SuperNova

SUPERNOVA

Part XIII: Aeternus Eternus

By Ryan Krupienski and Dino Pollard

Genosha

“We’re here.”

The words come from the man called Bishop, who rises from his seat in the cockpit and heads down past the members of his team to the Blackbird’s off-ramp. Domino, Havok, Ecstacy, and Bolt soon after follow the man’s lead and prepare to disembark from the aircraft as the ramp lowers to form into a ladder. As his team files out, Bishop calls up to the Blackbird’s pilot.

“Don’t go too far,” Bishop tells her.

“Of course,” Moonstar replies. “Be careful out there.”

Bishop unholsters two large pistols from his belt as he begins to make his way down the ramp. “It’s not us you have to worry about, Danielle.”

Moonstar sighs as the ramp retracts, and in a matter of seconds the Blackbird is off the ground again. She looks to the bio-tracking systems and notices four blue dots representing the hostile forces appear on her display. Cable, Cargill, Deathbird, and Proteus are heading straight for Bishop and his squad.

“Be careful,” Dani says again. “All of you…”

On the outskirts of the newly-constructed capital, another Blackbird hovers a hundred feet off the ground. Inside, Cyclops, Banshee, Dazzler, Colossus, and Kwannon prepare to exit the craft, standing near its exit.

“You’ve all got your earplugs in?” Cyclops asks. Dazzler, Colossus, and Kwannon nod.

“Incoming!” Cameron calls from the cockpit. On his tracking display he sees Quicksilver, Voght, Juggernaut, and a sketchy signal he assumes must be Fantomex headed towards their destination.

“Cover us, but wait for the Professor’s signal to proceed with the attack on the capital,” Cyclops calls to the pilot. He then looks at Banshee and says, “Sean, take us down.”

A fiery sonic cry erupts from Banshee’s throat as he and his teammates jump out of the plane, and an invisible platform cushions their fall to the ground. The ramp is retracted, and the Blackbird moves away from the drop point.

Cameron presses a button on the dashboard and says, “Status report – blue team has been deployed.”

“There it is, my X-Men,” Cassandra says as she peers through the third Blackbird’s windshield at the sleek skyscraper before her. “That is the main citadel. You’re going in.”

“Are you sure you’re okay to pilot this thing alone, Professor?” Archangel asks as he and his teammates rise from their seats.

“We’ve gone through this, and yes, I am,” Cassandra responds. “I may be an old woman, but I can still fly with the best of them. You do your part, and leave this up to me.”

“Angelo, take my hand… the rest of you can get to the ground on your own,” Storm tells her team. “Let’s head out.”

The final squad disembarks from the aircraft, and Cassandra steers away from the citadel. She begins making rounds over the immediate area, keeping her mind’s eye peeled for any opposition who might follow her students inside the building.

“Don’t you worry, Charles,” Cassandra says softly to herself. “I’ll be coming for you shortly…”

Inside the would-be city hall, Charles Xavier leads Magneto, Nightcrawler, and Jubilee through a labyrinth of hallways and passages, down deeper and deeper into the bowels of the citadel. He hates this – ‘running away’ – but he knows it’s what has to be done; if he can trap the group of his former students headed for him inside the structure, he has a better chance of breaking through Cassandra’s hold over them.

“I still say this is a bad idea,” Jubilee comments. “If Cassandra’s got bodysliding technology now, she could teleport the whole freakin’ team in here!”

“But she won’t, Jubilee,” Charles assures her. “Not with more than half a dozen of us ‘rebels’ running around outside. And when we get to where we’re going, Cassandra will find her power useless if she attempts entry into the area.”

“I must agree with the girl,” Magneto says. “I could easily take down all three of the Blackbirds, Charles. I pose the greatest threat to that woman.”

“Who’re you calling a ‘girl’?” Jubilee quips. “I’m a grown-ass woman…”

“That’s exactly what she wants, Eric, and I’ve no doubt if you attempted an attack on them, Cassandra would have some surprises in store for you,” Charles says with a shake of his head. “This stubbornness does not become you, my frien-”

A loud explosion interrupts the bald man, cutting his sentence short and causing his companions to stumble slightly, thanks to the faint tremor rocking the ground beneath their feet.

“Are they bombing the citadel?!” Nightcrawler exclaims. “Charles, we need to move faster… let me teleport us…”

“No, that will reveal our exact location to them, Kurt,” Charles interjects. “We must keep moving. No powers… not yet.”

The Quinjet

Cruising in the upper section of the Earth’s stratosphere, on a direct course from Los Angeles to Genosha, is the official aircraft of the Avengers. Currently, the craft contains only a handful of Avengers, as well as the team called X-Force. Captain America, the Wasp, the Black Panther, and Cannonball stand at the rear of the ship, discussing possible plans of attack.

The remainder of X-Force keep their distance from Cannonball, while Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, the Falcon, and the Jack of Hearts, the other Avengers present, concentrate on flying the craft and keeping in contact with their teammates. Giant-Man is back at Avengers Mansion, tending to Iron Man’s injuries. The rest of the Avengers have remained behind in Los Angeles to aid with recovery efforts.

“What exactly is Cassandra’s plan?” asks the Wasp.

“T’ be honest, I’m not sure,” replies Cannonball. “Cable wasn’t able to tell me much. I’m not sure if that’s because he didn’t wanna risk Cassandra discovering him or if he just doesn’t know, either.”

“Could there be any truth to her claims that Magneto is building weapons of mass destruction?” asks Captain America.

“Doubt it,” replies Cannonball. “I know Magneto better than most people. He’s not one to attack humanity without being provoked. At least, not anymore.”

“Should we just tell the world the truth about her?” asks the Wasp.

“Not wise,” replies the Black Panther. “After being deceived by a mutant in such a fashion, there’s a very good chance opinions would turn against mutants.”

“Which means all the work the X-Men have done t’ push the Mutant Rights Act would be for nothing,” says Cannonball. “And I’m not gonna let that happen.”

“Neither are the Avengers,” says the Scarlet Witch, approaching the little conference. “I’m a mutant, too, Sam. And the Mutant Rights Act means just as much to me as it does to you.”

“So what’s the plan, then?” asks Cannonball.

“We keep it quiet,” replies Captain America. “We go in there, we take care of Cassandra and whatever other threat may be there, and we head out.”

“You make it sound so easy, Cap,” says Wasp with a slight grin.

“Let’s just focus on preparing for our arrival,” says Captain America. “Sam, could I have a word?”

Black Panther, Wasp, and the Scarlet Witch move to their respective seats, but Cannonball remains where he stands.

“Somethin’ you need, sir?” he asks.

“I know it’s not my place, but I noticed that your team seems a bit… distance,” replies Captain America.

“Long story,” says Cannonball. “Basically, X-Force isn’t what it used to be…at least not with me here.”

