X-MEN: THE MOVIE

Part II: Lights, Camera, Action!

By Ryan Krupienski

The circular stadium is filled with thousands, eager to see what the ruler of their homeworld has in store for them. Their lives revolve around entertainment, as does this entire world. This world is known as Mojoworld, home of the Spineless Ones, and is ruled by the ratings-mad Mojo.

As the crowd clamors for Mojo’s latest attraction, the massive tyrant stands at the center of the stadium, ready to give the masses what they want. He grabs a microphone from his loyal assistant, Major Domo, and begins to speak.

“Ladies, gentlemen, slobs of all ages!” Mojo bellows into his microphone, “You’ve seen them before, in such presentations as The X-Babies and The Fall Of Mojo. Now, in their final network appearance ever, I proudly present to you the X-Men in a feature I like to call – Ghosts Of The Past!”

The stadium lights dim, as the massive viewing screens begin to display the five X-Men Mojo kidnapped.

“Lights… camera… ACTION!”

CYCLOPS

Cyclops gapes in horror at the figure standing above him. He can’t believe that his fallen teammate is standing before him, the dead X-Man known as…

“Thunderbird?!”

No, he’s not really Thunderbird… rather, he is a carbon copy, created by Mojo for the very purpose of this televised event. In every physical aspect, though, he is Thunderbird… down to the angry expression on his face.

“Suprised to see me, One-Eye?” Thunderbird says coldly, picking Cyclops up by the collar of his uniform. “You thought you could just leave me to die? You thought you could just walk away?!”

“That shows how much you – or Mojo – know about that incident. Thunderbird sacrificed himself,” Cyclops says, “We didn’t leave him to die. I’ve felt responsible for it in the past… but I’ve come to realize it wasn’t my fault, and there’s no way I’m going to stand here and become guilt-ridden for some illusion!”

Thunderbird’s face becomes further wrinkled with anger. “Fine, don’t stand… lie on the ground like the dog you are!” Thunderbird throws Cyclops face-down to the ground and puts his foot on the X-Man’s back to ensure he won’t get up.

Cyclops struggles to get up, but to no avail. He refuses to give up, though… as leader of the X-Men, he’s responsible for keeping his team alive. He has to do something to break free… and he hopes the idea that just popped into his head willd work.

“You’re pretty silent down there, One-Eye… not thinkin’ of doin’ anything stupid, are you?” Thunderbird inquires.

“Nothing too stupid…” Cyclops reaches for his visor, and tears it off his face. Seconds later, fierce optic blasts shoot out of his eyes, creating a crater in the ground and sending him and Thunderbird flying backwards near the edge of the canyon they stand atop.

Thunderbird lands close to the crater, having been swept to the side by Cyclops’ feat. Cyclops, however, is very near the edge of the canyon… and it’s a long way down.

Thunderbird gets to his feet, having sustained minimum damage. Cyclops is still on the ground, reeling in pain from a back injury. Thunderbird grins, now having the opportunity to get his revenge. He walks over and picks Cyclops up by the arm.

As Thunderbird looks over the edge of the canyon he says, “Man, that’s a looong way down… hope you can fly.” He then tosses Cyclops over the edge, sending him hurtling to his death.

As Cyclops flies through the air towards his supposed death, he ponders if it really is the end. If it is, he hopes the others get out alive… and even more, that his wife and children will go on without him.

‘This can’t be the end, it can’t be!’ Just as those final thoughts ring through the X-Man’s mind, there’s a loud thud on at the bottom on the canyon… and everything goes black.

BEAST

“Stars and garters!” Beast exclaims, staring at his alter-ego from the hellish alternate reality known as the Age Of Apocalypse.

“Stars and garters, indeed,” the Dark Beast replies snidely. “I’m so glad we are able to engage in this rendezvous. I have been looking forward to a rematch!”

Beast advances towards his double, and touches his shoulder. “Hmmm… well, you’re not a hologram. You can’t be the real McCoy… no pun intended… I wonder, are you a clone? Perhaps a figment of my imagination induced by hypnotic drugs?”

“Oh please, Henry. You underestimate me… you remember what happened the last time you did that?” Dark Beast replies with a grin.

