, soft petals that are almost transparent that open in the face of the sun to bring forth the form of a rose. 

𝕄𝔸𝔾ℕ𝔼𝕋𝕆 has **forged** from the depths of 𝐺𝐸𝑁𝑂𝑆𝐻𝐴, from the pressure of tectonic plates moving along one another, an own metal of 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗯𝗼𝘄 colours. The **heavy metal** is *non-toxic, a naturally diamagnetic element with the lowest values of thermal conductivity among metals*. Naturally appearing ***BISMUTH*** has *very low radioactivity* - this specially forged one was missing the familiar touches of particles falling apart to spread the waves to the surroundings. The 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑛𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑚 could have held the waves at his fingertips. But the *snap of a finger* was all it took to re-arrange the ions, the electrons and protons to turn the **metal stable and safe**.

The world saw cameras and images blinded by 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗯𝗼𝘄 reflections. They see the gardens of 𝐺𝐸𝑁𝑂𝑆𝐻𝐴 bloom with the force that the 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑛𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑚 controls. The world becomes a witness.

The **new island nation** does not just *illuminate the greenery*. Waterfalls down to the cliffs and sides of buildings turn 

`red`

`orange`

`yellow`

`green`

`blue`

`purple`

Above the skies, ***flags of 𝐺𝐸𝑁𝑂𝑆𝐻𝐴*** are paired with the colours that break apart in the rain when the sunshine hits the water. Cheerful voices of mutants and their calls fill the streets. *Music and powers fly among the blue sky*. *All rubble has left* the surface of 𝐺𝐸𝑁𝑂𝑆𝐻𝐴, made up the new foundation. Now, it is the ground on which **life and love** is celebrated.

*𝕄𝔸𝔾ℕ𝔼𝕋𝕆 has been different his whole life.* In all roles he has played, it was the 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝗮 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 from which he himself learned to persevere against them only with the same sentiment. 𝑇𝑊: 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑡 ||There used to be days where the ones of ‘𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗻’ 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 were marked with pink.|| 𝙀𝙧𝙞𝙠 understood the pain. 

Understood the ᴍᴀʀᴋɪɴɢ ᴡɪᴛʜ ɴᴜᴍʙᴇʀs ᴀɴᴅ sʏᴍʙᴏʟs ʜᴇ sᴛɪʟʟ ᴄᴀʀʀɪᴇᴅ ᴏɴ ʜɪs sᴋɪɴ. They are all hunted.

The 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑛𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑚 turned to the woman next to him, a human in the ranks of the pride. In Genosha, pride was different than just to humans.

**"**𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚏𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎. They lived in ***fear***, **drowned in it**. Now, look at them. They hold so much hope and happiness - it is beyond capture. The world has tried to drag them through the maw of a wild beast. 𝐺𝐸𝑁𝑂𝑆𝐻𝐴 is shining for the world. I see, however, **our persevering does not end with our temporary survival**.**"**

The *mutant master* had found himself returning to old patterns. What 𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆 he thought he could cast away in a white-lie paradise returns easily to the bones that remember each act of wrath even in dreams. 𝗔 𝘄𝗮𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗼𝗿, waiting for the first acts that kill the Earth. True horror does not wait long as mutants **celebrate themselves loud and proud in the face of their enemies**. And 𝕄𝔸𝔾ℕ𝔼𝕋𝕆 held the eyes of those enemies wide open. They can watch the *peaceful persevering of pride* in all the colours of the 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗯𝗼𝘄 that sends the satellites blind.

[wqintraining]

NEW X-MEN: THE ANIMATED SERIES - SEASON 3, EPISODE 2 (PART 2 OF 2)

We open once again on Okkara, thousands of years ago. This time, we are even further in the past. There are no demons and no battles raging. With a shining sun and a clear blue sky above, Okkara is a flourishing island paradise. Its Mutant population is happy and at peace. 

The man known as En Sabah Nur, dressed not in armor, but in loose-fitting robes, sits on a rock, strumming a stringed instrument, a calm smile on his face. A small captivated crowd listens. 

Nur's attention is turned away from his music as someone calls for him. 

"Father! Father!"

Apocalypse grins as a little girl made of flames runs up to him with excitement. He picks her up and asks what's brought her such joy. 

ORIGINAL WAR: "Death and I fought! And I won!"

APOCALYPSE, an amused father: "Ah, I see. No wonder you are proud. Defeating Death is no small feat. Even if he is your baby brother."

War continues to be smug over her victory as Nur holds her tight. 

NUR: "Stay strong, my daughter. But remember, to fight is not your future. You are the war which will never come again."

In the present, Apocalypse and War stand in their laboratory. A scientist reports to them that everything finally seems operational. On his mark, they can deploy the X-Virus. 

A different scientist speaks up.

SCIENTIST: "Please, Lord Apocalypse! Don't do this! We can weaponize the virus on a smaller scale. If you'd just think of the–"

The scientist is cut off as his throat is sliced open, blood gushing out. He falls over, dead. 

Apocalypse puts an arm around War's shoulders. 

APOCALYPSE: "Proceed…and end this fight."

At the Jean Grey School, Mercury and Bling! have been sent on a drug trip. Cessily is dazed as she hallucinates her body expanding and twisting in every which way as the world expands and twists around her. Bling! meanwhile gets shinier and shinier. It’d blinding. It gets more pleasant for them as bubbles start forming on Mercury’s skin and she pops them to tickle herself, while Roxy tosses on some sunglasses and revels in how cool she looks. 

CESSILY, giggly: “This is so weird. Have you ever done something like this before?” 

ROXY: “You asking that because of who my parents are?” 

CESSILY: “What? No, I–” 

Roxy bursts out in hysteric laughter. 

The Cuckoos are also on this trip, laughing as they hallucinate. They’re continuously merging with and unmerging from each other. 

CUCKOOS: “They’re so gonna thank us.” 

In the mission room, we pick up directly where we left off last time. Cyclops, Kitty, Iceman, and Wolverine desire to go and stop Apocalypse, but Magneto and Emma believe they should allow his plans to play out, and Hellion and Surge think they may be right. In the face of Archangel’s murder, Iceman is enraged and has put Magneto’s neck at icicle point. 

ICEMAN: “I don’t care if you won’t help, but you aren’t getting in my way!” 

Without moving or flinching, Erik disintegrates Bobby’s stretched-out arm. 

MAGNETO: “The loss of Archangel is painful. For myself, the loss of the Morlocks even more so. Children died in those sewers. Do you know where else children died? By the millions? Genosha. This is the only way the pain ends.” 

SCOTT: “Emma, please. You’re better than this.” 

EMMA, insulted: “Do you really think speaking down to me will change my mind? Humanity’s leaders have brought nothing but suffering to all but the very worst of their entire population. Gently guiding them into the night as we take our rightful steps into the future and preventing decades more of suffering for them is practically a mercy.”

MAGNETO: “Why is this such a difficult pill for you to swallow, Cyclops? You have killed before. You will kill again. All in the name of protecting your people. And in the long term, you will save far more billions than those who die here.” 

KITTY: “Can we stop talking like these are numbers on a spreadsheet and not living, breathing people?! Living, breathing people with family and friends!” 

NORIKO: “Humans, Ms. Pryde. You’re talking about humans.” 

JULIAN: “Humans who wouldn’t hesitate to kill us all if the positions were flipped.” 

LAURA, aghast: “What the Hell is the matter with you two?!” 

Nori angrily explains why she has no shits left to give about humans. Her family abandoned her, groups like the Purifiers and U-Men keep forming to try and kill them, and even if a new one hasn’t popped up lately, she knows they weren’t the first, even if they were, Stryker and all of his followers, and all the engineers who agreed to work for him were why Nova was able to kill 16 million of them, they do SHIELD’s dirty work fighting their own people for them, but SHIELD never seems to help THEM, Cyclops, for all his hard work, has barely made any dent in improving public opinion of Mutants…

Julian takes over. 

JULIAN: “They took my damn hands, my family, hell, half the families of the kids here abandoned us, and the X-Men couldn’t even do the one thing they were supposed to do for us: keeping us safe.” He glares right at Scott. “With how many times you failed Sofia, it’s no wonder she turned on us.” 

Bobby shouts at the kids that this is NOT the time for a temper tantrum, but Scott silences him. 

SCOTT: “Everything you just said is true. And I’m sorry for where I’ve failed, and the hands you’ve been dealt.” He turns to Emma and Magneto. “But I’m not ready to give up.” 

In Apocalypse’s lair, engines pound, and lights flash. Apocalypse’s lead scientist informs him and War of the good news: the X-Virus has been released. Before long, his goals will be fulfilled. 

Apocalypse laughs in triumph. 

APOCALYPSE: “Thousands of years of pain…will finally come to an end.” 

War hooks her arms around one of Apocalypse’s and congratulates her lord. New Okkara will be the greatest civilization the world has ever known. Apocalypse rests a hand on her head. He could not have reached this point without her. 

Just then, all of the scientists started coughing, as their bodies undergo a series of rapid, horrific Mutations. By the end, they are nothing but beige splatters on the floor. 

Exodus enters, cackling at the irony. 

EXODUS: “Shall I summon Death and Pestilence to join us in our hour of glory?” 

APOCALYPSE: “No. They are needed in their current positions.” 

EXODUS: “And if the X-Men don’t arrive willing to simply enter your open arms?” 

WAR: “Has all that hair gel gone to your brain? These are hardly the X-Men who bested you both in the past. The three of us will more than suffice to crush them.” While Exodus bristles, War raises clenches her fist. “One way or another, I will make them see the light.” 

Back in Cessily and Roxy’s room, the girlfriends have started making out one on the best, while the Cuckoos are spead across the floor, each in a daze, fiddling with one of Roxy’s instruments. 

IRMA, plucking a violin with her fingertips: “Hey…can I ask you all something?” 

PHOEBE, banging a drum stick against a bongo: “Since when can you not?” 

IRMA: “I know…I know…but, I was thinking…what if I changed my name?” 

The other Cuckoos weakly laugh. 

SOPHIE, fidgeting with the buttons on a trumpet: “What?” 

ESME, ripping the strings off a guitar: “TO what is more like it.” 

