#Irmas Stepford Cuckoos | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

wqintraining · 1 year ago

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NEW X-MEN: THE ANIMATED SERIES - SEASON 2, EPISODE 5

We open on Emma Frost’s telepathy class, with 12 students in attendance. Emma tells them all it’s time for a pop quiz. She’s put minimal, by her standards, mental defenses up, and she wants them to tell her what she’s thinking of.

Immediately, the only hands that go up belong to Quentin Quire, sporting an unfortunate sweater vest and shorts combo, and the Stepford Cuckoos, who sit on opposite sides of the classroom. Emma calls on the Cuckoos first, and they answer correctly. The Cuckoos shoot Quentin a smug, superior glance.

Emma tells the class to try again with the next one, but only the same hands go up. This time she calls on Quentin, who also answers correctly. He sticks his tongue out at the Cuckoos.

Emma gives the class one more chance, but, again, only the Cuckoos and Quentin can read her mind.

Emma pinches her nose.

EMMA: “What was Jean even teaching any of you? I bet she never even invaded your subconscious.”

Emma sighs and calls on the Cuckoos.

SOPHIE, smirking: “You’re thinking about…how good Mr. Summers is in bed.”

The whole class laughs as the bell rings, Emma so glad she doesn’t need to respond to that.

As the class files out, Quentin approaches the Cuckoos, who are visibly disgusted by him getting near them, and mocks that they can only keep up with him because there are five of them. He’s obviously superior to any ONE of them.

PHOEBE: “We are one, idiot.”

IRMA: “Five-in-One, dweeb.”

CELESTE: “And One-in-Five.”

SOPHIE: “We’d only need half a Cuckoo to be better than you.”

ESME: “So just drop dead already.”

As the Cuckoos strut out, Quentin is both frustrated by the Cuckoos, and by his arousal toward them.

Out in the hall, Emma is stopped by Scott.

EMMA: “And what are you all unusually smiley about?”

SCOTT: “Well, we’ve been official for a week, so I thought it might be nice for us to take a night off. There’s a new airshow out in Queens I thought we could check out.”

Emma looks at Scott like he’s an idiot.

EMMA, as she walks past him: “No.”

SCOTT: “No?”

EMMA: “No to attending an airshow, and no to stepping foot in Queens. Jean may have simply gone along with whatever interests you have, although frankly I’m shocked you possess any, but for me, you’ll have to do better. Capiche?”

SCOTT, actually upset: “Yeah. Capiche.”

Emma hums in frustration as she turns back around.

EMMA: “I apologize. The only man I’ve been with before was Shaw. I forget I shouldn’t just walk all over you anymore.” She forms a cat-like smile as she puts her arms around his shoulders. “I suppose I can give the boy a night with his toys. Find us something better than Queens, hmm?”

SCOTT, his mood lifted: “Yes, ma’am.”

The two kiss, but the moment is sadly ruined.

“Oh, please do not tell me you two are actually dating now.”

The headmasters pull away and open their eyes, finding that Sunspot has returned.

SUNSPOT: “Disgusting at this revelation is, therapy can wait. We need to talk.”

In the medical bay, Beast says he knows it seems scary, but with these, he can still do everything he used to.

We see he’s speaking with Julian, who’s fully dressed and seems to have recovered as much as he can. In front of him are two metal hands, which Beast explains he’s designed to work specifically with his, and only his, telekinesis; they will be an extension of himself.

HANK, adjusting his glasses: “Some of my best work if I may say so.”

JULIAN: “YOU say so. I don’t. They’re uglier than Ashida’s gloves.” He sighs. From his nubs, he inches out his TK field to grab them and pull them over to his nubs. He repeatedly flexes and unflexes his new fingers. “Yeah. I guess this will do.”

Julian, without saying thank you, sullenly exits the med bay, only to shove his depression down, put on a cocky grin, and hold his arms out as he’s greeted by his friends.

JULIAN: “Guess who’s back!”

Cessily runs up to him and gives him a hug, Julian then twirling her around with his TK, as Brian cheers him on.

SOORAYA: “We’ve missed you.”

JULIAN: “I KNOW you have.”

Emma talks up from behind the kids, standing tall and imposing, but with a small smile.

EMMA: “I hope you’re well-rested, Hellion, because if you wish to keep using that name, I don’t want to hear one excuse from you about your injury impacting your performance. Understood?”