“Yes.” Beast sighs. “You kidnapped me, and took my place in the X-Men!”

“Yes, indeed I did! And what fun it was,” Dark Beast replies. He turns his back to the Beast, acting uncertain of something. “You know, I think the time for chit-chat has passed… it’s time we do what we came here to do.”

The Dark Beast swings around and rakes his claws across Beast’s face. Beast is sent splashing into the sewer water, blood dripping from the cuts on his blue-furred face. He gets up as quickly as he can, but suffers another blow, this time a foot to the stomach. He once again falls to the ground.

“Henry, Henry, Henry…” Dark Beast advances towards Beast, and kneels down to see if his opponent is alive. He soon learns that he is, as Beast grabs his throat and pulls him down to the ground.

“This time you underestimated me, you ignorant lout!” Beast exclaims as he holds the Dark Beast’s head beneath the water. “You are not the so-called ‘Dark Beast’… you are nothing but a creation of Mojo, which is just as horrid, if not worse! If I’m to survive and aid my teammates, you must be rendered inactive long enough for me to escape these surroundings.”

The Dark Beast struggles for air, but eventually succumbs to the water filling his lungs. He passes out… maybe he’s even ‘dead’. Beast rises to his feet, uncaring of his manufactured enemy’s fate. ‘This is all made-up… this representation of the Dark Beast is most likely an automaton. Yet, he… it… seems so real. I would love to be able to study it… but alas, duty calls. I must find a way to get out of here, and free the others. Then, together, we’ll deal with Mojo.’

Beast begins walking down the dark, wet sewer tunnels, looking for a way out. Before he can get around the corner, he is struck in the back of the head, and falls unconscious.

SHADOWCAT

Shadowcat remembers this incarnation of Illyana’s Magik persona. Darkchylde is the most vile of demons, possessed of the powers of the deadly Soulsword from the realm of Limbo. As Magik, Illyana would use the Soulsword for good… but at one point, its dormant evil broke free and overtook Illyana, transforming her into the being standing before Shadowcat – Darkchylde.

“Suprised to see me, Katya?” Darkchylde snarls, holding the blade of the Soulsword at Shadowcat’s throat. “I am so happy you are here, Katya. We are best friends, yes?”

They were… before Illyana died of the Legacy Virus. Shadowcat wants to believe that this is Illyana standing before her, and that she’ll be able to somehow purge the girl of the demonic Darkchylde persona. Then, they could go home…

Sadly, Shadowcat knows it isn’t so. This is not Illyana Rasputin… just a being of Mojo’s creation. “Give me a break! I’m not that stupid!” she says confidently. “You’re not Illyana – you’re just some illusion created by that twisted slob Mojo. How dare you defile my best friend’s memory by pretending to be her, transforming into this… thing?!”

Darkchylde growls in anger, and slices the Soulsword through Shadowcat’s body. Nothing happens… Shadowcat phases her body, thus causing the sword to pass right through her.

“Oh please… even the real Darkchylde would have known that I could phase through that!” Shadowcat replies, delivering a swift punch to Darkchylde’s jaw.

Darkchylde’s head swings back violently, but she maintains her stance. She turns back to Shadowcat and attempts to grab her neck, but yet again the X-Man phases. Darkchylde backs off, then leaps into the air, seemingly vanishing from sight. Shadowcat looks around for a sign of her enemy… none.

‘This is not fun at all,’ Shadowcat thinks to herself. ‘I don’t know what happened to that fake Darkchylde… and I don’t care. I’m getting out of here, pronto!’

Shadowcat heads down the hallway, towards a door that leads to the upper level of the mansion – that is, if it really was the mansion. She runs as fast as she can, unaware of what’s right above her…

“RRRAAAARRR!” Darkchylde growls as she leaps in front of Shadowcat.

Shadowcat is taken aback by Darkchylde’s sudden reappearance, and is not able to phase before the demon buries the Soulsword in the X-Man’s chest. Shadowcat shrieks in pain, then falls to the floor. Forming on the floor near her… a pool of blood.

Darkchylde raises the Soulsword high in the air above Shadowcat, ready to decapitate the unconscious X-Man. “Nighty-night, Katya!”