IRMA: “I don’t know. I was just thinking about it.” 

SOPHIE: “I guess it’s okay as long as it starts with an “I”.” 

Cessily pulls away from Roxy and falls off the bed, partially liquifying on impact. 

CESSILY, as she struggles to put herself back together: “I…hate you all. And I’m going to regret asking. But why do you…” 

Cessily trails off as she passes out mid-sentece. 

CELESTE: “She’ll be fine.” 

ROXY: “Cool, cool…so explain?” 

The Cuckoos giggle. 

SOPHIE: “We chose our own names. Sophie, Irma, Phoebe, Celeste, Esme.” 

CUCKOOS: “SPICE!” 

SOPHIE: “As in “Spice Girls”.” 

Roxy burts out laughing at that. The Cuckoos’ expressions range from insulted to hurt, until Roxy clarifies why she’s laughing. Their taste in music for their routines may suck, but she can respect that kind of crazy passion. 

The Cuckoos’ faces light up at the first positive response they’ve managed to get from Roxy. 

Just then, Sooraya knocks on the door. She wants to make sure her friends are okay, as something horrible seems to be going on around the world. 

The Cuckoos cackle as they open the door telekinetically, accidentally slamming it, and tell Sooraya to come join them. Sooraya is instantly distracted from her previous concern, as now she’s just wondering what in the name of Allah is going on here. 

ROXY: “Gonna be honest…still not entirely sure. You don’t have to do anything, girl. I know drugs are challah or something. Just take a seat and soak in the moment.” 

Cessily, as a puddle, woken up and squirmed over to Sooraya’s feet. Her face is in the puddle. 

CESSILY: “Hi.” 

Sooraya seethes before shutting the door behind her. She’s only staying to make sure these irresponsible heethens don’t die. The other girls all cheer. 

In the mission room, the argument has devolved into a shouting fest, Scott and Bobby screaming back and forth incomprehensibly with Emma and Erik, while Laura does the same with Julian and Noriko. 

The only one not screaming? The team’s designated mediator, Kitty Pryde, who’s watching everyone else and taking in the situation. As the wheels turn in her brain, she picks up her phone and takes note of the crisis going on around the world, as thousands of people drop dead. 

Kitty cringes, eyes shut, before opening them, full of determination. She has a plan. 

While everyone else is fighting, Kitty sends a text message. While they don’t go to check their phones, we hear the buzz going off in Wolverine and Iceman’s. Kitty then rushes Surge and Hellion and phases all three of them through the floor. 

Julian and Noriko are pissed, and question what Ms. Pryde is doing. And after everything she’s seen, why isn’t she on their side?! 

KITTY: “Shush! Oh my god, be quiet.” 

JULIAN: “You can’t shush us!” 

KITTY: “You must be getting too big for your britches if you’re forgetting you’re still students and I’m still your teacher. Yes, I can shush you. And you’re going to listen to me.” 

NORI: “But Ms. Pryde–” 

Kitty shoots her down with a stare. 

With the kids reluctantly quiet, Kitty takes a breath. 

KITTY: “Listen, I…you know, I…” 

As Kitty struggles to find the right words, Julian and Noriko glare at her with skepticism and disinterest. A vein bulges in her forehead as her emotions overwhelm her. But she has to keep going. 

KITTY: “You’re not wrong.” The kids are visibly surprised by those words. “You’re not wrong at all. About what you’ve been forced to deal with. About how you’ve been forced to live. You two have been dealt more shit than anyone should ever have to face, and you can’t even so much as look at your own hands without remembering that. I get it! Letting someone else do the dirty work of wiping away all the nasty people who’ve hurt you, and then take out whatever evil Mutants are left? Get the happy ending just like that? I get what why you want that. But, in spite of everything, everything I’ve seen, everything I’ve faced, all the people I’ve lost…” KItty trails off as she laughs. “All the bullcrap I’ve had to deal with from my own teachers and teammates. Do you know why I still dream?” 

NORI, disregarding her: “Because you’re just naturally that perfectly good?” 

Kitty cackles. 

KITTY: “Hell no! The stories I could tell you kids. I won’t, because trauma, but I could.” They don’t laugh like she’d hoped. “Anyway...what kept me going were the people I loved. And I don’t just mean Mutants. And I’m not going to say I’m talking about “humans” or “Flatscans” like you two have gotten so fond of calling baselines. It’s one gene of difference! We’re all still human!” 

JULIAN, disregarding her: “You think “baselines” are worth keeping around just because a few of them aren’t the worst?” 

KITTY: “It’s a lot more than a few. I promise. My parents never had anything but love for me. And I have so, so many friends who I know would do anything to help us if they could. You’re heroes. Superheroes. Do you really want to just let countless innocent people die?” With Julian and Noriko still not being reached, Kitty realizes she has to go deeper - more personal. “My dad is already dead. Killed alongside the Mutants of Genosha he considered his community. But you know who’s still alive? Sooraya’s mom, who Dust has been so, so happy to have back in her life.” Julian and Noriko hang their heads and cringe as they’re hit with this. “How about Roxy’s parents? Or Brian’s? Or all the other parents of kids here who still love them? Do you want to tell you “crew”, Julian, how you decided to let their parents die? You think they’ll understand? What about if people like Storm and Sofia don’t just get their powers back from this? Noriko…” Kitty hates herself for having to go this far. “...do you want Keitaro to die?” 

Noriko and Julian scream in rage as they super-speed toward Kitty, but she simply phases through them before grabbing their collars and slamming them on the floor. 

The kids start crying. They don’t WANT anyone to die. They don’t want anyone to get hurt. But nothing is getting better. Nothing is getting easier. They just keep losing more and more. They just keep losing people. 

Kitty helps the two stand up. Like she said, she gets it. But this is why escalation isn’t the answer. Evil isn’t genetic. There are evil baselines and evil Mutants.

KITTY, to Julian: “Sure, baselines’ hate is what often provokes radical response. But we should be better, right?” 

Julian bites his liip as his own philosophy is thrown in his face. 

KITTY, to Noriko: “And most people? Most people are good. They all need to be protected. And we’re the only ones who can protect everyone, baseline and human.” Noriko’s eyes widen and light up and a switch clicks in her brain. “We’re all the same.” 

There’s a quiet pause. 

JULIAN, trying to still be bitter: “I…” 

Nori hugs Kitty, apologizing for how she’s been thinking and acting. Kitty hugs her back and assures her she’s got nothing to apologize for. She was just scared and angry. She’s still a good kid. Still a hero. 

KITTY: “You wanna get in on this?” 

Iceman and Wolverine arrive, with Kitty glad they got her text, and thanking them for their good timing. 

Julian brushes her off, but he does thank her for the wakeup call. Honestly. 

KITTY: “Mission Room?” 

ICEMAN: “Frozen solid.” 

KITTY: “Good. Won’t hold Magneto and Emma, but we don’t want it too. Hellion and Surge are back on track. I need the four of you to head to Egypt NOW. Kids, you’re on Horseman detail. You aren’t beating them, but I just need to distract them for as long as you can. Iceman…” 

ICEMAN: “I really hope you’re not about to tell me I’m fighting Apocolypse on my own.” 

KITTY: “I mean, if anyone could.” Bobby is able to laugh a little. “But no. You can make copies of yourself. Hold Apocalypse back while your dupes disable his machines.” 

HELLION: “This sounds like we’re being thrown to the wolves.” 

KITTY: “Only if I can’t get our “leaders” to join us. I’ll work my magic on them too, and get them over to Egypt to help as quickly as possible.” 

Everyone is aware this isn’t a great plan, but it’s the only one they’ve got. Just one problem: Magik’s not talking or getting out bed, their planes are fast, but can’t move instantaneously, and Nightcrawler can’t do long distance. 

Nori laughs at their panic. Kitty and Iceman don’t actually KNOW what Pixie’s Mutation is, do they? 

In Apocalypse's throne room, he sits on his chair, with Famine and War at his sides. While Apocalypse and Exodus track the plague's effects telepathically, War watches on her phone. 

WAR: "I wonder what sorts of new weapons will be unlocked."

EXODUS: "Perhaps there will be an Omega with your weapon so we can replace you."

WAR: “Fine by me. I’m almost due for a promotion anyway.” 

Apocalypse sighs. 

WAR: “Is something wrong, my lord?” 

APOCALYPSE: “No. Merely what we expected. The X-Men are coming. And they do not appear to be interested in joining us. Deal with them.” 

EXODUS, sarcastic: “A shocking turn of events.” He smirks at War. “Are you sure you’re up to this? I can handle the battle myself if you think you might–” 

APOCALYPSE, cutting him off: “Famine. Go.” 

Exodus, frustrated shakes his head, before bowing and departing. 

For the first time, War appears hesitant. 

APOCALYPSE: “War…I know you wish to save them. But we can only help those Mutants who wish to be helped. If they fight, you may attempt to show mercy…but nothing can be allowed to stop us. Am I clear?” 

War stands in place, frozen, as she looks down at her phone. Noticing her struggle, Apocalypse stands. He gently takes her phone from her and tosses it aside. 

APOCALYPSE: “I did not expect this weakness from you.” 

WAR, finally speaking up: “I am NOT weak!” 

APOCALYPSE: “Of course you aren’t. You are among the strongest horsemen I’ve ever led. My blood runs through you. You did everything in your power to purge yourself of weakness. So why do you hesitate?” 

War leans against Apocalypse’s chest. 

WAR: “I only froze for a few seconds. You would have pause as well were it your family fighting against us.” 

APOCALYPSE: “Oh, my child.” Apocalypse wraps an arm around War. “My family is your family.” 

War shivers at those words. She quickly hugs him back before pulling away. 

WAR, enthusiastically: “Should it come to it, I will bring you every last X-Man’s head, my lord.” 

APOCALYPSE, grinning: “I know you will.” 

War bows before flying off. Apocalypse, still smiling, returns to his seat and laughs. 

In her dorm room, Pixie is freaking out. People around the world are melting or dying in other horrible ways, and she doesn’t want to melt, and she doesn’t want the school to blow up again, or for anyone else to get hurt, or to have to go back to living with her mom. 