JULIAN: “Loud and clear.”

Emma softly touches her gloves hand to his face.

EMMA: “I have work to do, but come to my office later so we can talk. And be proud of yourself.”

Emma walks off, Julian’s face falling for a moment while no one’s looking. Quickly picking himself back up, however, he wants to know where the others are.

Cessily explains that Laura is still blaming herself for what happened to him, and she isn’t ready to see him yet. Nori, well, that flimsy bridge may have been burnt when the two nearly fought to the death, and Sofia…

Julian sighs.

JULIAN: “Yeah. I messed up there. Big time. But she’s still single, right?”

SOORAYA: “Yes, but I don’t think she wants –”

JULIAN: “Perfect! Thanks for the intel!” Julian cackles as he floats off. “Just watch! By the end of the day, the premiere Mutant power couple will be back!”

Cessily, Sooraya, and Brian all clearly know this is a bad idea.

CESSILY: “Ten bucks says this goes badly?”

BRIAN AND SOORAYA: “No bet.”

In Scott’s office, with Emma at his side, Cyclops questions where Sunspot has been. Leaving out a number of details, he simply tells them he’s been taking some time off. While he was doing so, he met a seemingly pleasant man named John Sublime, a name Emma recognizes as the head of Sublime Corp, a meditech corporation that formed three years ago.

Roberto says he started chatted with the man, but any potential friendship died the second he started ranting about how baselines were “entitled” to Mutant gifts, and how something should be done to erase the “inequality”.

ROBERTO: “I thought he was just talking nonsense dreams, but after reading one of Emma’s recent mission reports about the existence of the U-Men, well, it wasn’t hard to put two and two together.”

The most worrisome thing he notes is that Sublime has a Mutant working for him, possibly against their will, giving them a description of Martha. Scott apologizes for riding Roberto so hard about his absence, with the rest of the X-Men having been unable to catch any leads on the U-Men since their first attack. Still, the next time he goes off on his own like this, he NEEDS to let him know.

Roberto wipes his smile off his face, stands tall, and clasps his hands behind his back.

ROBERTO, mockingly: “Sir, yes, sir! It won’t happen again, sir!”

Roberto drops the bit and laughs as he heads out of the office.

ROBERTO: “I’ll leave dealing with him and rescuing the Mutant in your hands.”

CYCLOPS: “And where are you going now?”

ROBERTO: “My room. That was the most exhausting vacation I’ve ever taken.”

Roberto exits, but Emma follows after him, saying she’ll be with Scott to plan in a moment.

When Emma catches Beto in the hall, he asks if she needs him to do any more of her job for her.

EMMA: “Drop the attitude, Da Costa. It’s obnoxious. And that’s coming from me. I know you were doing more than taking a trip to the Galapagos.”

ROBERTO: “Oh? What do you think I was up to?”

Emma shows Roberto an article from this morning on her phone about how Da Costa International is back in business and bigger than ever, with a new headquarters in France.

ROBERTO: “Is this supposed to be a “gotcha”? It’s public news, and I’ve mentioned before this is a side project of mine.”

EMMA: “That may be, but it doesn’t change that you had to have gotten the money from someone. And I can’t think of many people with this type of money who’d be willing to back a known Mutant superhero.”

ROBERTO: “If it’s such a short list, you should have no trouble figuring it out, but that really shouldn’t be your priority right now.”

As Roberto is finally able to leave, Emma narrows her eyes at him.

Back in the office, Scott hears someone come in and assumes it’s Emma, but, in actuality, it’s Storm and Kitty, neither of whom appears happy with him.

SCOTT: “What’s wrong?”

KITTY: “Seriously?”

ORORO: “Children gossip, Scott. Especially they see their headmasters kissing in the halls.”

Scott tries to explain, but Kitty swears at him to shut up. They thought he’d made a dumb, stupid, bad mistake, but clearly, this is just what he wants.

SCOTT: “Yes! It is. And if either of you could give her the slightest chance, you’d understand why.”

ORORO: “She removed any chance of that when she broke our family.” Storm walks over to Scott and looks down at him. “I’m so disappointed in you.”

Storm walks out with Kitty, who’s sure to flip Scott off on her way. Unsure of what he can do about the state of the team he now commands, he picks up and looks longingly at his photo of the classic X-Men.