“I saw you out there in the field,” says Captain America. “You really know how to handle yourself in a fight.”

“Just doin’ what comes natural, sir.”

“I like to hear that,” says Captain America. “After all this is over, I want you to come down to Avengers Mansion. Maybe we can see about scheduling a little try-out for you. Unless you’re committed to staying with X-Force.”

“If anything, they’d probably be happy t’ see us go our separate ways again,” says Cannonball.

“Good, in that case…”

“Umm, Cap?” calls Falcon from the front of the Quinjet. “You might want to take a look at this…”

“We’ll discuss this later,” says Captain America. He turns away from Cannonball and moves to the front windshield of the Quinjet with Cannonball following. They, along with the other Avengers and members of X-Force, stare out and see some sort of flames circling the jet. It takes on a shape similar to a bird.

“…Something tells me this is not a good thing…” says the Jack of Hearts.

{Don’t be alarmed,} comes a voice which rings inside all of their heads. The voice is calm and soothing. And it is one that sounds familiar to all aboard – the voice of Jean Grey.

The Xavier Institute

Angela Molton slams her fist down on the cold steel of the computer platform. She’ll be damned if she knows how to get this machine to work; it’s not like anyone ever took the time to show her. She doesn’t know how to activate the voice command system, either. What’s a girl to do except get mad?

“Just great! Terrific! Splendid!” Angela exclaims, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration. “Can’t work the computers… can’t get in touch with Doctor McCoy and Doctor Reyes… all the X-Men are gone… a big firebird just flew out our front door… and I’m stuck here with almost two hundred kids!”

A few of those aforementioned kids stand behind Angela, looking at her with wide eyes. They want to help, but don’t necessarily want to say anything that’s going to upset her. However, the young, rotund teenage girl known as Bootylicious decides to take that chance, and steps forward to Angela’s side.

“Miss Molton, Ah’m sorry,” Bootylicious tells her. “We’d help if we could, but Ah don’t think any of us really known how t’work these machines, either.”

Angela sighs, and turns her head to look at Bootylicious. “No, I’m sorry… I’m the adult here, I’m the one who was left in charge. I shouldn’t be freaking out like this.”

Angela turns around to face the small group of students in the room – the young Japanese boy called Calculator; a pale-skinned girl with multiple sets of lips around her neck named Irina; a young Pakistani girl who has taken the codename Marvel Girl; and the boy from Argentina whose only name is Tyler. Angela looks each of them square in the eyes one-by-one and says, “I apologize. I hope I didn’t scare anyone… I’m just not sure what to do here is all.”

“I think everyone’s a little freaked,” Irina responds, a faint echo apparent as she speaks. “What was that thing, anyway?”

“Wish I could tell you,” Angela says with a shrug of her shoulders. “Just wish I could get in touch with Cassandra, or any of the X-Men, to warn them… I have a feeling whatever it is, it’s hostile.”

“What should we do?” Tyler asks.

“Go on upstairs, I guess,” Angela says as she motions towards the War Room’s exit. As she and the students begin to make their way to it, the door suddenly slides open, and a bald-headed black man stumbles into the room. He looks at Angela and the kids, and a confused look crosses his face. Mere seconds later, his disorientation seems to overtake him, and he falls to the floor.

“Oh no, how did he wake up?” Angela says as she rushes to the man’s side.

“Who is he?” Bootylicious asks, as she and her fellow students stand near Angela and the man.

“Some guy who was brought back from Russia… they were working on freeing him from some brainwashing, I think,” Angela explains. “Tammy Lynne, I need you to…”

“Bootylicious,” the southern belle replies.

Angela sighs and shakes her head. “Can I call you Booty for short?” she asks. “Seriously now… I need help moving this guy. Let’s get him somewhere comfortable.”

Genosha

The end of Cable’s Psimitar begins to glow as he channels his psionic energy into it. He directs it at a woman he had hoped to never use his weapons against and releases the energy.

It strikes Domino and sends her flying backwards. Cable approaches her body cautiously, knowing full well that it takes more than a simple blast of psionic energy to keep Domino down.

“Dom, stop this,” he says. His left eye glows as he attempts to break through Cassandra’s hold over his former lover. “Cassandra’s controlling you.”

Cable receives no response. Instead, he gets a rubber bullet in the chest and stumbles back. By the time he regains his composure, Domino has already leapt over his head and drives her booted foot into his face.

In the air, Deathbird dodges fire from the Blackbird piloted by Moonstar, as well as avoiding gunfire courtesy of Bishop. She flies towards the Blackbird, avoiding the gunfire as she moves in. When she gets close enough, she cuts into one of the guns with her scythe.

The temporary damage to the ship causes Moonstar to pull back, and Deathbird dives towards Bishop. She brings her scythe up and prepares to swing it down at him as she comes close. Instead, Bishop grabs the handle and uses it to flip her over, forcing her on the ground.

Deathbird releases the scythe and lifts her hands. The fingers of her gauntlets are razor-sharp talons. She rushes towards Bishop, cutting into his side and drawing first blood. Bishop grips the energy blade of Deathbird’s scythe and it slowly begins to dissipate. He drops the weapon to the ground, his eyes crackling with energy.

“Now then… where were we?” he asks.

Ecstacy’s hands wrap around Proteus’ neck.

“Just go to sleep, buddy, it’ll all be over when you wake up,” she says.

Normally, Ecstacy’s touch allows her to illicit certain chemical reactions in a person’s body. In this case, she had planned to put Proteus to sleep. However, her touch appears to have no affect on him.

“Sorry about this, Stacy,” says Proteus. He grabs her hands and flips her over his head. “Guess I’m immune to your little love touch.”

“Wh-what?” asks Ecstacy. “How?”

“Malleable atomic structure,” replies Proteus with a shrug. “Y’know, me being a shapeshifter and all.”

“Hey Pete!” exclaims Bolt, his hands crackling with electricity. “Let’s see how your atomic structure handles this!”

Proteus’ body convulses in pain as Bolt begins to send voltage throughout his body.

Havok concentrates, firing bursts of plasma energy at Cargill as she charges towards him. She dodges a few blasts, but a few of them strike her as well. She falls briefly, but her powers give her an increased resilience. She dodges another blast from Havok that strikes one of the buildings. Cargill picks up a piece of the rubble and throws it with a high arc. Havok blasts it, and in the brief moment it takes for him to destroy it, Cargill has closed in, and he isn’t able to fire off another plasma blast before she drives her fist against his face.

Cargill pulls back towards Cable, who has pushed Domino back somewhat with his Psimitar.

“This isn’t good,” says Cargill. “We’re outnumbered and outgunned.”

“Tell me about it,” says Cable.