ICEMAN: “We don’t have time for this!” Bobby forcefully shows Megan coordinates on his phone. “Send us here with your pixie dust NOW, Megan!” 

Megan whimpers, afraid of the situation and of Bobby. 

Wolverine shoves Bobby away. 

WOLVERINE: “I do not care if you’re angry. You do not scream at my friends. Cool off. And do not dare make a pun.” 

Iceman backs off as Nori steps forward. Noriko asks Megan if she noticed they’re roommates this year. Pixie nods. 

SURGE: “Well, I know I don’t exactly have the best reputation. Gonna be honest: I’m probably gonna annoy you as much as I do everyone else. Only girl who didn’t find me annoying is long gone.” Julian and Laura cringe. “And if you don’t trust the adults to keep us safe at this point, I can’t blame you one bit. But, feel free to tell everyone else: I’m an X-Man now. And you don’t have to like me or trust the adults as protectors…I’ll keep you all safe. No matter what.” 

Pixie is able to start calming down and she weakly smiles. 

Hellion steps forward with a smug look on his face. 

HELLION: “And, when Surge inevitably screws up, because, let’s be honest with ourselves, she will, I’ll always be there to catch her and show her up.” Pixie giggles. “No one ever touches this school again.” 

Laura smiles, happy to see her friends like this after their dark turn, while Bobby is impressed. 

PIXIE: “Okay. Okay, let’s do this!” 

As Pixie starts making her dust, Wolverine stands next to Hellion and Surge. 

WOLVERINE: “Welcome back.” 

Pixie wishes the X-Men good luck as she sprinkles the four with her dust, sending them away. 

In the Mission Room, Magneto and Emma vaporize Iceman’s ice, freeing themselves and Cyclops. They all struggle to catch their breath. 

EMMA, telepathically: “That young man is becoming far too powerful.” 

Kitty races back into the room. 

KITTY: “Hey, perfect timing. You all have a chance to calm the Hell down?” 

Cyclops and Erik glare and huph at each other, while Emma turns her eyes toward KItty. 

EMMA: “Where are the children?” 

KITTY, smirking: “They left with Iceman. Off to save the world.” Emma is visibly pissed off. “If you’re worried about them, they sure could use you two backing them up.” 

CYCLOPS, smiling: “Nice work, Kitty.” 

KITTY, smirking back: “Thanks. Nice job not letting Emma use your hair like puppet strings for once.” 

EMMA: “Do you find this funny?! You have jeoprized our children’s safety!” 

KITTY: “And here I thought you believed in your kids’ potential.” 

EMMA: “Potential they are YET to realize!” 

MAGNETO: “Enough!” 

Erik apologizes to Emma, but they cannot bend now. Not with what is at stake. They must hope that, if Apocalypse was in a mood to speak with them, he won’t just kill Wolverine, Hellion, and Surge, and they’ll be able to save them. They already know from Storm’s loss that he’s sparing Omegas, so Iceman will be definitely be safe. 

Erik’s words are able to calm Emma and allow her to recompose herself. 

EMMA: “Yes. You’re right. That’s that then. Cyclops, Kitty…your move.” 

Back over with the girls, Cessily, Roxy, and the Cuckoos are now all on the floor. Sooraya stands over them, wondering just what they took. She won’t take any herself, but figures it would be less awkward if she relaxed a little. She removes her hood and facemask and lays down next the other girls. 

CESSILY, ROXY, and CUCKOOS: “WOOOOH! DUST! DUST! DUST!” 

IRMA: “Take it all off!” 

PHOEBE: “Eww, don’t be gross, Irma.” 

The silence resumes as everyone except Soo’s eyes continue to glaze over. 

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Cessily burts into tears. 

Everyone wonders what’s wrong, but she just keeps crying. 

ROXY: “Oh. Babe. I wanna help. But I’m over here. And you’re over there. And…ugggggh.” 

Sooraya crawls over to Cessily and takes her hand, filling in for her unavailable gf. Without slurring her words like the others, she asks what’s wrong. 

CESSILY: “I just…I just feel like I’m being left behind. School won’t last forever. And when it’s done, I don’t want to be the only one who isn’t an X-Man. Three of us already are, four of us should be, Dust, your time is coming and we all know it, babe, you’re a genius, Brian’s got a gimmick, and you Cuckoos may be the worst, but you’re stronger than all of us.” She sniffles and coughs up some metal coins. “I only got put with you guys because I was able to fight  Sofia BEFORE she could even fly straight. You all have something I don’t. That natural IT! And no matter how hard I work, I’ll never catch up. I’ve learned to be proud of being a Mutant, but if I can’t fight with you all, you’ll leave me in the distance. Just like they did.” 

There’s a pause. 

ROXY, still extremely high: “Oh. That’s rough.” 

Cessily cries even harder. Sooraya glares at Roxy before holding Cessily. 

Iceman, Wolverine, Hellion, and Surge appear in a flash of pink light in Apocalypse’s lair. While Noriko thinks this place is spooky, Julian makes some light for them. His attention is caught by all the murals of Apocalypse…

JULIAN: “And they say I have an ego.” 

…with him also noticing one depicting him alongside a dark-skinned woman, their swords both raised in the air as their followers kneel before them. 

NORI: “People really worship this creep?” 

ICEMAN: “Baselines, Mutants, and everything in between unfortunately. Sometimes you just give up and want a god to make all your problems go away.” 

Bobby coughs up a bunch of clones and sends them to scout this place out. No need for them to waste energy hunting for their targets when they can do it. The dupes will hopefully be able to find a horseman or two, and destroy the doomsday device, before they’re all taken out. Plus, if the four of them stick together, they’ll be more difficult to get the drop on. 

LAURA: “Huh.” 

BOBBY: “What?” 

LAURA: “Nothing. Thought you were a clown.” 

BOBBY: “I like to be. But my friend is dead. So today, you kids get someone with as much training as Cyclops.” 

Iceman leads the kids further into the base. 

ICEMAN: “By the way, that was a nice speech you two gave Pixie. I should have said something like that.” 

JULIAN: “Only said what I felt. The X-Men have been letting me and mine down since our first month here. Ashida and I aren’t here at this point because we think you’re just so cool…” 

NORIKO: “...we’re here because we’re the only ones we trust to do this job right.” 

BOBBY, after a pause: “Sooooo, you’re teenagers.” The two pout as Bobby laughs at them after they thought they were sounding so cool. “No, no, I get it, it’s chill. But maybe you’re onto something. This team isn’t what it used to be. Maybe you two are just what it needs.” 

Noriko slams a fist against her palm. 

NORI: “No one puts my brother in danger. I know Ms. Pryde wants me distracting horsemen or whatever, but I wanna punch this Apocalypse guy in his big, dumb face. ” 

“Oh, honey.” 

The X-Men arrive in a golden, octacongal chamber, where Exodus and War await them. There are doors all around them. The building is a maze designed to lead trespassers back to this location. 

EXODUS: “You’d break every last nail.” 

The X-Men stand off against the two Horsemen, with Iceman’s eyes immediately filling with rage. 

As Cessily continues to cry and Sooraya holds her, the Cuckoos visibly feel awful for her. 

Sooraya tells her that she understands her fears, but she has nothing to worry about. The two of them have been together constantly, and she’s seen her grow so much. Even if she isn’t always getting real “experience” like the others, she’s always pushing herself and getting stronger. 

DUST: “No, you aren’t Wind Dancer, Hellion, or Surge. I’m not either. Everyone else seems to think I’ll become an X-Man soon. But the way you push yourself? I know you will.” Cessily sniffles, and wipes her tears. “And even if you don’t? We will never abandon you. We’re not your parents, Cessily. We’re your family.” 

Cessily is able to smile and wipe the last of her tears away as she hugs Sooraya. 

CESSILY: “Thank you. I love you.” 

SOORAYA, hugging her back: “I love you too.” 

ROXY, flatly:  “Love is awesome.” 

CUCKOOS: “Awwwwww.” 

SOPHIE: “This is better than Small Town.” 

CELESTE: “Are you guys always this sweet?” 

Cessily and Sooraya turn to the sisters. 

CESSILY: “It’s just called being friends.” 

The simplicity of that statement blows the Cuckoos’ minds. 

PHOEBE, telepathically: “That’s it?” 

CELESTE: “That’s how you make friends?” 

IRMA: “Being honest? Vulnerable?” 

ESME: “EWW! EWW! EWW!” 

OTHER CUCKOOS: “Sophie?” 

Sophie takes a moment to think. The other Cuckoos’ expressions change with hers as she decides what they need to do. 

SOPHIE: “Well…that’s all we want.” 

The camera cuts away from the Cuckoos. 

CESSILY, eyes bulging out of her head: “What the Hell?!” 

SOORAYA, equally shocked and covering her mouth: “What is this?” 

Roxy launches up to her feet, feeling better, before noticing the Cuckoos and fainting. 

Iceman turns his arms into blades, glaring with rage and hate,  as Exodus welcomes them to where Eden will be reborn. 

EXODUS, sultry, leering back at Bobby: “That’s quite the look you’re giving me, Iceman. Positively penetrating.” 

WAR: “Why do you need to make this weird?” 

HELLION: “And just who are you supposed to be? Iceman?” 

ICEMAN: “Never seen her.” 

War steps forward, holding out her arms. 

WAR: “I am War. And we do not need to fight. We should not be enemies. Everyone in this chamber is an extraordinarily powerful Mutant. We should be working together.” 

Hellion and Surge power up their auras. 

SURGE: “Thought about it. Decided I’d rather kick your teeth in.” 

ICEMAN: “You’re killing millions. And don’t pull the “just humans” thing on me. You’ve been killing our own. From defenseless children to the “strong” you claim to respect. You aren’t getting away with it!” 

BEAT. 

WAR: “Oh, are you talking about Death?” Bobby’s eyes widen. “He was hardly THAT strong.” 

Bobby howls as he forms and launches a glacier to throw at the two horsemen. Exodus blows it apart and rushes Iceman at super speed, punching him in the chest and smashing him through the wall. 

EXODUS: “Believe me, I get wanting to kill War. But I’ve already tasted one Omega today. And I want seconds.” 