PSYLOCKE

When they were children, Betsy and Jamie would fight as a brother and sister normally would. Now, they’re grown adults… and even on Earth, Psylocke and her real brother, not the recreation before her, take sibling rivalry to new heights.

One is a ninja-trained telepath who can melt in and out of shadows… the other, a mentally deranged young man with the ability to physically warp organic forms. However, Jamie cannot distinguish reality from fantasy… whenever he uses his powers, he believes he’s only hurting the demons that haunt his dreams, but Mojo doesn’t know that. He envisions Psylocke and Jamie as having the worst brother-sister relationship, and has created Jamie thusly.

“Sister, dear, don’t just stand there! We’ve got to kill each other!” Jamie yells manically, warping the bed into a contraption to trap his sister.

Psylocke leaps out of the way of the warping bed, and lunges at her brother. ‘Mojo obviously hasn’t done his homework… whenever Jamie and I engaged in battle, he never knew it was I who he was attacking! Jamie had lost all sense of reality… Mojo doesn’t seem to know that, and sees my brother and I as being the bitterest of enemies!’

A psychotic smile forms on Jamie’s face, as he continues warping other objects in the room in order to ensnare Psylocke. “C’mon, luv… die already!”

“I think not,” Psylocke replies nonchalantly, diving at Jamie. “I know you are not my brother… my true brother was ill, not able to discern reality from his visions. I’ll make quick work of you, whatever you are, and find my way out of here!”

“Methinks not, dear sister,” Jamie says, grabbing Psylocke by the throat and slamming her into the wall.

Psylocke lies on the floor, rubbing her throbbing head. ‘These may be illusions… but they are truly strong illusions! I must do something, quickly…’

Before Psylocke can finished her thought, Jamie scoops her up in his enlarged hand. “Alright, then, luv… you don’t want to make this easy, that’s fine by me. I’ll just have to kill you myself!”

Jamie’s hand begins to close around Psylocke, serving to eventually crush her in the process. Jamie’s hand closes completely, and within seconds, he opens it up again… only to discover that Psylocke is gone.

CECILIA REYES

After her father died in her arms at the age of six, Cecilia Reyes decided she wanted to be a doctor so that she could make up for her father’s death by healing others who were in need of help. As a doctor, she’s saved hundreds of lives, and as an X-Man, she’s battled super-human menaces such as the Prime Sentinels and the Masters of Evil… but nothing could have prepared her for Michael Reyes… her father.

However, the man standing before her, who she believes is her father, is not the kind, caring man she remembered him as… this man has just smacked her across the face, knocking her to the ground. Her mental defenses have collapsed… she doesn’t know this is a cruel illusion created by Mojo.

“Papa… no, please… why are you doing this?!” Cecilia cries, looking up at her father.

“You’re pathetic, Cecilia! Mi hija, a mutant!” Michael shouts. “I shall not tolerate this! I’ll punish you!”

Cecilia looks up at her father, blood dripping from her nose. Her eyes are filled with tears, her face wet from sweating. “Papa… I… I was born this way! I can’t help the fact that I’m a mutant! Please…”

“Stop your whining!” Michael slaps Cecilia across the face once more, then picks her up by her hair. “You make me sick!”

Cecilia is dazed, and has no will to resist her father’s attacks. She can only think of what’s going on.

‘This… this can’t be real… my father… was never like this… can’t be real…’

Cecilia takes a look… a good look… at her father’s face. She looks for a sign that it isn’t him, for anything that would justify her defending herself. Then she sees it…

‘W-Wait a minute! The tiny scar on the left side of his forehead… it’s not there! This can’t be my father… he had that scar before I was born! I thought that I could have been transported to the past… or even that maybe my father had been resurrected somehow… but this can’t be my father. Not only does he not have the scar, but… he acts nothing like him!’

Cecilia gets to her feet, a new wave of confidence within her. “You… you’re not my father!” she yells angrily. “Whoever… or whatever… you are, you can quit the act!”

“You doubt me, girl? Well, I’ll just…”

Cecilia grabs Michael’s advancing fist. “You’ll just go down like the chump you are!”