Bullets fly from the barrels of Fantomex’s guns. They slice through the air, but the woman called Kwannon effortlessly dodges each one. She moves towards him and leaps into the air, bringing her leg around. Fantomex brings his arm to block, and then quickly grabs her leg and flips her back towards the ground.

Kwannon spins in midair and lands on her feet, pulling herself into a fighting stance. Fantomex flips his guns around so he’s holding them by the barrels, and beneath his mask, he smiles. The two rush in and match each other, blow for blow. Fantomex strikes high and Kwannon’s arm blocks, so he spins around her and strikes her back with the butt of his pistol. Pain shoots through her body, but she recovers quickly and is back in the fight.

Meanwhile, the two powerhouses of the two teams, Colossus and Juggernaut, cause the ground to shake as their massive forms clash against each other. Despite his superior strength, Juggernaut finds difficulty in fighting this battle. He knows if he wanted to, he could probably kill Colossus…but he also knows that he’s no longer that kind of man.

While the two titans continue their fight, Quicksilver and Voght, the remaining team members, are forced to deal with Cyclops, Banshee, and Dazzler. Between Voght’s teleportation and Quicksilver’s speed, they are able to avoid the combined powers of the three X-Men.

Voght vanishes in a cloud of smoke, reverting to her mist form. She cycles upwards towards Banshee, who strikes from the air. In her mist form, she begins to invade his body from the orifices on his face. She materializes ever so slightly in a tactic that overloads Sean Cassidy’s nervous system.

As Voght exits Banshee’s body and reverts to her human form, Banshee falls from the sky. Voght extends her hand and teleports Banshee from the air to the ground. She teleports herself to her feet, but before she can make another move, Cameron Dalin dives towards her in the Blackbird, laying down ground fire. Voght teleports away, but wherever she materializes, she finds Cameron there, ready to strike.

“Dazzler, I need a light show,” says Cyclops. He reaches for his visor, confident that it will protect him from the effect of her powers.

Bright lights flash across the battlefield, and Quicksilver finds himself running blind. He stumbles, almost falling to the ground. Cyclops moves in and activates his visor, unleashing his optic blasts.

Storm and the squad she’s been put in command of – Archangel, Iceman, Sunpyre, and Skin – make their way down hall after hall and through room after room of the massive citadel, not totally sure of exactly what it is they’re looking for. The building is like a maze, and it seems to them that Magneto built it that way intentionally. They’re looking for a way down, a passage that will lead underground, but so far their search has turned up nothing. Storm is almost tempted to split her team up, but she can’t – not with Magneto and the Shadow King running around in here.

“According to the layout of this structure, there’s a gaping hole two hundred feet deep underground,” Sunpyre says as she looks the handheld computer in her hands, studying the blueprint that the program has generated for her. “Their bio-signatures are weak, but Magneto and Farouk seem to be heading down there.”

“They’re most likely trying to lead us there intentionally,” Archangel suggests. “We need to be careful.”

“We need to trust in Cassandra,” Storm retorts. “She would never send us into a trap without a plan.”

“But she’d tell us we need to kill our teammates,” Iceman says, the tone of his voice and the look on his face as stone-cold as the bitter ice he controls.

Before anyone can respond to Iceman’s comment, a violent blast shakes the citadel, and the five X-Men can hear explosions and shattering glass in the background. Luckily for them, they don’t have to worry about sustaining any injuries, as an invisible barrier surrounds them and deflects any debris that may cross their paths.

{I apologize for the noise, but I need to flush out any opposition that may be waiting in the above-ground levels of the building,} Cassandra tells them through a telepathic link. {Don’t worry, though, my telekinetic shielding will hold up just fine.}

{We’re fine, Professor,} Storm says back to her mentor.

{Good,} Cassandra replies. {Oh, and make a left at the next hallway. Go all the way down and have Robert shatter the wall. Professor X out.}

Cassandra’s voice fades from the X-Men’s minds, and they turn the corner and head down to the end of the hallway as instructed. As they approach the solid metal wall, Iceman activates his powers and begins to condense the moisture in the air into ice, effectively freezing the metal while at the same time giving his teammates a bit of a chill. Iceman steps to the head of the group, and with a tightly-clenched, iced-up fist, punches through the wall and shatters it.

After he swats off the remaining icy metal chunks framing the hole, Iceman takes a step back and peers through the passageway with his team. Sunpyre immediately ignites a small flame to illuminate the dark area, and she and her teammates can see a huge, winding staircase running along the wall that seems to lead down into a never-ending abyss.

“Magneto must have sealed the entrance after he and Farouk went through,” Archangel deduces. “Lucky for us, Cassandra seems to know everything…”

“Looks like we have quite a ways down to go,” Sunpyre says. “We should get started.”

“Then I guess we should get started…” Iceman quips as he takes the first step through the hole. Sunpyre and Archangel follow suit, while Storm takes a moment to have a couple of deep breaths.

Skin moves next to Storm and asks, “Uh, you okay?”

“Oh, yes, Angelo,” Storm says with a faint smile. “I just have… trouble with enclosed spaces.”

“Eh, well, it just looks kinda dark is all,” Skin says in an attempt to comfort his team leader. “And Leyu’s got her flame goin’…”

“I’ll be just fine, but thank you for your concern.” Storm takes another look through the broken wall and lets out a confident sigh. “Let’s go. We have a job to do.”

The Quinjet touches down on Genoshan soil and the Avengers and X-Force quickly disembark. The flaming firebird lands as well and slowly dissipates. Standing in its place are Phoenix, Ever, and Blaquesmith.

“Welcome to Genosha,” says Rictor. “God, I hate this place.”

“Yeah, you’re not the only one with bad memories, Ric,” says Meltdown.

“None of us have pleasant memories of this place,” says Captain America. “Jean? Care to explain?”

“I’m back, Steven, that’s all that matters,” replies Phoenix. “The rebels are having it out with Cassandra’s X-Men at two different spots on the island. There’s a third team of Cassandra’s X-Men heading for Magneto.”

“Where at?” asks the Scarlet Witch.

“Somewhere near the capital,” replies Phoenix. “Wanda, I want you and Jack to come with me and Ever.”

“Wait a minute, with that impressive light show you just did, can’t you just free the X-Men?” asks Jack of Hearts.

“He’s got a point, Jean,” says Proudstar. “After all, last time you showed this kind of power, you were able to make the whole universe piss itself. So can’t you just break them free without us?”

“If only it were that easy,” replies Phoenix. “Unfortunately, I’ve used up too much energy to get here in such a short amount of time. If I wanted to, I could free the X-Men… but then I’d basically be helpless. I need to save that energy for the battle with Cassandra.”

“I don’t trust it…” says Jack of Hearts. “Seems too convenient to… ow!”

“Silence, whelp,” says Blaquesmith after lightly jabbing his Psimitar against Jack’s leg.