Iceman narrows his eyes and he jumps back. 

Back in the main chamber, Hellion laments the plan already going to Hell, but thinking they may as well take War out together then. 

HELLION: “We’re gonna break that tacky armor apart as easily as your bones. You got that?!” 

While he, Surge, and Wolverine stand ready to fight, War shrugs. She falls back, catching herself in mid-air, and lays back with her legs crossed and her hands behind her head. 

WAR: “I have no desire to fight any of you. Stand still and stay out of the way of Famine’s battle, and you will live to see paradise.”

Surge resents being talked down to like this, and is about to jump her, but Wolverine stops her. 

WOLVERINE: “Think. Our job was to be a distraction for Iceman against Apocalypse. Now Iceman is distracted. If she is as strong as Exodus, then she’s right that we can’t beat her. If she does not want to fight…then it doesn’t make sense to fight. Not until Iceman wins.” 

HELLION, cringing: “I hate that that makes sense.” 

SURGE, also annoyed and spitting on the ground: “Seriously, who are you?” 

War giggles at them. 

WAR: “Within 24 hours? Your princess.” 

Iceman vs Exodus begins. Bobby throws everything he has at Famine, from more enormous glaciers, to snowstorms that make the arctic tundra look like the sun. 

BOBBY: “What are you even doing here, Exodus?! Last I checked, you hated Apocolypse as much as any of us!” 

EXODUS, shielding himself from and blowing away all of Bobby’s attacks: “I did, yes. But Magneto lost his way, and now chooses to walk the path of sloth. Lord Apocalypse’s vision is a holy one.” 

Exodus counterattacks at last and blows Iceman apart. He knows that he hasn’t won, and that Iceman can regrow from any chunk of himself. It’s why he can’t defeat him the same way he did Storm. Another reason to join Apocalypse is that, with his Omega-level molecular manipulation and god-like technology, he can make you stronger than you ever imagined. In his case, he was given the technology needed to steal x-genes, and the additional mutation of moisture absorption. 

EXODUS: “But you? You are moisture.” He rolls his shoulders as he looks at some of the water drops which wound up on him. “You’re already making me wet.” 

A full grown Iceman emerges from one of those water drops and punches Exodus in the face with a mace-hand, drawing blood. 

ICEMAN: “What is WRONG with you?!” 

Iceman after Iceman grows from the water, snow, and ice all around the room, and, freezing the floor underneath Exodus’ feet to make him slip for just a second,  Bobby’s small army of himself  gets in close and whales on him. While they do bust up his face and knock out his hair tie, they can’t put him down before he vaporizes all but one. 

EXODUS, panting: “What can I say? I like what I see. And don’t you dare say I’m less appealing to the eye than poor, dead, Death.” 

BOBBY: “Don’t you…! Wait, are you saying I–?” 

With Bobby frazzled, Exodus finds the opening in his mental defenses and psychically brings him to his knees. As Bobby screams, Exodus sadistically grins and approaches him, readying the same hand he used on Storm. 

EXODUS: “Don’t worry, Iceman. In a moment, your pain will come to an end. In a moment, you will be…inside me.” 

Exodus slams his hand down on Iceman’s face and begins stealing his x-gene. 

Back with the girls, Cessily, Sooraya, and even Roxy have gotten situated on one of those beds, the girlfriends both chugging water. Seated on the other bed, the Cuckoos smirk confidently at them. 

There’s an awkward silence. Until…

ROXY: “Okay so what WAS that?” 

CESSILY: “You said you got your noses done!” 

IRMA: “And more!” 

Sooraya doesn’t understand. Their unmasked faces were completely mangled. Did they shatter them?

SOPHIE: “No.” 

PHOEBE: “They were made broken.” 

ESME: “We just fixed them.” 

Once again, there’s an awkward silence. And once again, Roxy breaks it. 

ROXY: “No. No way. I don’t buy it.” 

CELESTE: “Why? Do you expect us all to act like whiny victims?” 

IRMA: “We’re exactly who we were meant to be.” 

A look of realization slowly creeps onto Cessily’s face. 

CESSILY: “BULLSHIT!” 

The Cuckoos giggle. 

Sooraya still doesn’t get it. The Cuckoos reason she may not have any context for what’s going on, so they decide to make it easier for her, and just beam the information into her head. 

Sooraya’s eyes widen. 

SOORAYA: “Oh. I…didn’t realize that was possible. Congratulations?” 

Roxy gets a chuckle out of that. Some of the celebrities she introduced her to over the break were also trans, and it just never came up. 

The Cuckoos nonetheless thank Sooraya, and all of them for understanding. They aren’t so sure everyone here would be, Mutant or not. 

The sisters go on to say that, for as long as they can remember, they’ve known who they wanted to be, and how they wanted to live their lives. From being pop stars, to ruling the school, and being friends with all the coolest people. They thought they were cool and hot and powerful enough to force it, but that just ruined everything. 

SOPHIE: “This is all still so new to us…and we didn’t know what else to do. We are sorry.” 

With the Cuckoos actually looking like they mean it, the three friends turn to each other, unsure of what to say next. 

In the Mission Room, Scott turns and paces away from Emma and Erik. 

ERIK: “Do you remember when we spoke on Genosha? In no way did I infer that I had come to think the same way as Charles. What I told you was that I’d realized that attempting to dominate humanity would only ever divide Mutantkind. If there is no humanity, and Apocalypse is defeated later, there will be no division. I was chosen by Phoenix in its infinite wisdom to lead our people. It knows that this is the path forward.” 

Scott takes a moment to respond. He doesn’t look back at Erik, but he does tilt his head. 

SCOTT: “The same Phoenix that destroyed Genosha?” 

Erik is enraged. 

ERIK: “How dare you.” 

Scott turns back to face him. 

SCOTT: “How dare I? Do you really think this is what any of your people would have wanted?” 

ERIK: “They are dead!” 

SCOTT: “And clearly more dead bodies will stop the problem, right? Just hope that Apocalypse has changed slightly and if he hasn’t, take him out? Great, what happens next? You lead us? No one challenges that? You, of all people, are going to unite the remaining population of millions? Millions who, by and large, actively chose against moving to Genosha? After doing THIS?” 

Magneto clenches his teeth and fists and forms magnetic bubbles around his hands. 

SCOTT: “Go. Do it. Blow me up as easily as I know you can. Doesn’t change that the reason Apocalypse’s plan will work and yours won’t is the same reason you were never able to wipe out humanity.” 

ERIK, stomping forward: “Are you calling me weak?” 

SCOTT: “No. I’m calling Apocalypse the devil. And despite the horns on that helmet of yours, you just aren’t. You don’t have the stomach to do what you’d need to to force everyone to follow you. Even if you had his resources, you wouldn’t have the stomach to initiate this plan yourself.” 

Magneto grabs Scott by the throat. 

MAGNETO, through gritted teeth: “And what makes you so sure?” 

“Because I still remember a kind old man who wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if he’d killed a single little Jewish, Mutant girl.” 

Erik turns to look at Kitty as she finishes speaking. She mocks him with taunting eyes and a head tilt.  He cringes and powers down. 

Magneto sighs. 

MAGNETO: “That is another tally on the board for you, Summers. I concede. And I am sorry.” 

Scott puts a hand on his shoulder. 

SCOTT: “We all want the pain to stop. One day, it will. But it will be through the dream. Not like this.” 

Everyone turns to Emma, unsure if she’s gotten on the same page from all this. 

Emma struts over to Scott like nothing is wrong and kisses him. 

EMMA: “I have nothing to apologize for.” 

The lovers share a smirk, but it’s quickly back to business. They have a big bad to beat. 

SCOTT: “And you don’t need to hear me say I forgive you.” 

In Apocalypse's base, Iceman attempts to resist having his powers stolen by freezing Exodus's hand, but against his telekinesis and telepathic assault, that can only do so much. Famine taunts Bobby with a slasher smile as he creeps into his mind. 

EXODUS: “Of all people, you should relish the potential of our victory. You are Omega. You would live one step below godhood. Your full power will be unleashed, not suppressed.”  

Bobby groans as he pictures both his solo victory over one of the super sentinels, as well as a flashback to when he was a teenager, being scolded by Xavier and laughed at by the rest of the 05. 

EXODUS: “You will not fear yourself.” 

Bobby moans louder as he flashes back to his interactions with Christian and Warren. Special attention is put on their smiles and Warren’s post-shower chest. 

EXODUS: “You will have a lord who accepts you.” 

Bobby screams as he thinks back to being a kid, slapped across the face by his father, with a cross on a wall visible in the background. 

EXODUS: “Your loyalty or your weapon. Whatever your choice, you must submit.” 

Bobby groans and struggles as resisting becomes almost impossible. His head is hung and his time is nearly out. 

ICEMAN: “I…thank you, Exodus.” 

Exodus raises his eyebrows in surprise. 

EXODUS: “For showing you the righteous path?” 

Bobby laughs. 

BOBBY: “Hell no. For proving every telepath I’ve ever known right.” He manically grins up at Exodus. “Intrusive telepathy DOES beat therapy!” 

Bobby flash freezes the arm Exodus has on him, and with an uppercut, shatters it. Exodus screams in pain and horror as Iceman powers back up and blasts away at him, hitting him hard enough to send him crashing through multiple walls, and outside into the surrounding desert. 

Iceman, talking to Exodus as faces on water drops on his clothes, tells Exodus that he never dreamed he could be who he is now. He didn’t even fully realize who that was until just now. And you know who that is? The hero who will always step up. The hero who CAN always step up, because he can do anything, and because he isn’t smart enough to overthink a problem that has a villain to be punched. And also?” 

ICEMAN, as he stands over Exodus on an ice bridge: “I’m gay. But you are so not my type.” 

Exodus desperately attempts another telepathic assault, but Bobby counters with the Red Diamond.

Bobby smiles up. “Check what happens next, Warren.”  

Iceman blasts again at Exodus, with Famine now the one struggling to shield himself. 

Still standing by, Hellion and Surge cheer at the sight of Iceman kicking Exodus’ ass. 