We cut to the Danger Room, where the power is still turned off. Suddenly the lights turn on. In the control room, a white-gloved hand inputs a command into the system.

An obstacle course emerges in the Danger Room, including sentries, narrow, razor-sharp hoops, massive industrial fans, and six orbs that float around the room.

Stepping inside, Wind Dancer takes a deep breath. WIth a countdown clock set, and her eyes on the high scores for completing this course set by Storm and Northstar, she does some last-minute stretches.

The countdown completes and Sofia runs through the course. In as fast a time as possible, she must fly through every hoop and touch every orb, all of which are rapidly moving around in an erratic pattern, while withstanding the fans from every corner, and eliminating the sentries.

While Sofia does cut herself on the final hoop as she attempts to pick up her pace at the end, she otherwise performs nearly flawlessly, gracefully passing through the rest of the hoops and reaching every orb, while using the fans, which are meant to be a hindrance, to eliminate the sentries for her, so she need not even concern herself with them.

Reaching the end, Sofia looks up with eager eyes and panted breaths to see if she got the high score. She did not. She achieved third place behind Storm and Northstar, but a distant third place.

SOFIA: “DAMMIT!”

“Don’t beat yourself up.” Sofia’s eyes widen as Danielle enters. “Well, beat yourself up for breaking the rules about not using the Danger Room and getting detention, but not for your performance. That was excellent, Wind Dancer.”

Sofia hangs her head in shame.

SOFIA: “I have had so much more free time to train lately, I thought I could get the number one score, but I didn’t even come close.”

DANI, giggling: “Oh no, you did better than veteran X-Men like Archangel, Banshee, and Cannonball, but fell short of the fastest man alive and the world’s greatest badass. Such a failure. You should be proud.”

SOFIA, sighing, but able to smile: “Thank you Ms. Moonstar, but I won’t be proud until I’m the best.”

“You know you already are to me, Beautiful.”

That is said over the Danger Room’s intercom. Sofia and Dani look up to, of course, find Hellion. Julian is looking down at Sofia with one of the most innocent looks we’ve seen in his eyes, while Sofia looks up at him, unsure of what to feel.

Dani pats her on the back.

DANI: “Go deal with your Degrassi nonsense. We’ll talk about your punishment and overly high standards for yourself later.”

Sofia meets Julian in the control room, with awkwardness filling the air. Julian asks how Sofia is doing. She gives a non-answer.

SOFIA: “I am…happy to see you’ve recovered. I like your new hands.”

JULIAN, snorting: “Can’t say I feel the same there, but you do have an eye for spotting the best in things. And in people.”

Julian steps forward and tells Sofia how sorry he is for how he spoke to her. No one should EVER speak to her like that. He was just going through such a hard time after everything, and he lashed out at her when he shouldn’t have. If he wanted to be alone, he should have just said that.

JULIAN: “I didn’t mean a thing I said about using you, and I never wanted to actually break up with you. I was just…” Getting the next word out takes a great deal of effort on Julian’s part. “...scared. I’m so sorry, Sofia. Please. Give me one more chance.”

Sofia, wide-eyed, stammers as she struggles to find what she wants to say. Eventually, she steps forward and takes Julian’s hands. His eyes light up. But…

SOFIA: “I am sorry, Julian. I’m sorry for what happened to you, and I’m sorry I have to tell you this…but I cannot keep playing your games.”

JULIAN: “What?”

SOFIA: “Everyone has different sides to them. The sides of you I usually see…I love.” She may as well have just plunged a knife through this boy’s heart. “But the other sides of you, the sides I feared for how they would impact me…they scare me more than ever.” Sofia pulls away. “You may not have meant it, but you broke my heart. I can’t go through that again.”

Sofia flies off, as a destroyed Julian falls to his knees.

On one of Emma’s jets, which naturally has an all-white interior, Scott notes how much more lavish it is than the jets Xavier would charter when he’d take either him and the rest of the 05 on a rare vacation, or when he’d take him and Jean with him to observe him in Washington. Emma replies that she’d HOPE she had better taste than that fossil.

Emma tells Scott that she has work to do since she wasn’t exactly planning on taking a flight to China today. Scott says that’s fine, as he’s not exactly without a workload either.

EMMA, as they both pull out their laptops: “Credit where it’s due, running your criminal business on the opposite end of the world from your legitimate one is an effective way to keep nosey do-gooders from making a connection.”

