Anchorage, Alaska

Ever since he was a child, Scott Summers has believed that his parents were killed in a plane crash. He and his younger brother Alex were raised by their grandparents. Over the years, Scott had made peace with the fact that he would never get to know what kind of a man his father was.

Scott Summers just discovered that what he thought he knew about his father was a lie.

He received a letter from his brother, telling him to come to their grandparents’ home in Anchorage. His teammates, the X-Men, accompanied him as well. It was here that he discovered his father was alive and well.

“Let him up, John,” said Cyclops. Thunderbird released Christopher and allowed him to stand. He looked to Cyclops, who followed up with, “go inside, check on my grandparents.”

“You sure you don’t need me here?” asked Thunderbird.

“No,” said Cyclops. Thunderbird nodded and went towards the house. Cyclops looked at the source of this newfound revelation. “You’re wrong.”

“Scott, as hard as it may be to believe, this man is Christopher Summers.” The redhead who spoke to him was Jean Grey, also called Phoenix. The team’s resident telepath and a young woman in possession of more power than possibly even she is aware of.

“How did you know my former name?” asked Christopher. “I haven’t gone by that name since I broke free from the Shi’ar slave pens. I’m known throughout the galaxy as Corsair.”

“My father wasn’t crazy,” said Cyclops. He focused his visor-clad eyes on Corsair and slowly approached him. “Whoever this man is, he’s an imposter.”

“Why father? Whose father?” asked Corsair. He squinted and focused in on Scott. “You’re not my son. My son is dead. You’re a Skrull, aren’t you? Changing your shape so you can confuse me! I’ve heard about you Skrulls before, how you can make yourself look like anyone you want. That’s what you’re doing, isn’t it? You’re in league with D’Ken and the Brood, aren’t you?”

“I didn’t realize Scott had such a messed up family,” said Dazzler in a low voice.

“That’s not so bad,” said Nightcrawler. “Remind me later to tell you what it was like having Mystique for a mother.”

“Let’s… just try to approach this rationally, shall we?” said Beast.

“I know you don’t want to believe it, but this man is Christopher Summers, or at least he believes he is,” said Phoenix, her eyes locked on Cyclops’ face. “Which means if he’s not, then he’s undergone some impressive mental conditioning, to the point that I can’t detect any anomalies.”

“The plane crashed, their bodies were found, they were buried,” said Cyclops.

“Then obviously, there’s more to this than we understand,” said Beast. “Wouldn’t be the first time we’ve had the wool pulled over our eyes.”

“Bullshit,” said Cyclops. “This was before Xavier, before SHIELD, before the X-Men. It’s got absolutely nothing to do with them.”

“Scott!”

Thunderbird ran from the cabin. His face told Cyclops everything he needed to know—something was wrong. Extremely wrong.

“What?” he asked. “Where are my grandparents?”

“Gone,” said Thunderbird. “I found this.” He held a slip of paper in his hand that he passed over to Cyclops. “The place is a disaster area. There was definitely a fight.”

Cyclops’ eyes passed over the note and his lips curled into a distinct snarl as he read the words hastily written. He crumpled the note and let it fall to the ground. He spoke one word and one word only.

“Sinister.”

“No, can’t be, he’s dead,” said Dazzler.

“As far as we know, maybe he found a way out of it,” said Beast. “It’s definitely a possibility.”

“This is a plot by D’Ken,” said Corsair. “First he transports me to Earth and puts me in a mental hospital. Then he hires this Skrull to imitate my son. Now he’s kidnapped my parents. I thought he would have had his fill after he killed my wife and crew. But he’ll never be satisfied, will he?”

“Just what the hell is he babbling on about?” asked Thunderbird.

“My name is Corsair, I was the leader of the Starjammers, a group of intergalactic pirates,” he replied. “We fought against the Shi’ar Imperium and their corrupt leader, D’Ken.”

“How did you get there?” asked Beast.