“Little Yoda freak stuck me…” mutters Jack of Hearts. “Cap, did you… ow! Cut it out!”

“Then shut up,” says Blaquesmith.

“Wait…” says Phoenix. Her eyes seem to glow briefly and then they return to normal. “Charles…?”

“What did you say?” asks Cannonball.

“Charles is here… on the island,” replies Phoenix. “We’re doing this my way, now. If I find Charles, then his abilities combined with Ever’s and my own should give us more than enough power to take out Cassandra. Wanda, I’ll need you and Jack. Your powers are essential in stopping Cassandra as well.”

“Then you take care of that,” says Captain America. “We’ll handle Cassandra’s X-Men.”

The Avengers and X-Force return to the Quinjet with Blaquesmith while the Phoenix raptor appears around Jean, Ever, Scarlet Witch, and Jack of Hearts and lifts them above the ground and towards the capital.

“Well it’s about damn time…” Skin quips, letting out a sigh of relief as he and his teammates come to what seems to be the end of the long, winding staircase. They stop just before the bottom steps, now faced with a sliding metal door.

Archangel steps forward and examines the keypad for a moment before pressing the large green button. He jumps a little as the door slides open, not sure it was the best idea to just go ahead and mess with the machines. After a moment, though, he and his teammates decide the coast is clear and step through the door into the room on the other side.

The room is enormous, spanning at least a hundred feet in diameter and, though the X-Men know they can’t be more than two hundred feet underground, reaching up to seemingly endless heights. The five mutants stay close as they continue to walk further into the room, which is almost completely barren, save for some patches of metal paneling on the wall and a couple of small computers scattered about.

“They probably ain’t done with this yet,” Skin comments as he looks around the room. “Kinda nasty down here.”

“So where are they, then?” Archangel asks. “Don’t tell me there are more secret passages to go through…”

“The tracker isn’t picking up Magneto or Farouk’s bio-signatures now, not even faintly,” Sunpyre informs her teammates.

“Ambient magnetic waves could be scrambling the tracker’s signal,” Storm says. “Everyone stay on guard… we still might not be alone…”

Outside the massive citadel, circling the capital city in one of the Blackbirds, Cassandra can hear a ‘call’ coming through in her mind. She automatically knows who it is and establishes a new telepathic link. {I’m here, Ororo. How can I help you?}

{We’ve reached the underground cavern, Cassandra,} Storm responds. {The tracker isn’t picking up anything, however, we don’t know if Magneto and the Shadow King are truly gone.}

{They’re there, Ororo,} Cassandra informs her ‘student’. {Stay on guard. Also be warned, Farouk has brought some new pawns into this conflict. The Avengers and X-Force are here.}

{Damn him…} Storm says. {Alright, acknowledged, we’ll ke-}

Before another thought can register in Cassandra’s mind, her eyes widen as she feels another presence manifest nearby, and it’s mere seconds later that she sees the fires of the Phoenix Raptor burning outside of the Blackbird. Cassandra tries to manuever out of the way and make a run for it, but she finds the aircraft is no longer under her control. The next – and last – thing she sees is the face of Jean Grey.

{Goodbye, Cassandra,} is all Phoenix says to the older woman, and in an instant, the Blackbird is engulfed in the burning psionic fire and sent hurtling towards the ground.

Phoenix watches from up high as the Blackbird crashes into the base of one of the capital’s sleek skyscrapers and disappears in a series of explosions. She smiles at the display, but it does not sit as well with the Scarlet Witch.

“Jean!” Wanda exclaims, looking at her longtime ally, shock evident on her face. “You… you just killed her!”

“No less than she did to Logan,” Phoenix replies, no remorse evident in her words.

Ever and Jack of Hearts say nothing, instead giving their silent approval to Phoenix’s actions. After everything Cassandra has done to both the X-Men and the Avengers, it’s about time someone finally stopped her.

“I’m not picking up anymore of her thoughts, are you, Ever?” Phoenix asks.

Ever shakes his head. “Not a one. You got her.”

“I still can’t believe this…” Scarlet Witch says as she looks about aimlessly.

“Hey, times are changin’,” Jack tells his teammate. “She had to go down, one way or the other.”

“And I’ll be more than happy to discuss the morality of my actions with you later, Wanda,” Phoenix interjects, “but right now, we still have to find Magneto and whoever’s inside with him… Cassandra may be gone, but she still has the X-Men under her control. We’ve still got to stop them.”

Without another word, the four individuals are engulfed by the firebird and it soars with incredible speed down towards the ground and inside the citadel.

The Quinjet cruises towards the battlefield, appearing like a beacon of hope for the rebels. Upon feeling Cassandra being abruptly disconnected from their psychic rapport, Cyclops looks up and immediately assumes full leadership of the X-Men with his leader’s demise.

“Danielle, Cameron, take on the Quinjet,” he orders. “Everyone else, pool together to overwhelm the Shadow King’s puppets.”

The Quinjet’s hatch opens, and several members of X-Force and the Avengers emerge from it, leaving Captain America to pilot the jet. Siryn and Sunspot direct their attention to the Blackbird piloted by Moonstar as Cameron takes on the Quinjet solo.

“Terry, you sure about this?” asks Sunspot. “I mean, this is Dani we’re talking about.”

“I know,” replies Siryn. “But Cassandra’s not givin’ us much of a choice, now is she, ‘Berto?”

The next time Siryn opens her mouth, her vocal chords produce a sonic scream directed at the Blackbird. Sunspot circles around to the other side of the jet and fires plasma energy at it. However, their powers seem to have no affect on the ship because of the increased shielding that’s been installed on it.

“Dani, we don’t want to hurt you!” exclaims Sunspot. “Just set it down, please!”

Danielle Moonstar offers no response. Instead, she closes her eyes and pulls images from the minds of her former teammates. Suddenly, Siryn finds herself face to face with an illusion of her uncle, Black Tom Cassidy. Sunspot, on the other hand, is forced to deal with illusions of Reignfire.

Storm and her unit can all feel Cassandra Nova’s presence fade from their mind in a split-second. They have no idea exactly what’s going on, but they all know it can’t be good.

“No…” Storm mutters to herself.

“What just happened?” Sunpyre asks her teammates.

“She’s been taken down, Leyu,” Archangel responds. “Somebody must have gotten to her.”

Before the discussion can continue, footsteps can be heard in the distance, echoing throughout the massive room. The sound of metal upon metal is unmistakeable, and though the X-Men have faced him on numerous occasions, they can’t help but give into the chills that run down their collective spines.

“Finally decided to stop hiding, I see,” Archangel says, locking eyes with Magneto, who steps out of the shadows and into the faint light that occupies the room.

“No, not hiding, Worthington,” Magneto responds coolly, “just waiting.”

“You know you don’t stand a chance against us,” Storm tells her longtime enemy. “Even with Farouk at your side, you won’t win this time.”