CYCLOPS: “You know you don’t always have to praise the villains’ plans and say things like that, right?”

EMMA: “Yes, but your nose crinkles in the most laughable way when i do, so I’m afraid I’m left with no choice.”

Scott laughs that off as the two begin working in silence…but Scott still has something on his mind.

CYCLOPS: ‘Sorry. One more thing.”

Emma sighs and gestures for him to proceed.

Scott explains how he’s never been Mr. Popular. He’s always been the one to make the responsible calls that pissed people off. But at the end of the day, everyone, except sometimes Logan, knew he was their friend, and they respected him. Now though? He thinks he’s on the verge of losing Storm and Kitty for good if he doesn’t do something. And after this morning, he has no idea where he stands with Sunspot.

SCOTT: “How do you deal with everyone hating you?”

Without a word, Emma reaches into her bag and paws around it. Scott questions what she’s doing. Emma proceeds to leave cocaine on the table in between them.

SCOTT: “Really?”

EMMA: “Just don’t overdo it.”

Scott glares at the coke with disgust before just hopping back onto his laptop. Emma is amused.

In the school’s gymnasium, Laura is training Sofia in H2H combat. Or, at least, that’s what they usually come here to do. Today, while they are sparring, Sofia is talking nonstop about all the confusing emotions going through her head right now. How she still hates Julian, how she still cares about him so much, if she should feel bad for holding what he said in the wake of his injury against him, etc.

Laura doesn’t have anything to say to any of this, acting as a sounding wall for her as she blocks all of her attacks, but while she can handle fighting and listening, here, she’s being forced to fight and listen, while Sofia makes repeated contact with her as she sweats profusely in her workout bra and tiny shorts, and shouts in her harmonic voice.

Laura’s face is bright red.

It’s in this moment of distraction that Sofia is able to land a clean kick on Laura’s stomach, and slightly knock her back.

Sofia cheers at this success, this being the first time she’s been able to hit her like that. Laura, tugging on her hair, tries to compose herself as she congratulates her (she doesn’t do a very good job).

LAURA: “You’re a natural.”

SOFIA: “I’ve read that fighting is much like dancing. Once I’ve learned the basics, I think I might ask Mr. Da Costa to teach me capoeira.”

Laura nods but tells her not to push herself. Unlike her, even with everything she’s been through, Sofia still has time to enjoy being a kid. Sofia falls backward and catches herself, floating on her back in mid-air. She knows she might be overdoing it, but it’s the only thing that takes her mind off Julian. She asks Laura what she thinks she should do as she swirls some wind around Laura so she can sit down in mid-air next to her.

Laura doesn’t blame Julian for anything he said because of his injury. It was her fault he was put in that position, so if she should be mad at anyone, it’s her. It comes down to trust. It’s about whether Sofia can trust his darker sides to never come for her, and if she can trust her, Laura doesn’t think she should have a problem trusting Julian. Sofia doesn’t think that makes sense, but…

LAURA: “You’ve seen Julian at his worst. You haven’t seen me at half of mine.”

Sofia is left to think, Laura lying back next to her.

In Shanghai, Scott and Emma walk down a busy street as they approach Sublime’s building, Emma wrinkling her nose at the smell of all the street food. Scott reminds her this is part of the local culture, and it’s not even like all of this food is cheap, but Emma says she’ll stick with her usual tables in this city.

Changing the subject, Scott asks about the drugs from the plane. No personal judgement, they’re both adults who’ve done worse things than a party drug, but it isn’t exactly responsible to be doing cocaine while teaching and regularly going into combat. Emma explains that, no, she doesn’t do cocaine. Anymore. Back in her Hellfire days, she was a right addict. She’s clean now, but having it around…

Emma trails off.

SCOTT: “Having it around…what?”

Emma takes a moment to respond.

EMMA: “Not important.”

The two arrive at Sublime Corp. Scott holds the door open for Emma and they pass through the lobby up to the receptionist. She asks if they have an appointment and, with a small psychic suggestion, she knows they do. As she looks up at Scott and Emma to tell them Mr. Sublime will see them right away, we see that Emma is masking the two telepathically as unrecognizable businesspeople.

SCOTT: “I should not be okay with you doing that.”

EMMA: “And yet…”

The two march off toward the stairs.