“When I was last on Earth, it was when I was flying with my family. The plane was going to crash and we only had one parachute left. My wife strapped it on our two boys and pushed them out. Right before the plane crashed, we were abducted by a Shi’ar spacecraft and sent to the slave pens. D’Ken raped and murdered my wife. With the help of some inmates, we escaped and formed the Starjammers to fight back.”

“I see,” said Beast. “What do you think, Jean?”

“He’s telling the truth, or at least he believes he is. But obviously, he’s had some sort of mental breakdown. Still, I think there is some element of truth in his fantasy.”

“This is all tied together, isn’t it?”

“I’d say that’s a fair assumption. Scott? Do you read me?”

“Yes.”

“For now, we’ll have to trust him, take him with us. This can’t just be coincidence; this is all tied together somehow. What did the note say?”

“That he has my grandparents and my brother and if I don’t show up at this address, he’ll kill all three of them.”

“In that case, we now have a destination in mind. Do your job, Mr. Leader.”

FAMILY TIES

Part III: Exterminate All Rational Thought

By Dino Pollard

London, England

A young woman with long, blonde hair sat in an antique chair before a roaring fire. She wore a short white skirt and a white blouse. The room was large and lined with bookshelves. One such book was held between her hands and a glass of red wine sat on the small table beside her chair. Her delicate fingers turned the pages carefully, the fire providing the only light for her.

The doors opened and she heard footsteps on the wooden floor. A man with black hair and sideburns and dressed in a fine suit stopped beside the chair and stared into the flames. She allowed herself a small smile—she knew who her guest was before he even set foot into the room.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” he asked.

“Mmm,” she said.

“The fire is a cleansing agent. It purifies all, restores balance to the universe. That is what the goal of our organization has been for centuries.”

“Patience, Sebastian,” she said. “It’s a virtue.”

“That is one word, my dear Emma, I would never associate with either of us,” said Sebastian.

Emma turned away from her book, her crystal-blue eyes gazing into his dark ones and a coy smile spread across her face. “I have no idea what you are referring to.”

Sebastian simply changed the subject. “I’m concerned about the proceedings.”

“Like I said, patience.”

“She isn’t her father.”

“No, but her father is dead,” said Emma. “She’ll do just fine, I promise.”

“She had better,” said Sebastian. “This is far too important. A window like this only comes once every five-hundred years.”

Emma set the book down on the table beside the wine glass and stood. She gently placed her hand on Sebastian’s cheek. He took her hand in his own and lightly kissed it.

“You need to learn to relax,” she said. She took her hand away from his grip and placed both palms on his shoulders, slowly running them up and down his torso. Her eyes turned up towards his and she grinned seductively. Sebastian smiled back at her.

“I suppose you can help me relieve that… tension, Miss Frost?”

Emma pulled away from him and picked up the wine glass. She sipped it as she sauntered towards the doors, but not before turning a final glance back at Sebastian.

“Some other time, perhaps.”

Anchorage, Alaska

The X-Men, accompanied by Corsair, found themselves in a large, abandoned factory of some sort. Getting inside had proved to be no challenge for the armored strength of Colossus.

“What is this place?” asked Nightcrawler.

“It used to be a prison,” said Cyclops. “They shut it down a long time ago, though. I think before I was born, actually.”

Corsair moved forward, a Magnum in each hand. He crouched low and looked around carefully, as if he were looking for someone.

“What are you doing?” asked Cyclops.

“The Brood are here…” said Corsair.

“…right,” said Thunderbird.

“Jean, you reading anything?” asked Cyclops.

“I’m doing a telepathic scan of the area and… huh, that’s weird,” she said.

“What’s weird?” asked Beast.

“Well, I’m picking up different thought patterns, but I can’t seem to decipher them,” said Phoenix. “It’s almost like I’m trying to read the mind of an animal or something.”

“You mean you can’t do that?” asked Nightcrawler.

“Well I can, but their thought patterns are so different that it’s like trying to read a book in a foreign language,” said Phoenix.

“And that’s what this is like?” asked Nightcrawler.