“Farouk?” Magneto asks with a slight chuckle. “So that’s what she’s been telling you, is it? My my, what an imagination that woman has.”

Electricity begins to surge through Storm’s body and her blue eyes fade to white as she prepares herself for battle. Likewise, Iceman and Sunpyre activate their own powers with conjurations of ice and fire, respectively.

“Ah, so this is what it comes to,” Magneto continues. “I really have no desire to fight any of you. This is wholly unnecessary, though it is plain to see that Cassandra has you all brainwashed to the fullest extent.”

“And I think you’re getting delusional in your old age,” Iceman says, as every water particle in his body freezes over, effectively transforming him into pure ice.

Suddenly, two more individuals step out from the darkness behind Magneto, each coming to a stop on either side of the man. Nightcrawler and Jubilee look at their teammates, charged and ready for battle, mind-controlled to the fullest. It breaks their hearts, and Jubilee almost cries when she sees the look on Iceman’s face.

“Bobby…” Jubilee says softly.

“Jubes!” Iceman shouts, every instinct in his body telling him to run to the young woman. He resists that temptation, however, and instead begins to plead with his girlfriend. “Come on, Jubes… I know you don’t really want to side with Magneto and the Shadow King! Come on, this is your chance! Don’t let them win!”

Jubilee just shakes her head sadly. “Bobby… you’ve got it all wrong…”

“You are disgusting!” Storm yells, scowling at Magneto.

“Ororo, please…” Nightcrawler begins to say.

“Well what are we waiting for?” Sunpyre questions. “Are we just going to stand here and toss barbs back and forth?”

With a snap of her fingers, a disjointed cluster of neon-colored energy forms in Jubilee’s hand, and she wastes no time in directing it at Storm’s team of X-Men. It’s a mild attack, not powerful enough to do any real damage, but it serves well in temporarily blinding her mind-controlled teammates.

As the fight between the two factions begins, Charles Xavier watches from the shadows, completely hidden from view. It pains him to see this pointless battle, but he is nonetheless focused on the task at hand – freeing his former students from his sister’s control. {Try not to hurt them, just distract them as best you can… I’ll need all the help I can get.}

With Quicksilver down, the odds are in the favor of Cyclops’ team, even with Banshee taken out of the battle. Until the appearance of the Black Panther, Wasp, Cannonball, Rictor, and Proudstar on the scene, that is.

“We don’t have any telepaths,” says the Wasp. “Our only chance is to knock them out. So hit ’em hard!”

Proudstar moves in on Colossus, double-teaming the Russian mutant with the help of Juggernaut while Cannonball rockets into Kwannon, taking her away from Fantomex. The Black Panther moves in on Cyclops, dodging the X-Man’s optic blasts. Rictor is able to keep Dazzler off-balance so she can’t unleash any light bursts. This gives the Wasp the opportunity to fly inside Dazzler’s ear and administer a shock to her brain that knocks her out cold.

The Black Widow fires stingers at Ecstacy to eliminate her from the fight while Meltdown’s plasma bombs keep Havok back. Falcon aides Deathbird in her aerial assault on Bishop.

{Nathan,} Blaquesmith calls out telepathically.

{About time you showed up,} says Cable. {Look, alone I haven’t been able to make much headway, but combined, maybe…}

{I know, and I agree,} replies Blaquesmith. The two psychic mutants pool their telepathic energies together and send a sweep across the immediate area. Bishop’s team begins to stop in their attack as Cassandra’s influence is slowly purged from their minds.

“Cable…?” asks Domino. “What’s happening?”

Magneto grimaces as lightning bolts and searing hot blasts of plasma fire are absorbed into the near-invisible magnetic shield he’s built around himself. Storm and Sunpyre are relentless in their attacks, and while it would be no effort to strike back at the women, Magneto won’t; in the past, he would have responded to such assaults with unmerciful force, but the times, and especially the situation, are very different now.

Magneto moves himself up higher into the air, and Storm and Sunpyre continue to circle around him. They haven’t even scratched him yet, but they don’t seem to notice or care – they’re just going to keep at it as long as they have to. Their longtime enemy will tire eventually, they figure, and Magneto is well aware of the fact that his powers aren’t all they used to be.

“Will you just BLEED already!” Sunpyre cries as she darts through the air directly at Magneto, a blazing inferno surrounding her body as she attempts to breach the man’s magnetic barrier.

While Magneto reels in surprise from Sunpyre’s near-successful attempt to reach him, Storm follows up with another round of ball lightning explosions, which would cause extreme damage to Magneto’s defenses if not for the intimate relationship between the elemental forces the two share. Sunpyre strikes again, this time swinging her tightly-clenched fists at the magnetic shield. The force of the assault coupled with the power of the fire the young Japanese woman wields is almost enough to break through to the one-time terrorist.

“You are lucky I’m a changed man!” Magneto says venomously, as he puts some more distance between him and his adversaries. He turns his attention away from the women and decides to rise up higher into the air, closer to the ceiling that is shrouded in darkness. Storm and Sunpyre do not hesitate to follow him.

Down below, Archangel faces Nightcrawler as the two men maneuver around each other, Archangel soaring through the air at incredible speeds and Nightcrawler teleporting almost non-stop in an attempt to catch his winged teammate. Archangel’s eyes move along with the constantly-generated clouds of smoke as he attempts to keep track of where the teleporting X-Man will turn up next. He will make his strike at just the right time; there is a pattern to everything, even the erratic.

Nightcrawler keeps his own eyes on his fellow X-Man, trying to get as close as possible to Archangel and grab ahold of him. If he can achieve that, he can take Archangel along for these jaunts and successfully disorient him. While Nightcrawler would seem to have the upper hand, Archangel is just as fast as he is, if not more so, and with Cassandra’s brainwashing in full effect, he isn’t holding back any.

Archangel sees an opening, a spot he believes Nightcrawler will materialize next, and makes a mad dash through the air, his arms extended out in front of him and his fists clenched tightly. Nightcrawler appears not far from where Archangel’s fists are leading him, and teleports once more just in time to miss having his face smashed in. He takes advantage of the moment and teleports himself onto Archangel’s back, latching his three-finger hands onto the man’s wings.

“Get off of me, Kurt!” Archangel yells, spinning his body wildly and diving in a myriad of different directions in an effort to toss Nightcrawler away.

“I’m sorry Warren, but you won’t listen…”

Without another word, Nightcrawler begins to teleport himself and Archangel all around the massive room, and from not too far away, Jubilee cracks a smile, glad to see at least one of her companions having some real success. She turns her attention back to Iceman and Skin, who have started to move in on her again after a moment’s pause.

“Jubes… come on now… just listen to us,” Iceman says to his girlfriend, holding his hands out to her. “I… I’m not going to fight you. I can’t!”