In the library, Cessily is calmly studying with her headphones on, while bopping her head to the Washingtons’ music. She’s seated at a table with Pixie, Rubbermaid, and Preview, who are also studying. Their study session is interrupted when Hellion flies in fast enough to send their books flying.

Cessily takes off her headphones and shouts at Julian for this, but, rather than apologize, he just says he needs her help. Please.

Cessily sighs and asks her friends to give them a few minutes. As the other girls get up, Preview slaps Julian.

JULIAN: “Oh come on! I thought we had a good time!”

RUBBERMAID, whispering to Pixie: “I heard Sofia broke up with him because of his tiny wiener.”

PIXIE: “Hee hee. Weiner.”

Once they’re gone, Julian sits down next to Cessily and tells her how Sofia turned him down.

CESSILY: “Shocking.”

JULIAN: “Ah, come on, be nice.”

She’s the only person he trusts who currently has a girlfriend, so he wants her advice on what he should do. It’s not like he can just pull the same thing he did at the dance again.

CESSILY: “Hmm. I know you didn’t mean it, but you said some pretty awful things to her. Maybe the best thing you can do is start from scratch. Prove to her you’re still the good guy she fell for, even if it takes a few months.”

JULIAN: “Months?!”

“What’s this?”

“Cessily Kincaid giving bad advice?”

“I’m shocked.”

Julian and Cessiy glare as they’re approached by the Cuckoos.

CESSILY: “What do you want now?”

SOPHIE: “We sensed desperation.”

ESME: “We thought it might be good for a lark.”

PHOEBE: “And it was!”

The five-in-one laugh.

IRMA: “We also needed to get some books.”

For apparently saying something wrong, Phoebe nudges Irma with her elbow.

Julian tells them that they haven’t met before, but this is none of their business, and after what they put his friends through, nothing about his life ever will be. So buzz off.

The Cuckoos, still smirking, casually shrug as they walk off.

JULIAN: “What’s their deal, anyway?”

CESSILY: “Don’t worry about it. Now, where were we?”

JULIAN: “Oh, um, right. Months?!”

At Sublime Corp, Scott and Emma, in telepathic disguise, are welcomed by the corporation’s eponymous CEO, who brandishes his trademark smile. He says he doesn’t remember his assistant mentioning she’d scheduled a meeting for him with representatives of Kilgore Arms, but hey, everybody makes mistakes.

SCOTT, telepathically: “Picking anything up from him?”

EMMA, telepathically: “No, but I’m not sensing any normal mental defenses either.”

SUBLIME, sitting behind his desk: “Please, have a seat. My condolences about your CEO’s recent disappearance. Who knows what could have befallen him?”

The X-couple take their seats.

SCOTT: “It’s always difficult to lose familiar leadership.”

EMMA: “But it opens up all sorts of wonderful opportunities.”

He asks what they’d like to discuss. Seeing how his company is purely in the Meditech field, he’s guessing they’re interested in purchasing either some of their research or patents to use in their weapons.

Emma tells him that while much of his research could be of value to them, they’re more interested in his “extra-curricular” activities.

SCOTT, doing his best to act evil: “We know you’re behind the U-Men and the assault on the Cockrum Mental Hospital. The operation may not have been a success, but we were most impressed by what we read. Mutants are a scourge, and your tools may be the key to escalating the war against them.”

EMMA: “Of course, Kilgore Arms is prepared to pay handsomely for any samples you’re willing to part with.”

Sublime laughs. He should have expected as much. Honestly, he’d hoped to have launched his next attack by now, but he didn’t want to send his boys and girls out into the field again half-cocked.

SUBLIME: “I do have to disagree about one thing. Mutants being a “scourge”. Some of them can make quite good friends.”

The door to Sublime’s office creaks open as a brain in a jar floats in. John introduces Scott and Emma to Martha Johannason. Scott nearly loses his cool and drops his act when, along with being appalled at this being done to one of his people at all, he notices a substantial laceration on her, which Beto hadn’t mentioned. Emma is able to calm him telepathically before he does something stupid.

As Martha floats over to Sublime’s side, he says she’s his right-hand girl and invaluable to his research. She volunteered to be his test subject, agreeing with his philosophy that it isn’t fair for only people like her to have powers, and while the tests did cost her her body, she’s perfectly happy as she is now.

EMMA: “I notice a cut on her. Has she been engaged in combat since taking that form?”