HELLION: “Better go running to your lord and master for safety. Once he’s done with him, you’ll have to deal with all of us.” 

War turns her head toward where the fight is happening. 

WAR, under her breath: “That buffoon.” 

War lands on her feet, one arm behind her back and one hand on the hilt of her sword. Surge questions if she’s ready to start now. 

WAR: “No. I still don’t wish to fight. I just wanted to ask you something. You’re all students at the Xavier Institute, aren’t you?” 

NORIKO: “Jean Grey School. What of it?” 

LAURA: “Don’t talk to her. This is obviously a play.” 

Julian erects a forcefield around the three kids. He’s putting all his power behind it, and he doesn’t care how strong she is, she isn’t breaking it down. No matter what she says, they’re staying on defense. 

WAR: “So suspicious. I only asked because I was curious if any of you ever happened to meet a girl I encountered. I believe her name was…Sofia Mantega?” 

The eyes of all three young X-Men, including Wolverine, immediately become intense. 

JULIAN: “Why do you know who that is?!” 

NORIKO: “What did you do to her?!” 

LAURA, not keeping her cool: “Steady heads.” 

War shakes her head. 

WAR: “It’s such a tragic story. A powerful young Mutant stripped of her weapon, all because she trusted fools who told her her place was to serve the weak. Made weak herself, and becoming as pitiful as any human, attacking her own people.” War paces forward. “Lord Apocalypse took note of her online acts. They spoke and, in the end, all was well.” 

JULIAN: “If you so much as hurt one hair on her head, I’ll tear you limb from limb! You hear me?!” 

WAR: “Hurt her? Never.” Beat. “I just put her out of her misery.” 

Surge and Hellion snap, firing massive blasts at War, but the only thing their attacks successfully destroy is a good chunk of the base, as War somehow forces their tk energy and electricity to crash against the walls, rather than travel in a straight path toward her. 

Wolverine, having lost all sense of leadership and composure, rushes War. However, she’s completely outclassed. War is fast and skilled enough to block all of her attacks with seeming efforltessness, she counters every move with a harsh body blow, and by the end of Laura’s attempted assault, she has Wolverine restrained by simply holding onto and crushing her arm. 

War tosses the battered Wolverine at the other two X-Men’s feet. Hellion and Surge charge in next, both coated in forcefields, and while that, plus their superspeed, allows them to do better, War can still either physically block or otherwise deflect all of their attacks. 

WAR: “If this is the best your school has, you need a better teacher.” 

War sends the two flying back, scorching them both with her flames. Wolverine gets back up and tries to fight again, but she doesn’t even get to make War block this time, as War easily steps out of the way of all of her attacks, and just gets to beat on her. 

WAR: “I am sorry it’s come to this. But the pain will make you stronger.” 

Seemingly spontaneously, Wolverine is slashed all over her body, deep bloody marks covering her from head to toe. Laura screams, and with one more punch tot the face, War puts her down. Screaming like maniacs, Hellion and Surge try one more time to do anything they can against War, but War just puts her hand to her head like a telepath and, a moment later, Noriko and Julian collapse to the floor, with their heads in agony. 

WAR, casually stepping past the kids in Iceman and Exodus’ direction: “If you wish to stand for something…if you wish to protect those who cannot protect themselves…the becoming the strongest and dominating is your only option. Otherwise? You’re just asking to be stepped on.” 

Julian and Noriko try to get up, but a sharp, invisible pain keeps them down. 

WAR: “I’ll see you in the new world.” 

Julian and Noriko pass out. 

In the girls' room, the eight teens are all sprawled back out on the floor, lying back in a circle. There’s a moment of silence. 

CESSILY: “You drugged us. That’s really messed up.” 

SOPHIE: “We tried just talking before.” 

ROXY: “Yeah, well, next time, maybe stick to that.” 

SOPHIE, perking up: “Next time?” 

Neither Cessily nor Roxy responds. 

SOORAYA: “I learned so much about American culture during the break. Things I never cared to learn while here. In so many ways, it is the free, wonderous place it promises. In others..” Sooraya trails off. “I’m still not sure if the country outside these walls is right for me. Much of it goes against…everything. Ommi is enamored. She loves it here. But even for baselines, it is more than it claims.” Sooraya looks at the sisters. “You threatened my mother. But I believe you have changed. I am not who you harmed the worst. The choice is Roxanne’s.” 

All eyes turn to Roxy. She exhales. 

ROXY: “You’re not the first girls I’ve met like you. Girls who’ve got everything and think that means they can take anything they want. Even people.” The Cuckoos faces fall. They don’t think this is going to end well. Roxy looks at Sooraya. “But last year, I realized the only difference between me and them was I threw tantrums when I didn’t get my way instead of pushing my pain onto others. I was just as entitled.” She looks back at the Cuckoos. “And another I learned last year? There are parts of us we don’t even know about just waiting to be uncovered. Good or bad, we’ve all got something else going on that we don’t show. I may regret this…but yeah, Sophie. You and your girls get a next time.” 

The Cuckoos all squee in delight, and even Cess and Soo seem pleased. Finally! Roxy won’t regret this. They’re going to be the best friends ever and run this school again. 

The others glare at them like they can’t be serious. 

CELESTE: “We mean by being popular.” 

Roxy and Sooraya breathe sighs of relief. 

CESSILY: “Well, the Hellions cannot come back for sure…but maybe we don’t need to be *totally* nice.” 

Everyone’s a little intrigued by what she’s thinking. 

We cut to Quentin’s room, where he and Brian are playing video games. Quentin has a “Magneto Was Right” poster on his wall, alongside various academic awards. The two boys are sitting back playing video games. We hold on this visual for a few seconds, until a giant, creepy monster pops out of the screen. Brian and Quentin scream in terror. 

Outside in the hall, the Cuckoos, Cessily, Sooraya, and Roxy laugh at their prank. Quentin is so scared, he loses control of his telekinesis and blasts out the light fixture, making the boys scream more. The girls pause, momentarily worried, and the Cuckoos shut off the illusion. 

QUENTIN, scared out of his mind: “Cuckoos! I know that was you!” 

The girls still seem concerned…but then they burst out laughing again. 

In Egypt, Iceman vs Exodus reaches a climax. Iceman laughs at the one-armed Exodus as he launches one ave of destructive tk energy after another, filling the air with sand. He keeps blowing Bobby apart, but he has no way of actually keeping him down. 

ICEMAN: “It doesn’t matter how many times you blow your load. Even the desert can’t make me melt.” 

Iceman freezes all of the sand Exodus has kicked up, sharpens it, and pelts Exodus with millions of hail shards. Bobby follows up with one more freezing blast to completely overwhelm Exodus. 

As the attacks finish, Exodus is down. For Warren and for the Mocklocks, Bobby is going to take him out. 

Exodus pants. Maybe he is about to lose…but he can still fight. 

From his one remaining hand, Exodus launches a TK wave, not at Iceman, but at the section of the base they came from, where Julian, Noriko, and Laura are passed out and helpless. 

Iceman screams in horror, powerful as he is, he can’t freeze the blast, or at least not as quickly as he needs to. 

ICEMAN: “NO!” 

The music stops everything stops. Everything stops except for Iceman. 

Bobby is weirded out, and confused by what’s going on. But then he realizes it. He did this. He froze time. 

ICEMAN: “I…I can do this?” BEAT “BWAHAHAHA! THAT’S SO COOL!” 

With time now on his side, but feeling like he can’t do this forever, Bobby takes the time he needs to freeze and shatter Exodus’ attack, although doing so clearly exhausts him, as he’s already used so much energy. For Exodus, time unfreezes as Iceman skewers him with two sharpened arms. 

ICEMAN, exhausted: “Congrats. You got me inside you.” 

Fear of death overtakes Exodus’ face as Iceman freezes him from the inside out. 

EXODUS: “This…this cannot be. I am the lord’s most faithful soldier. I cannot die to a clown.” 

ICEMAN: “I may be a clown. But at least I’m no one’s b–” 

Iceman’s victory quote is interrupted, and his victory is stopped, as a hellstorm of flames melts him down, the nature of the attack hurting him far more than Exodus’. War has arrived. With all the energy Bobby has already spent, the intensity of War’s heat makes it a struggle to reform his body. She shows no mercy as she continues to hit him again and again, cackling manically and leaving him a series of puddles in the sand. 

WAR: “And he said I couldn’t fight an Omega.” 

Exodus pants as he stands up and cauterizes his wounds. 

EXODUS: “I…had the situation under control.” 

WAR, mockingly: “Of course you did. Now shut off his brain. It’s the only way to kill him.” 

EXODUS: “Do not presume to order me, you little –” 

APOCALYPSE, telepathically, cutting him off: “Famine. War. You must leave at once.” 

WAR AND EXODUS: “WHAT?!” 

They’re both confused. They’re winning. And they’re about to kill Iceman. 

APOCALYPSE: “The X-Men’s leaders are arriving. Famine, you are in no condition to face Magneto as you wish to. War, your psychic defenses cannot withstand a single attack from Emma Frost. You have done well. Now leave the rest to me.” 

WAR, worried: “But my lord–!” 

APOCALYPSE: “Do you doubt my ability to defeat them? Do you doubt my strength?” 

War hates this, bending over and clenching her fists in frustration at this order, but she can’t argue. 

WAR: “Show no mercy, my lord.” 

War flies off. 

EXODUS: “As I heal, I shall find our new people, and shepherd them to their true paths.” 

Exodus flies off. 

Right outside Apocalypse’s base, Cyclops, Emma, Magneto, and Kitty finally arrive in a flash of pink sparkles. 

Emma’s first act is to breathe a sigh of relief. She senses that the kids and Iceman are all still alive. Down and out, but alive. They’re also in luck: it doesn’t seem like any Horsemen are present. Either they went down taking them out, or Apocalypse wants them all alone. 

Magneto orders Kitty to retrieve the kids and get them out of the base; the base may not survive the upcoming battle. Once that’s done, it’s her responsibility to disable Apocalypse’s machinery, get out, and see what she can do about Iceman. 

MAGNETO, looking to Scott and Emma: “Apocalypse wished to speak with us three. We shall grant that wish.” 