Cecilia begins to crush Michael’s fist in her own, which has since become translucent. “I don’t know why my force-field didn’t activate the first few times you hit me, and I don’t really care… all I know is that I’m not going to let you make a mockery of the man who meant the most to me!”

Michael is sent flying backwards into a brick wall, as Cecilia wills her entire body to become translucent. Tears form in her eyes as she walks towards him… it’s hard doing this, even if the ‘man’ before her isn’t her father. Mojo’s machinations have forced her to open up chapters of her past better left closed, and that’s something she hadn’t planned on doing at any point in her life.

“You may look like my father… smell like him, feel like him, sound like him… but you lack him compassion, his heart… you lack humanity. You’re nothing compared to him, monstruo!” Cecilia closes her eyes and concentrates on wrapping her force-field around Michael. ‘Forgive me…’

Cecilia’s force-field completely envelopes Michael, suffocating him in the process. The deed is done… Cecilia has killed the evil duplicate of her father, but she feels nothing of a victory… just pain, intense emotional pain.

Cecilia transforms her body back to its normal state, and begins to walk towards Michael’s body. However, before she can get there, she’s struck in the head from behind, and falls unconscious.

Back at the the main broadcast arena…

“WHAT IS GOING ON?!” Mojo bellows angrily, turning to Major Domo. “Psylocke got away! She’ll ruin everything!”

Major Domo taps a button on the device he’s holding, and immediately four of the five X-Men materialize in glass tubes on the center stage. “We have the other X-Men, obesity… Psylocke doesn’t dare act out against you. You can cancel the X-Men at any time.”

Mojo ponders for a moment, turning to the glass tubes occupied by the unconscious X-Men. “You know, Domo… Psylocke won’t be that big a threat… I can cancel the X-Men any time I wish!”

A disgruntled Major Domo lets out a sigh. “Why do I bother?”

“Alright, move aside, Domo – it’s time for me to address the audience!” Mojo raises the microphone and begins to speak. “That’s our feature for tonight, everyone! Don’t go away, though… you don’t dare miss the hunt for Psylocke, or the cancellation of the X-Men!”

Meanwhile, back at the main control room at Mojo’s stronghold…

Longshot and Dazzler remain the only two in the room, and incidentally they’re chained to the wall. There seems no hope for them… Mojo’s won. Dazzler remains unconscious and in bad health, which is not good for the baby she carries. As for Longshot, often referred to as the Lucky One… it seems his luck has run out.

“Alison?” Longshot says softly. “Alison, can you hear me?”

No reply. Dazzler remains unconscious, her head drooping downward. Longshot feels weak, helpless… he’s unable to do anything, but maybe someone else can…

A dark hole forms on the floor of the room, and up through it comes Psylocke. ‘Here I am… Mojo’s main control room.’

Psylocke begins to look around the room. She catches sight of her former teammate, Longshot, and rushes to the wall he’s chained to.

Longshot sighs with relief. “Psylocke! You broke free from Mojo! How…?”

Psylocke attempts to break Longshot and Dazzler’s chains off, but to no avail. “It’s a long story, luv… blast, I can’t seem to break these chains off!”

Longshot nods his head to the left. “Over there… the keys are hanging over there.”

Psylocke quickly retrieves the keys and returns to unlock Longshot and Dazzler’s chains. Longshot immediately grabs his wife, and lays her down gently on the floor.

“Alison is pregnant?” Psylocke asks.

Longshot smiles slightly. “Yeah… almost nine months, now.”

“Well, then I guess she won’t be much help in rescuing the others. We should leave her here while we free the other X-Men… Mojo is obviously occupied elsewhere, so he won’t be returning any time soon.”

Longshot is shocked by Psylocke’s comments. ‘What…? Not even a congratulations, or even a hint of concern for Alison’s welfare? What’s going on with Betsy?’

“We can’t just leave her here alone, Betsy! She needs medical attention, who knows what condition her or the baby are in!” Longshot argues.

Psylocke sighs. “Fine… we’ll bring her with us, and once we free the others, we’ll have Hank and Cecilia examine her, but if she slows us down… we’ll have to leave her somewhere safe until we finish our job.”