“Boohoo, Bobby!” Jubilee snaps at the young man, trying her best to hide the pain this confrontation is causing her. “If you really loved me, you’d listen to me! Magneto’s not the bad guy here – Cassandra is!”

“Man, I am getting so tired of hearing that,” Skin says with sigh. “Come on now, Jubes… just settle down… I’m gonna…”

“Don’t even think about it!” Jubilee yells as the atomic particles in the air around her and her opponents explode, slightly scathing Angelo Espinosa’s skin and making some cracks in the Iceman’s as well. “I’m not backing down! I’m tired, cranky, and I have my period… so bring it on!”

From the shadows, Charles can’t help but roll his eyes; Jubilee’s doing a good job of keeping Iceman and Skin distracted with her talking, but as in the past he can’t believe some of the things that are coming out of her mouth. She still gets a bit more dramatic than needed and definitely goes into ‘too much information’ territory at times.

{You’re doing well, keep it up,} Charles says into Magneto, Nightcrawler, and Jubilee’s minds. {I’m making progress… it shouldn’t be long…}

Charles’ thoughts are cut short as he suddenly feels a new presence in his mind, and it’s so intense that it almost burns a hole through his mind. He knows this person, very intimately at that, yet he can’t quite his finger on it. There is so much rage in this individual, so much pain and confusion, and Charles can feel every ounce of it. Concentrating on this presence some more, he realizes that the person he senses is his former student, Jean Grey-Summers.

“She’s here…” Charles whispers to himself.

{Xavier!} comes a man’s voice inside Charles’ mind. {What’s going on down there?}

{Nathan, I’m almo-}

Charles’ thoughts are cut short yet again, this time by the sound of gunfire behind him. A second later, Charles feels a sharp pain tear through his left shoulders, and cries out in pain as he realizes that he’s been shot. As he turns around in his hoverchair, he can feel a hostile force attempting to invade his mind, but he fights it with all the strength he can muster. He looks up, and sees his own sister standing mere feet away from him, pointing a shiny revolver right at his head.

“Hello again, Charles,” Cassandra says nonchalantly. “I’ve come to say goodbye.”

Bishop’s team, combined with the Avengers and X-Force face off against Cyclops’ team. Before Cyclops can shout out any commands, Cable and Blaquesmith get to work on releasing them from Cassandra’s mind control.

“There,” says Cable.

“Whoa…” says Dazzler. “Feelin’ a little dizzy…”

“Sorry about the sucker punch there,” says Wasp.

“Not a problem,” says Dazzler. “Anyone have an aspirin?”

“It’s not over yet,” says Cable. “Cassandra still has Storm’s team under her control.”

“So this is all Cassandra’s doing then…” mutters Cyclops. “Why am I not surprised that I was right about her from the beginning?”

“Jan, how are things on your end?”

The Wasp presses a hand to her ear and then replies with, “We’re all good over here, Cap. How about you?”

“The Blackbirds have been neutralized and we have Cameron and Moonstar in tow,” replies Captain America. “We’ll meet you on the ground.”

“Now I want to know what the hell is going on here, and what exactly Cassandra’s plan is,” says Cyclops.

“You’re not the only one,” says Bishop. “Cable, I want answers and I want them yesterday.”

“Ease off, Bishop,” says Cable. “I’m not under your command, so don’t bark orders at me.”

“How dare you speak to him in such a tone!” exclaims Deathbird. “I should rip your…”

“Hey, shut your mouth before I shut it for you, Tweety!” exclaims Domino. “This man just saved your royal pain in the ass from getting flattened by your boyfriend!”

“…Boyfriend?” asks Havok. “You mean Bishop and Deathbird…?”

“C’mon, you didn’t know?” asks Domino.

“Hell, I knew,” says Ecstacy. “My room’s right next to Deathbird’s. And I’ll tell ya, the noises that come out of there at night…”

“Is that any of your business?” asks Deathbird.

Samuel Guthrie puts two fingers in his mouth and lets out a loud whistle that quiets everyone down.

“Okay, can everyone just shut up for a sec?” he asks. There’s no response, and then he continues. “Thank you. Now, howzabout we stop arguin’ and formulate a battle plan? First off, does anyone have any idea where Cassandra might be or what she’s doin’?”

“Cassandra is in the citadel,” says Blaquesmith. “She’s going to kill Xavier.”

“Oh…” says Cannonball. “Well… that’s one mystery solved…”

A second shot of Cassandra’s gun, this time into the air, brings the fighting inside the massive room to a halt. Magneto, Jubilee, and Nightcrawler regroup and start moving towards Cassandra, while Storm, Archangel, Iceman, Sunpyre, and Skin regroup as well, instead opting to hold back from their leader’s confrontation. Instead of Charles Xavier, Storm and her team see the human form of the man called Amahl Farouk, or the Shadow King.

“You bitch!” Jubilee cries out, preparing to unleash a ferocious attack on the elderly woman. As the air around her begins to crackle with bright energy, she – along with Nightcrawler and Storm’s team – suddenly seem to freeze in place, as if someone pressed a some sort of pause button.

Magneto finds himself unaffected by this trick, and sees that Charles and Cassandra are still moving as well. The Master of Magnetism narrows his eyes and begins advancing towards Cassandra once more, though after a few steps he finds himself unable to move in any closer, blocked by some sort of invisible barrier.

Cassandra turns her head to Magneto briefly and says, “I may not be able to lock your mind down, but this is a private conversation between my brother and I. Don’t bother trying to disturb us.”

In an instant, all sound coming from the other side of the barrier is lost to Magneto, and he can only watch as Cassandra turns her attention back to Charles and her lips begin to move again.

“I do apologize for the mess,” Cassandra says, glancing at the blood flowing from the wound in Charles’ shoulder. “A necessary evil.”

“Evil… indeed,” Charles says defiantly, trying his best to resist the pain from the bullet.

“You think I’m evil?” Cassandra asks, taking a step forward. She shrugs her shoulders and responds, “I suppose I can understand why you feel that way.”

“Why have you done all of this? What is it that you want?” Charles asks.

“World peace,” Cassandra says, still aiming the gun at her brother’s head. “And I do mean that literally. Where you have failed for so long, Charles, I plan to succeed.”

“And this is how you get the job done? Mind control, manipulation… murder?”

“Do not talk down to me,” Cassandra demands. “You’re the one working with that monster Magneto. I’ve only done what I have to… I’ve taken actions that are necessary for the greater good.”

Charles looks at his sister, deep into her eyes. He still can’t believe he really has a sister… and that this woman, who has done so much to hurt his former students, is that sister. He sees a cold, calculating woman in those eyes, yet at the same time, he sees a woman with so much pain, so much anger, and so much determination. In so many ways, he despises her for what she’s done, but at the same time… he empathizes with her.