SUBLIME: “Oh, no, no. She was aiding me with an operation and didn’t quite meet the standards I held her to. I trust after this lesson, she won’t make that mistake again. Right, sweetie?”

Martha’s tank bubbles.

EMMA, giggling: “Finding good help can be so difficult, can’t it?”

SCOTT, through grit teeth: “Indeed.”

Sublime says that now would be the part where he asks what Kilgore Arms is willing to offer him, but, of course…

SUBLIME: “You’re not with Kilgore Arms.”

A chill runs down Scott and Emma’s spines as they’re frozen in place, and Emma’s illusion is broken.

SUBLIME: “Cyclops. Emma Frost. I’ve so been looking forward to meeting the both of you.”

Unable to move, Scott and Emma sneer at the monster sitting in front of them.

In the library, Julian exclaims to Cessily that he can’t just go back to being Sofia’s friend, or maybe even something lower than that. There are only a few months left in the school year, then he’s going home for the Summer, and in all that time, Sofia could meet someone else.

Cessily isn’t sure what else to tell him. Dramatic displays and forcing himself on her aren’t going to work on Sofia.

JULIAN: “I can’t take that risk! There has to be something else I can do. I…I love her.”

Cessily’s eyes widen.

CESSILY: “Seriously? Or, like, do you mean in a cheesy first-teen love kind of way?”

JULIAN, shaking his head, looking as stunned by what he just said as Cess does: “No. No, I think I mean it. Shit.”

Cessily stretches her arms across the table and grabs Julian’s cheeks, practically squealing.

CESSILY, grinning: “THEN TELL HER THAT, YOU IDIOT!!!”

JULIAN: “Yeah? That won’t just make things worse?”

CESSILY: “Sofia is the straightest girl I’ve ever met. I don’t think there’s anything in the world she wants more than for you to tell her that.”

Julian’s face lights up. Okay! He will tell her. He just needs to find the right moment. He thanks Cessily for her help, but as he tries to fly off, she shapeshifts into a net and catches him in it.

CESSILY: “No going anywhere till you clean those books. I’m not getting in trouble with Mahn Cao Thi Xuan because of you.”

Cessily shapeshifts back to normal and wishes Julian luck, before going to find her friends. Julian calls out to her as she walks off not to tell Rubbermaid what he’s planning; that girl can’t keep her mouth shut.

Julian starts putting the books back on their shelves with his telekinesis as he just repeats, “Sofia, I love you” over and over again under his breath.

In Sublime’s office, John taunts Scott and Emma. That was a very nice illusion they had going, one Martha wouldn’t have been able to see through.

SUBLIME, as Scott and Emma struggle to move: “She specializes in…other parts of the brain.”

Fortunately for him, he has other ways of detecting Mutants. Scott questions what those would be, but Sublime is afraid he only shares information like that with his business partners, not those impersonating them. And especially not those who’ve put his treasured men and women in prison.

As he glares at Emma, she turns her eyes away and looks at Martha.

EMMA, telepathically: “Martha, darling, I don’t believe a word he said about you. Whatever this awful man is doing to make you work for him, we can help you.”

Sublime slaps Emma across the face, telling her to pay attention to HIM. Scott shouts at Sublime not to touch her, but John just uppercuts him, drawing blood and knocking him over in his chair.

Sublime laughs. These two have some of the most incredible gifts in the world. Maybe he’s a little greedy, but after they’re dead and taken apart, he thinks he may take Emma’s brain and Scott’s eyes for himself.

SUBLIME: “I don’t think I need the diamond form though. I’m untouchable enough as is.” He snaps his fingers. “Joanna’s been a good girl! She’ll love those genes.”

Scott tells him that even if he does kill them, the rest of the X-Men know they came here and will be able to find all the evidence they need to hand him over to SHIELD.

Sublime shakes his head. If they think he fears either of them…

Sublime momentarily disintegrates into microscopic particles before reforming just as quickly.

SUBLIME: “Then you really don’t have a clue what you’re up against.” He claps his hands. “Now then, Martha. Make them fight to the death.”

Scott and Emma grimace as they’re both puppeteered to their feet.

In Julian’s bedroom…

JULIAN, with the widest eyes: “Sofia, I know you’re mad, rightfully so, but there’s something you need to know: I love you.”

We then see he isn’t actually talking to Sofia yet, but Brian, who he’s practicing on, and who’s seated on his bed eating a bag of chips.