Kitty doesn’t question these orders for a second, tells the others to not mess this up, and runs in ahead of them. 

The three leaders dramatically follow behind her. Or, not so dramatically. 

SCOTT: “Let’s a make bet.” 

EMMA, not having time for this: “What?” 

SCOTT: “Make it interesting. Losing isn’t an option. We’re going to win. So let’s make a bet for who takes him down.” 

MAGNETO: “Are you being serious right now?” 

SCOTT, smiling and shrugging: “You shouldn’t be complaining. Odds are in your favor.” He looks at Emma. “If I put Apocalypse down, I get to teach you how to fly the Blackbird, and if you win, I’ll learn to ride a horse?” 

EMMA, continuing to glare at him in confusion: “Are you okay?” 

Scott laughs. 

SCOTT: “Oh god no.” 

In Apocalypse’s throneroom, Apocalypse sits, all by himself, his servants no longer present. He wearily leans to his side, resting his head on a fist. 

The leaders enter. Apocalypse,although still tried, grins. 

APOCALYPSE: “You have arrived. Are you here to witness the apocalypse alongside it?” The three just glare back. Apocalypse laughs. “No. I suppose you aren’t.” Apocalypse takes a breath. “I cannot say I understand. I have observed you. None of you are weak. Not like Charles Xavier. Even you, Child of X. I believed that the overly gentle terms I have set would be…agreeable.” 

The three continue to stare him down. Rather than respond to what he said, Magneto notices something else. 

MAGNETO: “You are already gravely injured. Sick. That’s why you have shown humanity this “mercy”. Not out of any desire to reach out an olive branch. You don’t even have the energy for a prolonged conflict, do you?” 

Emma questions how that’s possible. She and him have never had a chance to get acquainted, thank god, but isn’t he supposed to be immortal? Scott confirms this, and shares in her confusion, as if he did survive his last encounter with the X-Men, he should have needed to spend time in his regenerative chamber; the real reason they’ve never been able to stop him for good. 

APOCALYPSE, nodding: “What you say is true. But a sacrifice was necessary. One I do not regret.” 

Apocalypse questions if this is really what they want. To perpetuate the conflict among them. To prolong their suffering. 

The leaders tell him that question was a difficult one for them to come to a consensus on. But this won’t stop the fighting either. And at the end of the day, there are good humans; there is no good in Apocalypse. 

CYCLOPS: “Unless you mean to tell us you’ve changed your view of Mutants you don’t see as “worthy”.” 

APOCALYPSE, smiling: “The weak have no place in this world but to be crushed by the strong. That fact will never change. But I have witnessed the weakest, most pathetic of creatures transform themselves into the very strongest, given the right circumstances. All Mutants will have a chance in my world. It is not my fault if they fail.” 

Apocalypse knows that Kitty is also here and what she’s no doubt after. But they misunderstand. The plague has already been released. Millions have died, thousands have been born, and destroying the weapons of the old gods will not stop this from continuing. He explains that in granting each of his new Horsemen new Mutations, he set a condition on them: should they ever lose a battle, those abilities would fade away. He has put a similar condition on himself. If he falls, the plague will cease. That is the only way to stop it. 

APOCALYPSE: “If I can not still crush any who oppose me…then I have no right to dictate the new world. And the new world is not ready to be born.” He sits up straight. “Do you issue the challenge?” 

MAGNETO, stepping forward: “The X-Men do.” 

APOCALYPSE, moaning: “Very well.” Apocalypse slowly stands up, cracking his muscles and drawing two swords. “I am the weakest I have been in thousands of years. I stand against two Omegas and an Alpha. I…shall grant you honorable deaths.” 

Moving at super speed, Apocalypse rushes Magneto. Erik is able to hold him back with magnetic force, taking hold of Apocalypse’s hands to keep his balance, but this only lasts for a few seconds before Magneto is overpowered and sent flying through a wall. 

Cyclops blasts Apocalypse, but his optic beams merely tickle the immortal, who sends Scott flying with a far more powerful concussive blast of his own. 

EMMA, transforming into her diamond form: “You shouldn't have done that, Apocalypse. No one gets to beat that man but me.” 

Emma attempts to fight Apocalypse head on, but the punches of the form which survived Genosha can do little more than annoy him. She’s backhanded across the face, and sent flying like the others. 

Apocalypse is disappointed. He assumed if they were challenging him, without even knowing his condition, they must have gotten stronger. Instead, they are just fools. 

Scott looks to Emma, and then up at the hole Magneto made. He whistles. 

The ground shakes. All of the heavy machinery  and everything else made of metal in the room shakes as well. Apocalypse appears more interested than afraid by what’s happening. Flying back into the throneroom, Magneto launches everything at Apocalypse. A is easily able to smash and slice apart everything thrown at him, but all of this is just a distraction to allow Magneto to nail him in the face with a ground-shaking punch. Apocalypse isn’t sent flying, but he is knocked back  and visibly injured. 

APOCALYPSE: “There it is.” 

Cyclops and Magneto blast at him at the same time, and when Apocalypse blasts back, Emma steps in the way of Scott, blocking for him, while Erik defends himself. Without wasting an instant, Scott leaps off of Emma’s shoulder and targets Apocalypse’s head with a still-wider blast. Apocalypse telekinetically tosses them both away as he grunts, but is left open to be ravaged by a full-power magnetic wave. 

The attack not only launches Apocalypse out into the desert, but damages the infrastructure of the base. This is seen as we briefly cut to Kitty, as she drags the three kids out of there. The crumbling starts. 

Apocalypse remains standing, even if he is bleeding. Cyclops blasts Emma, launching her as a projectile at Apocalypse. He grabs her throat, ready to slash her head off, but she is merely a distraction, for Magneto to swoop in and tackle the titan. Apocalypse dissolves his swords, knowing they’ll do more harm than good at this stage. 

With his whole body charged up, Magneto and Apocalypse engage in hand to hand combat, moving even faster than War and Archangel did in their duel. While Magneto is succeeding in further injuring Apocalypse, each one of Apocalypse’s blows takes far more out of him. 

Eventually, Erik’s weariness and injuries catch up with him, and he slows down to the point Apocalypse sees an opening for a killing blow. He doesn’t get to deliver it though, as Emma is once again blasted by Scott, this time being positioned in between A and Erik to tank the hit. Magneto takes advantage of this, slamming his hands together and blasting Apocalypse once again. 

At last, A falls.. He narrows his eyes at Cyclops. Scott smirks back. 

We briefly flashback to sometime earlier in the year, Scott, Emma, and Erik seated around Emma’s desk. Each has a binder in front of them. Magneto is unamused and puzzled by what Scott has him looking at. Scott explains that it’s the X-Men’s strategy book. It’s a little list of tactics for each specific alignment of X-Men in the face of any given scenario. He updates it every time the rollcall changes. 

SCOTT, extremely proud of himself: “Pretty cool, right?” 

EMMA, lying and slightly embarrassed as she pats his shoulder: “Yes. Very.” 

In any case, since Magneto’s in charge now, and many of these strategies involve him, he needs to study up. Magneto sees little point. There are few threats he cannot crush on his own. 

MAGNETO, flipping a page: “Oh. Actually…this one could be of use.” 

In the present, Apocalypse takes note of what his enemies have been doing. Cyclops acting as a distraction and Emma acting as a shield, so that Magneto can focus just on hitting him as hard as he can. 

APOCALYPSE: “Hardly an honorable way to fight.” 

CYCLOPS: “Maybe. But Break the Juggernaut Isn’t about honor.” 

MAGNETO: ‘You did NOT name this.” 

EMMA: “Oh, let him have his fun.”

Apocalypse gets pissed as he floats up and finally powers up, kicking up a sandstorm and destroying the rest of his base as he shakes the Earth in the process. He fires off a massive energy attack in all directions, forcing Emma to shield Scott, and Magneto to stand on his own and try to cut a path through it. He succeeds, only to be met once again by Apocalypse. Now using the full extent of his current power, Apocalypse grows two additional arms, and with them beats Magneto halfway to death. 

APOCALYPSE, continuing to break Magneto: “You all think me evil? “No good” you said? I did not fail to stop a small, feeble human from causing the deaths of 16 million of us.” 

He tosses away a barely clinging to life Magneto away like a ragdoll before leaping and chokeslamming Emma. 

APOCALYPSE: “I have not failed my student.” 

Using his molecular manipulation, he turns off her diamond form. Emma, while being strangled, knows he’s too powerful a telepath himself for her to just shut him down, but she is able to force him to let her go, letting her gasp for air. Scott blasts at him, but Apocalypse’s blasts are once again far more powerful, and a single shot puts Scott in similar condition to Magneto. 

Apocalypse floats over Cyclops. 

APOCALYPSE: “I have not abdicated my responsibilities.” Apocalypse holds out his arms. “None of you are fit to rule!” 

BEAT, focusing on the battered leaders. 

SCOTT: “Yeah. That’s the point.” 

Cyclops removes his visor and hits Apocalypse with the full brunt of his power, at last able to make him feel it. 

CYCLOPS: “You don’t want any tricks? Just power? Well here it is!” 

Apocalypse’s shields are overwhelmed, and he’s launched higher into the sky. He’s immediately dragged back down by Emma’s telekinesis, dragging him back into Scott’s line of fire, and hitting him with her own psychic lightning. 

Apocalypse’s knees bend, as the Celestial tech parts of his body begin to flicker and fail. He knows none of them can withstand another attack from him. He just needs to…

He doesn’t get to finish whatever he was saying, as from above, Magneto lets loose everything he has left, and applies the pressure needed to knock Apocalypse on his face, and keep him stuck where he is. 

MAGNETO: “FINISH IT!” 

As their attacks fill the sky along with the sandstorm, Kitty watches from a distance, in awe of what these three fighting together looks like. 

Eventually, Scott, Emma, and Magneto are completely tapped out, and fall over, a cloud of smoke hiding the fate of Apocalypse. They all wait tensely to see if they’ve won. If they haven’t, it’s all over. 

The smoke clears…

And Apocalypse still stands. 

APOCALYPSE, slurring his words, all his tech destroyed or powered off, and bleeding all over:  “Weak as I am. Strong as you all are. I cannot be stopped.” 