“What happened to you?” Charles asks simply, his question undoubtedly sincere.

“Our father,” Cassandra says, a scowl forming on her face.

“You were stillborn,” Charles says, recalling the story Nightcrawler had told him not long ago. “And your… our… father… took you to the Black Womb.”

Cassandra nods. “Gold star, brother,” she tells him. “Though he didn’t just take me there, Charles… he sold me. He sold me, his own daughter, like I was a piece of property.”

“I… if… if this is true,” Charles says, swallowing back a lump in his throat, “then our father was truly a monster. I knew he was involved in… classified work when I was growing up, but I never…”

“You never imagined the disgusting, heartless man that lied beneath the surface?” Cassandra asks. “I know, Charles. I know. And I don’t blame you for anything. I don’t resent you, and I certainly don’t hate you. It’s not your fault that you were the lucky twin.”

“If you don’t hate me, then why are you trying to kill me?” Charles asks, his words coming off a bit more desperate than he planned. “I don’t understand this, Cassandra. I don’t understand any of this.”

“Our father was involved in the abduction of dozens of children across the world – children who were supposedly stillborn, children who were tagged as being potentially powerful mutants, and of course children who were seen as ‘defective’. The operation at Almagordo was nothing more than a front, and the disaster there wasn’t an accident,” Cassandra tells her brother. “By the time that happened, though, I had already been phased out of the Black Womb program.”

A curious look crosses Charles’ face. “Phased out?”

“They ‘resurrected’ me, augmented me, performed so many experiments on me over the years… but they realized I might become too powerful for them to control someday,” Cassandra explains. “When I was nine years old, long before my powers surfaced, they wiped my mind clean, and placed me in a faux family, with the cover story that I had been in an accident that left me amnesiac. When I grew to be a young woman, and the first vestiges of my telepathy manifested… that’s when I began to suspect that something wasn’t quite right about my life.”

Images of psionic energy form in the space between Charles and Cassandra, one in particular of a young, blonde-haired girl. The image of the girl seems to grow, her hair falling out and her body maturing. “I didn’t know why I was balding, or why I could hear voices in my head,” Cassandra says. “But I eventually figured out what it all meant. And after I started to have visions of my time at the Black Womb, I set out to discover the truth. Of course, I didn’t let that consume my life… I stayed in school, received a degree in psychology… but I never deterred from my quest to learn my true origins.”

“Why are you telling me all of this?” Charles asks as he absorbs everything his sister has told him thus far.

“You’re my brother,” Cassandra answers. “Who else would I tell?” She is silent for a moment as the images continue to change, showing Cassandra at different stages of her life, and at one point showing her with a handsome Indian man. “We were married, you know. He died of cancer after only fifteen years together. My dearest Hiresh… not a day goes by that I don’t miss him.”

The image changes to that of a decaying older woman with gray skin and some thin, gray hair on her head. “This is Amanda Mueller. It was not even five years ago that I discovered the truth about her and the Black Womb – after my husband died, after I went through menopause, and after the rest of my mutant powers developed. It all hit me at once, and I swear I could have died from the grief and shock.”

“Our father worked for this woman?” Charles asks, studying the visage of Amanda Mueller.

“Indirectly, yes,” Cassandra responds with a nod. “And just a couple of years ago, she set out to get me back… bring me back to the Black Womb. I was determined to destroy her and her operation, but I knew I couldn’t do it alone. I also knew that I couldn’t let this woman consume my life – I was meant for greater things.”

Charles once again locks eyes with his sister. “And that’s when you set your sights on my X-Men, I assume…”

“It wasn’t even that long ago,” Cassandra tells him. “You were at the mansion, dying of the Legacy Virus… Scott, Jean, and their team were battling Nathaniel Essex for the cure to the Legacy Virus. It was when Jean unleashed her Phoenix abilities, when she lost all control and killed Essex, that I entered her mind… at that most vulnerable moment… and planted my seeds.”

“So what you’re telling me is that you’ve gone through all this trouble to take control of the X-Men so you can use them to destroy the Black Womb?”

“No, no,” Cassandra replies, shaking her head. “It’s much more than that. I do intend to bring down Amanda Mueller’s operation once and for all, most definitely… but I’ve been given a chance to do something magnificent, Charles. I’ve been given the chance to succeed where you’ve failed…”

“And I still don’t understand why the mind control and lies have been necessary,” Charles snaps at her. “If everything you’ve just said is true, then there would be no reason why my X-Men wouldn’t have taken you in regardless.”

“There is a method to the madness, believe me,” Cassandra says, cracking a sly grin. “For the dream of peace between man and mutant to be truly realized, there were certain avenues that needed to be explored, certain sacrifices that needed to be made. I couldn’t keep Logan around… he was too much of a wild card. I needed to establish myself as a power player to the world, hence why I took your identity and made it my own. And as for killing the Avengers… well… what better way to make the X-Men into the most beloved team of superheroes in the world than have them defeat Magneto once and for all, then return home and subsequently avenge the deaths of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes?”

“Except you didn’t succeed in killing the Avengers,” Charles informs his sister. “And most of the X-Men have already been freed from your mind control. Your plot is falling apart, Cassandra.”

“I’m well aware of the situation above ground, thank you,” Cassandra says cooly. She raises her arm back into the air, again aiming her revolver at Charles’ head. “Let me reiterate that I don’t hate you, my brother. I love you. But the world is not big enough for both of us…”

Cassandra pulls the trigger and the bullet blasts through the barrel, but it stops in mid-air, frozen by an unseen force. Cassandra at first suspects Magneto and wonders how he made it through her barrier, but when she turns in his direction she sees four new players on the scene – Phoenix, Ever, Scarlet Witch, and Jack of Hearts. Cassandra glares at this sight as Jubilee, Nightcrawler, and Storm’s team are freed from the psionic freeze they were placed in, and the bald woman can feel her telekinetic barrier collapsing.

“Well, isn’t this an interesting development…” Cassandra mumbles to herself.

“It seems the tables have turned, witch,” Magneto says as he grasps Charles’ hoverchair with his powers and pulls his friend from Cassandra’s clutches. The two men join with everyone else in the room, with Storm’s team having been freed of their mind control thanks to Phoenix and Ever’s efforts.

“I’m actually glad you didn’t die out there,” Phoenix says as she begins to moves towards Cassandra. “Taking this slow will be much more satisfying!”

Cassandra lets out a slight chuckle. “Such arrogance, Jean… and such lack of control. That’s what got you in trouble with me in the first place.”

Just as Jean manifests a Phoenix raptor, Cassandra throws the redhead and everyone else in the room for a loop as translucent psionic energy begins to form around her body, growing larger with each second. It’s not even a minute before a bellowing creature with thousands of arms on its body is towering above the assembled group of heroes.