BRIAN: “Man, you really need another guy friend to do this kind of thing with. This isn’t fair.”

Julian laughs, not apologizing, and says he thinks he’s ready. Now, he just needs to find her.

Julian flies out of the room, but before he can find Sofia, he receives a message in his head.

“You can do better.”

Julian groans, recognizing the voices, and asks the Cuckoos what they want.

The Cuckoos tell him it’s exactly as they said. Sofia may do well in class, in combat, and be popular, but from what they can see, she doesn’t treat him very well. Dancing with his heart for a whole semester and then after finally letting him in, abandoning him days later over his reaction to a traumatic injury?

SOPHIE: “That’s simply cruel.”

CELESTE: “Cruel, but hilarious.”

PHOEBE: “We’d never do that someone we actually cared about though.”

Julian’s flight is stopped as the Cuckoos stand in his way down a hallway. He plants his feet on the floor. He tells them to buzz off again. If they’re in his head, then they know he loves her.

The Cuckoos laugh. He may love her, but what makes him think she loves him?

ESME: “Would you like to hear what she’s thought about you?”

The Cuckoos play in Julian’s head the rage in Sofia’s mind over how much she hated him and how she was such a fool to ever waste her time on him, from back when she was shouting at them over Roxy, followed by what she was thinking earlier today.

Julian is deeply pained as he hears this.

The Cuckoos circle him.

IRMA: “We still wish to be friends with Bling!”

SOPHIE: “Mercury proved she’s worth our time as well.”

CELESTE: “Dust seems cool.”

PHOEBE: “And every ladder needs someone like Tag at the bottom.”

ESME: “Don’t waste your time on the girl who will never accept you as you are.”

PHOEBE: “Or the ugly, blue-haired bitch who tried to kill you while you were recovering.”

Julian, tensing up and charging up energy, grits his teeth and says he’s not going to fall for whatever their game is here. They tell him there’s no game. He’s the only guy here worth their time. And together, along with his “crew”, they could rule this place.

Julian shakes his head, telling them to leave him alone as he tries to walk past them, only for Sophie to plant a kiss on his lips. Julian is left stunned. The other four Cuckoos smirk.

SOPHIE: “We’ve been inside your head. We’ve seen how bad you can be. And we like it. Doesn’t that sound preferable to chasing the tail of a girl who will never love all parts of you?”

Julian growls as he launches them all into the walls, and finally flies away from them. The Cuckoos scoff as they dust themselves off, in disbelief that didn’t work.

Only for them to grin, as Julian returns a moment later. It’s unclear what he wants.

In Sublime’s office, he cackles as Martha forces Scott and Emma to slug it out, Emma is able to hit hard enough but clearly comes out of the exchange of blows worse, pissing Scott off more than anything.

SUBLIME: “Come now, Martha, get more creative. I want more than just punches.”

As the combat gets slightly more imaginative, Scott and Emma get covered in each other’s blood.

SCOTT, telepathically: “Please tell me you’re getting close to breaking her grip on us.”

EMMA, telepathically: “I wish I could. Charles’ “Red Triangle Defense” isn’t working either, I gather?”

A kick to the balls keeps Scott from answering but causes Sublime to guffaw.

SUBLIME: “That’s enough. Finish them.”

As Scott and Emma pant and look desperately into each other’s eyes…

EMMA, telepathically: “What I was saying before. About my drugs. In the past, when I held all the power in the world, and yet had no control over my own life, they were an escape for me. They made me feel like I was more than Shaw’s puppet. I hold onto them as a reminder of that time. Of how I can never allow myself to fall back into that position. The White Queen stands tall on her own. At least, that’s what I thought I had to do. You absolute bloody dork.”

SCOTT, telepathically: “My entire life was dictated by a man who saw me as a soldier in his war first and a child second. He made me someone I may never have become of my own choice. I was denied that choice. I was denied control. Until I met you. You uptight, condescending witch.”

The two rush each other and beat each other even more violently than previously.

EMMA: “We decide our fates.”

CYCLOPS: “No one tells us what to do.”

EMMA AND SCOTT: “Never again.”

Emma’s power signature lights up and a thin red light surrounds Scott, at the exact same time, and Sublime’s face falls as that shouldn’t be happening.

SUBLIME: “Martha! Toss them out the window! Now!”