“More or less.”

“What’s that mean, ‘more or less’?” asked Thunderbird.

“It means… more or less,” said Phoenix.

“These are the types of environments where the Brood eggs thrive,” said Corsair. “Dank, dark. They hate the light.”

“Whatever you say, ‘Corsair,’” said Cyclops.

“Why don’t you believe me?” asked Corsair. “It may be difficult to believe, but this is how the universe really works. I once thought there was nothing past this planet, but then I discovered I was wrong. Will you be able to live with yourself when you make that discovery for yourself?”

“Look, let’s just get to the bottom of this,” said Cyclops. “Find Sinister and find out what the hell kind of game he’s trying to play.”

“And how he survived getting vaporized,” said Dazzler. “Because I know I’m not the only one who saw that, right? How do people just come back from something like that?”

“Good question,” said Cyclops. “How do they come back after they died in a plane crash and were buried for that matter?”

“I told you, I was never in that crash!” said Corsair. “It was a trick! The Shi’ar must have replaced our bodies somehow, or maybe it was an illusion—I don’t know. Either way, it was a trick and you fell for it.”

“Neither of you are helping,” said Beast. He shook his head as they continued to explore the abandoned prison. “This is a wild goose chase, that’s what it is. For all we know, it may not even be Sinister who’s behind this. Just a trick to lure us in.”

“Seems to be working so far,” said Colossus.

“Wait, I’m picking something up,” said Phoenix. She hovered in the air, an aura of flames appearing around her body. Her eyes glowed brightly and with a gesture, a barricaded door opened and the debris cleared. Inside the small room was a man coughing violently.

Beast ran to his aid first and tried to lift him up. “It’s okay, we’re here to help.”

“No…” said the man. “You’re idiots, you shouldn’t have come here.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Beast. “What’s here?”

“SHI*cough*AR.”

“Shi’ar?” asked Beast. “Did you just say Shi’ar?”

“Hank, don’t make him speak,” said Phoenix. She lowered herself to the ground and knelt beside the man. He opened his mouth but she shushed him and placed her hand on his forehead. She closed her eyes and his memories flashed across her mind. When she opened them once more, they were in a state of shock.

“What is it?” asked Beast.

“Corsair was telling the truth,” said Phoenix. “Or some form of the truth, anyway. Shi’ar is an acronym for Super-Human Infantry Attack Respondent. A black ops program run by… guess who?”

“SHIELD,” said Cyclops.

Phoenix nodded. “This man was one of the scientists working on Project: SHIAR. At first, it was an attempt to recreate the Super Soldier Serum that gave birth to Captain America. They wanted a new era of super soldiers. But something else happened. Somehow, they created a new type of organism. One that grows inside the host body and bursts free when it comes to term.”

“Like the Alien movies?” asked Nightcrawler.

“Exactly,” replied Phoenix. “The new organisms were armored, bug-like creatures who took on the characteristics of their host. The first one became the Queen and they operate on a hive-like structure. SHIELD still operated under the belief that these things could be controlled, used in mobile infantry, but they broke free and either killed or impregnated everyone in this base.”

She looked at Corsair.

“They nicknamed these creatures the Brood.”

“I told you I was telling the truth,” said Corsair.

“These events were the basis of Corsair’s delusions,” said Phoenix.

“But how is he involved in it?” asked Cyclops. “What does any of this have to do with my family?”

“That I don’t know,” said Phoenix. “But these creatures are now roaming around this place, and they’re bloodthirsty.”

“Then shouldn’t we leave?” asked Nightcrawler.

“No one’s going anywhere,” said Cyclops. “We have to stop these things now because if they get out, who knows what will happen?”

“Question is, how do we find them?” asked Thunderbird.

The sound of insect-like wings flapping drew the X-Men’s attention. They all crowded together as the Brood slowly emerged from various hiding places. They had six legs and tentacles, combined with large fangs and glowing, yellow eyes. Dazzler glared at Thunderbird.

“You just had to ask, didn’t you?”