Scott, Emma, and Erik look on in horror. The world is doomed. 

Apocalypse takes slow, heavy steps toward them. We cut away to Exodus’ face, the man somewhere far away. He’s smirking maliciously. 

EXODUS: “I think not.” 

For a split second, Apocalypse’s eyes flash pink. At long last, it’s Exodus’ surprise psychic blast that brings Apocalypse down, knocking him out, as an explosion takes place in the remnants of Apocalypse’s base. 

The three leaders look at his unconscious body in stunned silence, unaware of the betrayal that just occurred. One by one, they all laugh. They actually did it. 

CYCLOPS: “Okay, you know what…I think we can call the bet a draw.” 

Scott passes out, and the others are quick to follow. 

Sometime later, back at the school, an assembly is being held. Many of the students are afraid following the recent events. Magneto, in a wheelchair, sits on the stage and speaks to them about the great tragedy that occurred. While the X-Men did succeed in stopping Apocalypse and his plague, the Morlocks are all gone, including their former classmates Artie and Leech, and 10 million baselines died in the process. A few kids are crying. 

Magneto goes on to say that they should mourn and they will help them in anyway they can. A loss of life like this is always a tragedy. Baseline or Mutant. 

The other day, he spoke to them all. Not in his words, but in those of their previous headmaster. And he is glad he did not speak to them as he would have liked to. While he may stand firm in his philosophies, they are not what should be passed down to the future. They should not need to be passed down to the future, even if he believes they are what will ensure it. 

And in truth, when it came to stopping the ultimate evil, he and they worked better together than he could have imagined. Cyclops and Emma walk on stage. It is for this reason that, from now on, the three of them shall be equal partners in running the school and leading the X-Men. Together, they defeated the unstoppable. And while he will not promise there will be no more tragedies because there will be, they will still do all they can to help the children flourish. 

There’s a slow, awkward applause. 

Out in the hallway, soon after this, the three leaders walk with Kitty. Nice speech, but the kids may call them liars when they find out they weren’t actually able to finish off Apocalypse. 

Kitty isn’t sure what happened, but by the time she reached the uncnocious trio, Apocalypse’s body was gone. Emma brings up that there’s also still the matter of the four horsemen as well. Hopefully Iceman (confirmed to slowly be re-forming) will be up for a rematch by then. Magneto laments that, short of the plague, they may have to do this all over again whenever Apocalypse finishes restoring himself. Scot isn’t worried. The X-Men have this covered. 

Storm appears in their path, smiling. Kitty is relieved to see she’s doing better, as is Erik, who offers her his condolences; he more than anyone knows what she must be feeling right now. Ororo thanks them both…and reluctantly, thanks Emma for her part in stopping the plague.

EMMA: “Well, someone had to, while others were laying in bed.” 

Ororo rolls her eyes. She needs to speak with Scott. Alone. Kitty gives her a hug and Magneto shakes her hand, before the three comply. 

Scott asks Ororo what he’s done now, which just makes Storm laugh. Is that how he sees her now? The nagging big sister who’s always finding faults. 

SCOTT, cheeky: “A little bit.” 

Storm grins. She heard everything from Kitty. And she is so proud of her brother. When the ultimate test came, he stuck to what he knew was right, and did not allow himself to succumb to the darkness he’s surrounded himself in. 

STORM: “Perhaps I lost faith in you too quickly.” 

Scott tells her not to worry about it. He gave her reason to worry. Does this mean she’ll rejoin the team? They both know she doesn’t need her powers for the job. Ororo thanks him, but she isn’t ready to go that far. Especially not now. The Morlocks didn’t have any loved ones, but Betsy could use her right now. And after that…

STORM: “A young man witnessed my battle online. He called me, claiming to be my nephew. I’m intrigued.” 

The two hug it out, and Scott wishes her luck with everything. 

Storm begins to walk off, but…

STORM: “Oh, and Cyclops. When you find Exodus…kill him for me.” 

Scott sneers and nods. 

At the Grindstone, the three young X-Men and their friends, which now includes the Cuckoos and Quentin are all hanging out. Brian is annoyed about the girls bringing the Cuckoos, especially after the prank they all pulled on them, but Roxy counters if he can add “sweater-vest” to the gang, they can add the Cuckoos. The sisters play it cool, teasing that, really, they all have the fortune of now being in “their” group, but really they’re just so happy to finally be here. 

NORIKO, slamming her hands on the table: “Is no one gonna bring up the three of us helping to save the world? Cause I think that’s a pretty big deal.” 

JULIAN: “Yeah, no need to grovel, but a thank you would be nice. Groveling would be appreciated though.” 

Laura rolls her eyes at them, as she reminds them that they all lost. Badly. All they achieved was getting Iceman severely injured, and keeping Exodus alive.

CESSILY: “I also heard something about you two wanting to let Apocalypse win?” 

Julian and Noriko shrink, embarrassed. Everyone laughs at them. 

Sooraya is just glad they came to their senses. That on its own is a victory. But who is strong enough to beat the three of them so easily? 

QUENTIN: “Like it’d be that hard.” 

Brian punches his shoulder. 

Julian slams his fists together. You know who I think War is? 

JULIAN: “Ms. Grey.” 

The others think he’s crazy, but he tells them to think about it. She has flames, telekinesis, and is super strong. Who else could it be? 

There’s a pause, as everyone considers this. 

LAURA: “There’s also Prestige.” 

JULIAN: “Tch! I don’t care if she’s Jean, her daughter, or her granddaughter from even further in the future, next time I see her, I’m taking her out.” 

Julian, Noriko, and Laura all exchange glances. 

We flashback to the three young X-Men in the medical bay, after waking up. They make an agreement. They don’t tell the others what War said about Sofia. Not until they know for sure she isn’t lying. And not until that heartless monster is dead. 

In the present, Noriko gets up to go get everyone drinks. Milkshakes on the newbies!  

Back in Egypt, we pan down on the wrecked base to reveal that Apocalypse had a second, underground base. Apocalypse appears barely alive as he can only walk with an arm around War’s shoulders, and her holding him up. 

WAR: “Just a little further to your chamber, my lord.” She grunts. “Why didn’t you let me fight with you? We could have killed them!” Apocalypse weakly groans. War is clearly afraid. “Just a little further.” 

The two arrive where his restorative chamber should be. Apocalypse’s eyes widen in horror. 

WAR: “No.” 

Someone has destroyed his chamber. 

Apocalypse collapses against a wall. War bends down, not understanding how this could happen. 

WAR: “I…I shall find someone who can fix it. I will make them fix it!” 

War starts to rush off, but Apocalypse takes her hand and asks her to stay. It’s okay. It’s done. 

War gets on her knees. He can’t be giving up. He’s Apocalypse! 

APOCALYPSE: “I…will never yield. I will never die. But without my chamber, I will not wake up from my slumber for a long, long time.” 

WAR, her small hands clasped around one of Apocalypse’s massive ones, audibly crying under her helmet: “No. No!” She bows her head. “This is my fault. You could have destroyed them with ease if I had–” 

APOCALYPSE: “Shhh. Regret for the past is a weakness.” 

WAR, knowing exactly what to say: “Action in the present is strength.” She sniffles. “What about our mission? We were meant to save the world.” 

Apocalypse coughs up blood. 

APOCALYPSE: “Our mission…is now your mission. Clan Akabba is yours to lead.” War whispers “no”. “Are you afraid?” 

WAR: “Never!” 

APOCALYPSE: “Then do…as I trained you to do.” 

Apocalypse pulls War into his arms and removes her helmet, although the audience still can’t see who it is. We do see that she has long brown hair, as Apocalypse strokes it. 

APOCALYPSE: “You are the strongest. Perhaps not in power, but in spirit. This world…is yours to conquer.” War continues to nod along as she cries into his chest. “Let these be the last tears you shed. Only the wives and children of your slain enemies may weep.” 

WAR, still speaking in a distorted voice without her helmet: “ I will burn this world in the flames of war, for I am the war that will never end. I will make you proud.” 

APOCALYPSE: “I know…you will.” 

Apocalypse runs out of energy and enters a long, long sleep. 

WAR: “Goodbye…Father.” 

Elsewhere in the base, in Apocalypse’s backup throneroom, Exodus is in a perfectly good mood. Apocalypse may be lost, as are the powers of Famine, but he’s still more than powerful enough to lead the remaining Horseman to glory. 

EXODUS, mockingly:  “In the name of Lord Apocalypse, of course.” 

Sitting across from him, lighting a cigarette, is a muscular Japanese man with a mohawk in a silk shirt, slacks, and a katana strapped to his back. 

DEATH: “Forgive me, Famine, but I can’t believe in a loser to aid me in my revenge.” 

EXODUS: “I am the ONLY Omega among us.” 

“Boys, be nice.” 

DEATH: “Such a scary little word you like to toss around. Maybe one day it will mean something.” 

The fourth and final Horseman, Pestilence, reveals herself, and it’s a familiar face: Polaris. She sits with the two men. 

PESTILLENCE: “Unless you actually want to kill each other. That sounds fun to watch.” 

Death laughs as he smokes. 

DEATH: “Perhaps I should lead us.”

EXODUS: “I *would* kill you if you tried.” 

DEATH, casually reaching for his katana, unafraid: “By all means, go ahead and try it.” 

Exodus powers up, ready to start another fight. Polaris grins as it looks like this will happen, her eyes turning purple. 

“Quit your bickering!” 

War stomps into the throneroom, getting the other three horsemen’s attention. 

WAR: ‘Lord Apocalypse is gone. His mission is now our mission. Before he awakens, it is our responsibility to make this world strong. Before he awakens, we must cleanse the world of the weak. Of the human. And, most importantly…” 

War sits on Apocalypse’s throne as her face is finally shown. 

WAR: “Of the X-Men.” 

Her skin is blue, but War’s identity is still clear. She is Sofia Mantega. 

While Exodus sneers at her and Polaris chuckles, Death smirks and steps forward to kneel before War. And for War, there is nothing but hate and pain inside her eyes. 