He’s too late. A psychic blowback sends Sublime and Martha flying back into a wall. Scott and Emma, barely standing and leaning on each other, approach Sublime. He taunts that he’ll just have to kill them himself before being blasted unconscious by Cyclops’ concussive beams and Emma’s psychic lightning.

Scott and Emma take each other’s hands as they pant.

EMMA: “You asked me how I deal with everyone hating me. It is because I own my life. What anyone else thinks of what I do is of no importance.”

SCOTT: “I see. Does that include me?”

EMMA, calmly laughing: “Less than most.”

Suddenly, Sublime springs back to his feet. Scott and Emma are ready to hit him again, but he begs them not to.

“Sublime”: “Please..please don’t hurt me. I’m sorry. I…I just want to go home.”

Scott looks to Emma with concern and Emma nods before approaching “him”.

EMMA: “Do not worry, Martha. We are not angry. No one will ever hurt you again. No one will ever make you hurt others again. We promise.”

At the school, Scott and Emma, all bandaged up, introduce Matha to Karma. She’ll get to see more of Emma in telepathy class, but given the similarities between their gifts, and her needing a more tender hand, they believe she’ll be happiest on Xuan’s squad. Xuan leads her away enthusiastically, leading her to go meet her new best friends.

Once on their own, Scott brings up that they still don’t know what Sublime was really after, but hopefully, once SHIELD figures out what exactly he is, if not a Mutant, they’ll be able to get to the bottom of things. In the meantime, hunting down the remaining U-Men should be their priority.

SCOTT: “But right now…”

Scott smirks and whips out two tickets. Emma points out that they’re not exactly in any condition to go out right now, with Scott saying they’re for next month. In Berlin.

EMMA, smirking: “Better.”

Scott understands why Emma keeps the drugs on her. He does. But he knows she’s never going to let anyone control her again. Least of all him. Whenever she’s ready, he’ll help her get rid of them.

Emma nods, appreciating it, clearly more than she’s willing to express. The only thing she’s still curious about is what he’s going to do about Storm, Kitty, and Beto.

Scott responds by leaning in and kissing Emma. They’re his friends. In Storm’s case, maybe the closest friend he has. But he doesn’t need them to like him right now. He knows they won’t go quitting over personal reasons. And soon enough, they’ll move on.

EMMA: “And if they don’t?”

SCOTT: “Let’s hope it never comes to that.”

The two walk off together.

In Sofia and Noriko’s room, Sofia sits cross-legged in mid-air in deep thought, while Noriko tries and fails to toss goldfish in the air and catch them in her mouth. The awkward silence is brought to an end when Sofia plants her feet on the floor, lights up her face, and declares that she’s made up her mind.

NORIKO: “You’re swearing off men for good?”

A goldfish lands right on and bounces off of Noriko’s forehead.

SOFIA: “No. Just the opposite.”

Sofia flies off and Noriko reluctantly follows her. They reach Julian and Brian’s room, only to find they aren’t there. When they question where they are, a telepathic message plays. Not just in their heads, but in every student’s.

CUCKOOS: “Hello students of Xaviers. We are the Stepford Cuckoos. We are your newest classmates, and it is all about time you understand who we are. We are better than you. We are more powerful than you. And we are not alone. We have read every single one of your minds. We know all of your deepest, darkest secrets. From now on, we own you all. Failure to comply with whatever we tell you or reporting our “bad behavior” to a teacher will result in all of your secrets entering every other student’s mind. You may not know us yet. That will change. For now, you know our new friends.”

As this speech has been going on, Sofia and Noriko, both pissed, have been running around, trying to find the Cuckoos. When they do, they find them confidently walking down the halls, alongside Cessily, Roxy, Brian, Sooraya, and Julian, who’s making out with Sophie.

Sofia’s heart falls. Noriko takes her hand. Both are in shock at what they’re seeing.

As the new crew struts past the bewildered girls, Julian only stops to whisper, “Ladies” in the most douchey way possible.

CUCKOOS: “From now on, this school belongs to the Hellions.”

#New X-Men: The Animated Series #New X-Men #Academy X #Scott Summers #Emma Frost #Ororo Munroe #Kitty Pryde #Roberto Da Costa #Laura Kinney #Bobby Drake #Sofia Mantega #Julian Keller #Noriko Ashida #Sooraya Qadir #Cessily Kincaid #Brian Cruz #Roxanne Washington #The Stepford Cuckoos

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