“Holy shit…” Jack of Hearts mutters.

{Jack, Wanda, you need to do everything you can to slow Cassandra down,} Phoenix calls out telepathically. {Charles, Ever, prepare yourselves, and Magneto, keep everyone else safe. I’m calling in reinforcements.}

Floating in the center of a room surrounded by monitors is Amanda Mueller. She has been in charge of the Black Womb for over a century. Right now, her attention is concentrated on the situation in Genosha with Cassandra Nova.

“This is it,” she says. “Cassandra’s last stand. Once she’s been destroyed, we can move on to phase two.”

The massive beast made of psionic energy bellows as the combined might of Phoenix, Ever, Scarlet Witch, and Jack of Hearts attacks it. At the monster’s nucleus is Cassandra, her body silent and still as she commandeers her creation. While Phoenix and Ever try to pierce the shell Cassandra has created around herself, Scarlet Witch attempts the same with her hexing abilities while at the same time trying to increase the probability that the madwoman will run out of steam. Jack of Hearts’ blasts of zero energy, meanwhile, are trying to cancel out the power that Cassandra wields.

Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr watch the intense battle from the safety of the magnetic shield they, along with the group of X-Men with them, are encased in. Each and every one of them has the urge to join the fray, help take on Cassandra, but even Magneto knows that it would be a fruitless effort. Though it pains him to see his own daughter in such danger, he knows that Cassandra can only be hurt by certain types of powers.

While Sunpyre and Skin mull over their ‘uselessness’, and Jubilee and Iceman hold hands and talk, Archangel, Storm, and Nightcrawler stand with Charles and Magneto. “You know, I could try teleporting inside the monster… try and get to Cassandra…” Nightcrawler suggests.

“And I’ve already said ‘no’ once – it’s too risky,” Charles responds. “It’s certain death, Kurt. I won’t allow it. I won’t allow my sister to take anymore lives…”

Archangel gives Charles a surprised look. “So she… she really is your sister then?”

“Yes,” Charles says with a nod. “A story for another time, though, Warren…”

{Xavier! Saddle up!} comes the voice of Cable in Charles’ mind, abruptly interrupting the man’s conversation. The group contained in Magneto’s barrier turn to see Cable, Blaquesmith, Captain America, and Falcon dashing into the room and in their direction.

{Nathan, Blaquesmith,} Charles responds. {We must hurry!}

As Captain America and the Falcon enter the area protected by Magneto, Cable grasps Charles with his telekinesis and pulls the bald man, along with Blaquesmith, into the air near Phoenix and Ever. “Pretty nasty wound you got there, Xavier,” Cable says, looking at Charles’ bleeding shoulder.

“I’ll survive,” Charles says. He turns his attention to Jean and Ever and asks, “Are we ready?”

{As we’ll ever be,} Phoenix responds. She reaches out to Scarlet Witch and Jack of Hearts and says, {Be ready for anything!}

The five telepaths focus their full attention on the psionic monster before them, and with the invisible force of their combined telepathy and telekinesis, begin to breach Cassandra’s armor. Jack of Hearts and Scarlet Witch up the ante, putting more power into their attacks, as the now five-in-one breaks through the thousand-armed monster and heads right for Cassandra. Realizing this, Cassandra’s eyes shoot wide open, and an angry scowl crosses her face.

{This isn’t over!} Cassandra says defiantly. {One way or the other, I win!}

{You’re going down, Nova!} Ever snaps back at the old woman.

{My name is Cassandra Nova Xavier,} Cassandra growls. {Nova is my middle name!}

Phoenix moves to the head of the telepaths and the fiery creature that is her namesake comes alive, burning mad with power. {This is for everyone you’ve ever hurt!}

As the Phoenix raptor inches closer to Cassandra, the bald woman makes a desperate last stand and turns her attention to Jack of Hearts. She grasps the man’s mind and accesses the part of his brain that controls his unstable abilities. Cassandra tears that part of his mind to shreds, and a split second later, Jack can feel zero energy surging wilder than ever through every nerve ending in his body.

“Oh no… no… please…” Jack pleads softly as he drops to his knees, sweat pouring profusely down his face. “You fucking… bitch…”

Cassandra turns to Phoenix and frowns. “For the greater good, Jean. Goodbye…”

The wave of zero energy brightens the room to the point of blinding all of it’s occupants, and as this happens, Phoenix reaches out to do what her instincts tell her to do, first and foremost – protect her friends and allies. She expands her presence over the entire room, to encompass everyone but Cassandra, and can almost feel herself being torn apart under the pressure. The zero energy courses through Jean’s body and through Cassandra’s as well, sending both women into a state of shock. Jack of Hearts can only scream in agony as the seemingly endless energy blasts out of his every pore.

And as fast as it came, it goes away. The room returns to its dimly-lit state, and the psionic creature previously surrounding Cassandra is gone. Scarlet Witch, Captain America, and Falcon rush to Jack of Heart’s side, while Cable and Ever use their telekinesis to lower themselves and Charles, Blaquesmith, and the unconscious Phoenix and Cassandra to the ground. Blaquesmith takes himself and Ever over to assess the situation with Jack of Hearts, Magneto following to check on his daughter, while the remaining telepaths and the present X-Men gather near Jean and Cassandra.

“Is Jean all right, Charles?” Storm asks worriedly. “What did she do?”

Charles and Cable combine their near-exhausted telepathic resources, trying to get through to Phoenix. They have little luck, but after a moment of probing, they feel safe in making a diagnosis. “She’s alive,” Charles tells his former students. “Her mind is going in hundreds of different directions right now, but I doubt it’s anything permanent. She just needs to rest.”

“And what about the golden girl over there?” Jubilee quips, looking over at Cassandra. Iceman, Sunpyre, and Skin walk over to the woman, all seething with anger, and rightfully so.

Charles swallows back a lump in this throat as he hovers over to his sister, Cable following behind him. Cable and Charles position themselves on either side of Cassandra and begin a scan of her mind. It proves much more difficult than the analysis of Jean, as Cassandra seems to have no mind at all anymore. It’s as if she’s completely shut down.

The two men open their eyes and exchange a knowing look. “She’s as good as dead,” is all Cable says.

{How is Jack of Hearts?} Charles calls out to the two telepaths at the other side of the room.

{He’s alive,} Ever responds. {Unconscious, his mind is a mess, but Blaquesmith says he’ll be fine.}

Charles nods, and he looks at his former – and would-be – students, a not-quite-content look on his face. “Jean and Jack will be fine, but Cassandra is gone,” he announces. “If you’d all like to consider this a victory, then we’ve won. It’s only just begun, though… we have quite a mess to clean up now…”

NEXT: Everything changes! Follow the heroes into Uncanny X-Men #41, X-Men #31, and Avengers #1!

 

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