[van-oskuro]

How X-men 97 set up the perfect House of M adaption, and why they won't do it

Just gonna put it out there, anyone who knows me knows that x-men and I do not agree. So when I say X-men 97 has set up a very good plot for season 2, I really do mean it. They just are not going to use it.

Let me explain:

At the end of 97 season 1, the x-men ended up in three different times:

Xavier, Beast, Nightcrawler, Rogue, and Magneto in ancient Eypt with not yet Apocalypse

Wolverine, Jubilee, Storm, Forge, and Sunspot in 1997 (aka “modern” day) with Bishop and Cable

And Cyclops and Jean in a ruined future with a younger version of Cable

Now here is how I would do season 2. As an adaptation of House of M

In Ancient Egypt, the x-men there pal around with En Sabah Nur. This leads to him forming a bond with Magneto and Rogue, who instill their mutant supremacy ideals into him.

Meanwhile, in 1997, the x-men there wake up to a world ruled by mutants. The world at first seems like a paradise, like genosha was shown to be. But the deeper they explore, the more they find that paradise is a lie. Baseline humans are hunted and persecuted, and the plentiful resources are actually taken from other planets as mutant indulgence has stripped earth of most of its resources.

Finally, in the future, Scott and Jean learn the world they are in was created from mutant overindulgence. Overcoming various hardships like helping the tribe Nathan is with find food and water, and fighting off bandits and angry aliens, they find out that the world came under mutant rule due to En Sabah Nur, fueled by Magneto and Rogue’s teachings, leading mutants more aggressive and powerful. Free to run wild with their powers, the earth and other planets were ravaged.

Eventually Scott and Jean go back to 1997 to help the team there, before going to ancient Egypt. There, Jean shows everyone the future Magneto has En Sabath create, frightening them all. Shocked and afraid, En Sabath blames Magneto for the ruined future, vowing to never let mutants run freely, leading him to become Appocalype while the x-men return home to the correct reality.

Now I know they won't do this. Why? Because it would require mutants to be the bad guys. Not a small couple of mutants like Sabertooth, but the vast majority of mutants would have to be as bad as the humans in X-men, which would actually mean they are worse due to superpowers. Marvel currently is in a "mutants can do little wrong" phase were they want powerless humans to look worse. Remember, Krakoa fell because of humans, despite the only thing that should have been able to beat mutantkind at that point should have been mutantkind. As such, the mutant-human situation has become completely one sided, with no signs of moral equality.

[gerec]

My Future & Yours

Pairings: Erik Lehnsherr/Sebastian Shaw, Erik Lehnsherr/Alex Summers

Summary:

The island of Genosha offers sanctuary to mutants from all over the world; the chance to live amongst their own kind in a beautiful paradise. With no family left, Erik decides to travel half-way around the world to start a new life. He does not expect to catch the eye of one Sebastian Shaw - handsome, charismatic, and leader of the mutant nation - and end up forcibly taken as his mate.

Part 6 of Legacy of Sin

Chapter 4: Island Tour

Erik spends the day with Sebastian and they delight in their mutual attraction.

[alaffy]

X-Men '97, Ep1x05 - Remember It (1 of 2) (Spoilers)

Mid-Season episodes are usually known to set up the second half of the season, or have some sort of shocking moment/cliffhanger.  But this episode really outdid itself.  In fact, there’s so much to talk about in this episode that I’m actually going to create two posts for it.  This first post is going to be about the events leading up to the Gala.  The second post, naturally, will be the Gala itself and the aftermath.

The episode begins with Trish Tilby doing an expose on the X-Men.  Also, a bit of flirting with Beast.  Not too surprising as the two did date in the comics.  During these interviews we find out that Magneto, Gambit, and Rouge have gone to Genosha at the request of the UN.  It seems like the idea that Genosha should be part of the UN wasn’t just talk. 

We find that Genosha has been turned into a paradise for mutants.  We also find out that Madelyne has become part of Genosha’s governing counsel.  While Magneto goes to speak to the counsel, Nightcrawler (who’s part of helping with the interfaith based relations) decides to show Gambit and Rouge around.  And What I like about this moment is the little misdirection.  Genosha is being portrayed as the mutant utopia.  Yet Gambit notices that the price of food seems very steep.  If this had been the original show, this would have led to the X-Men finding out that something is not quite right about the island.  But, no, what Nightcrawler says is true; the high prices are one of the stumbling blocks they’re facing while creating this new government.

Speaking of government, Magneto is in for a big surprise.  So, the new government is led by several familiar faces.  Besides Madelyne, we have Callisto, Banshee, Emma Frost, Sabastian Shaw, and Moria McTaggart. Val Cooper is also there, but as a representative of the UN.  However, there’s one position that still needs to be filled; Chancellor.  They are hoping that Magneto will take the job.  Eventually, he agrees but under one condition.

Meanwhile, at the X-Mansion, the interviews continue.  Sort of.  Trish is interviewing Scott, while Jean and Logan talk.  Things are still pretty awkward between Scott and Jean.  Yet they just happen to tell Trish and Logan the same story about a time they went on a picnic (because they’re so in sync, I guess).  Anyway, Jean is still unsure of everything, so Logan tells her that he’s only seen one of her (which is a lie.  Madeline is still a clone of Jean, so he's seen two).  This makes Jean decide to ramp up the drama feel special I guess, and she kisses Logan.  But Logan just tells her she belongs with Scott and walks away.  Honestly, I really don’t see the need to bring this back. 

Meanwhile, Trish is asking Scott about his baby.  Scott says he doesn’t have a child.  And, honestly, I really can’t tell is Trish is just extremely stupid or just a bitch because she keeps hounding Scott about the baby and demands why he lied.  Seriously, for all you know, you could be hounding a parent about a recently deceased child.  Not exactly going to look good on your resume here.

However, what happens (and what probably saves her ass) is that Scott loses his cool.  And let’s be clear, everything he said is completely accurate and justifiable; but it also could make one wonder if someone is about to follow the path of Magento’s old ways.

Back in Genosha, Rouge finds out that Magneto agreed to rule the country…so long as Rouge is able to rule by his side.  And not in a platonic way.  Which, my God, where to begin with this.  I mean, yes, he’s leaving the choice ultimately up to her; but the whole thing is manipulative as fuck.  She can make a difference for Mutant Kind, by becoming his queen.  Here’s a crazy idea, how about she become a part of the council?  She could help mutants that way too.  And then, if you two get more closer…..

Anyway, back at the X-Mansion Scott is talking to Jean about how he can’t believe he lost control like that.  Jean asks Scott to talk about his son.  He does and they kiss.  And at this point, we find out that this is all in Scott’s mind.  And he isn’t talking to Jean, but Madyline.  And we find this out, because Jean realizes what Scott’s doing.  Let’s just point out that Jean is being hypocritical about the kiss between Scott and Madelyne given the fact that she just kissed Logan.  Like, ma’am, you ain’t exactly innocent here either.

This leads to a huge fight between Jean and Scott.  Jean demands to know who Scott loves, her or Madelyne.  Scott says both.  And this leads to Scott demanding if Jean’s “love” is what she feels or a product of her memories (memories that might actually be Madelyne’s).  And I feel sorry for both of them here and I can see both of their points of view.

Both want reassurance that they are loved by the other.  Jean wants to know that she means more to Scott than Madelyne does.  The problem is, up until a month ago, Scott believed Madelyne was Jean.  And there are experiences that he shares with Madelyne, like having a son, that connects him to her in ways that he’s not connected to Jean.  So, to expect that connection to just go away is unrealistic.

Meanwhile, Scott wants reassurance that Jean’s love for him is based on emotions, not just what her memories (which may not be her memories) are telling her.  The thing is, though, he should know that Jean loves him.  Hang on, let me rephrase this as it sounds like I’m blaming him.  It is understandable that he is uncertain because no one knows when Jean was switched.  However, it is very unlikely it happened before she joined the X-Men (realistically, it probably happened sometime during the original series).  And the series has made it clear they fell in love when they were teens.  Therefore, Jean’s feelings for Scott are real.  However, they may not be quite as deep as they would have been had she not been switched with a clone. 

What they need to do is to acknowledge that something tragic has happened to them, that has put their relationship on shaky ground, and it’s not their fault.  And then discuss where to go from here.  And that might mean that they’re going to have to take a step back in their relationship.  Now, I’m not saying they should get divorced or even separate.  But kind of accept that they need to work on feeling comfortable with each other again, before they try to fix their marriage.  If that makes sense.

But, this being a drama, their fight ends as Jean suddenly has what looks like a psychic attack.

Ok, up to the last part of the first half.  Now, we have the conversation between Gambit and Rouge.  Again, this is one of those things where I feel for both sides.  I feel sorry for Gambit because, not only is he losing the woman he loves, but he knows this is a bad idea.  Like, he knows that Rouge is agreeing for all the wrong reasons.  Although he does have that one moment were he snaps at Rouge for not telling him the truth sooner and I was just…didn’t you conveniently forget to tell Rouge you had an ex-fiancé?  Like, I’m not saying she shouldn’t have been honest, but in Rouge’s case she thought it was all said and done.  Gambit, on the other hand, abandoned his Ex. 

Ahem.  Anyway, so the thing with Rouge…she’s making a bad choice.  However, she’s making a bad choice due to a very understandable reason.  Humans, in general, need physical contact.  Now, everybody has a limit to how much contact they need, but if they are denied the contact that they need…I do think, of the two men, Rouge is in love with Gambit.  I think she is attracted to Magneto, not just because he can touch her, but because he can be a charming person; but she loves Gambit.  But she can’t have physical contact with him.  And, in her mind, without physical contact they can’t have a relationship.  Something I think Gambit disagrees with.  He doesn’t say it directly, but his line about it being “skin deep” is very clear.  But Rouge, ultimately, is choosing a physical connection over an emotional one.  And she’s using the idea that she can help others as justification (and honestly, I do think that she believes that’s the reason why she’s choosing Magneto even though that’s more what’s she’s telling herself).  Anyway, Gambit decides to let her go. 

So, that’s the first half of the episode.  It’s amazing how much they got inside this episode and yet it didn’t feel like it was all crammed in.