Longshot picks Dazzler up, and motions for Psylocke to follow him. As he walks, many thoughts run through his mind. ‘I don’t like this one bit… being around Betsy suddenly has me on edge and worried… even a bit scared. She’s a completely different person, cold and seemingly devoid of emotion. I just want to free the X-Men from Mojo, get Alison somewhere safe… and get away from Psylocke.’

Meanwhile, in an entirely different dimension, on an entirely different world known as Earth…

Warren Worthington III first met Jean Grey-Summers the day she joined the X-Men. He was enchanted by her… she was beautiful, intelligent, independent… a diamond in the rough, as far as Warren was concerned. Of course, Jean had her sights set on her current husband, Scott Summers, and he the same. Although Warren and Jean never were involved romantically, they remain good friends to this day.

Right now, Warren’s a very, very concerned friend. Just hours ago, he found Jean lying unconscious on the floor of the Hangar Bay at his Chicago estate. He rushed her to their current location, Loyola University Medical Hospital, as fast as possible. She’s remained unconscious thus far, but is in the capable hands of professional doctors. Now, all that Warren can do is sit by her bedside and wait for her to wake up.

‘I can’t believe all that’s happened in the past couple weeks… Melissa Bennett announces she’ll be trying to take my company away from me, some mysterious woman shows up looking for Scott, Magneto causes a worldwide blackout, the others go off to fight Hazard and disappear in the process, and now Jean’s lying here in a hospital bed… pregnant, no less! I’m glad I decided to stay behind… if I hadn’t, who knows what would have happened to her!’

Warren takes Jean’s hand in his, and kisses it. “C’mon Jean… you have to wake up. For Scott, for the babies you’re carrying… for me…”

Warren closes his eyes and says a prayer… and before he even finishes, his prayers are answered. Jean opens her eyes and moans, “Ooohhh… where am I?”

Warren looks up and sighs with relief. “Jean! You’re awake!”

“Warren, where am I? What’s going on?” Jean asks worriedly.

“I found you passed out on the floor of the Hangar Bay, Jean… we’re at the hospital, and you’re getting the best care possible,” Warren replies. He tilts his head down, reluctant to inform Jean of the other X-Men’s disappearance. “There’s something else…”

Tears begin to roll down Jean’s cheeks. “W-Warren… did something happen? To the others? Are they… are they okay?”

Warren sighs once more, and squeezes Jean’s hand tightly. “I… I don’t…”

“Warren, I’m scared… I can’t sense Scott at all. Our psychic rapport is gone!”

Back on Mojoworld…

“They loved it, Domo, they loved it! Look at the numbers! This is my biggest ratings success ever!” Mojo exclaims, pointing to a screen which displays the ratings of Mojo’s latest feature. “Oh, this is exciting! Maybe I should keep them around for other presentations, at least until the audience gets tired of them…”

“Or maybe you should let them go?”

A dark mass forms near Mojo and Major Domo, who, along with the crowd, looks at it with amazement. Seconds later, Psylocke, Longshot, and the newly-awakened Dazzler rise up out of it, causing Mojo’s jaw to drop to the floor.

“Let the X-Men go, Mojo, or so help me I’ll kill you!” Longshot shouts angrily.

“You tried that already… didn’t work!” Mojo replies in a childish tone. “I should have cancelled you and your girlfriend right when I caught you… I guess I’ll just have to do that now!”

Mojo raises his now-glowing right hand to the trio of mutants before him, preparing to obliterate them with a blast of plasma energy. He almost gets the chance to finish them off, but his hand is shot at with a familiar type of energy… cosmic energy in the form of bright rings.

Everyone turns to the direction from which the blast came, and fixates their eyes on the six figures poised for action. All mutants. All heroes. All… children?

The boy at the head of the group, who wears a black bodysuit, begins to speak. “Hey, doodie-head! You leave ’em alone!”

“You?!” Mojo exclaims. “What are you doing here, you little brats?!”

“Suprised to see us, sugah?” says the chirpy Southern voice of the girl with the white streak in her hair.

Mojo is loosing his patience… all the distractions are delaying his plans. “I don’t believe this! Mayhem, Jeannie, Gumbit, Rouge, Cee-Cee, Pawn… I thought I’d cancelled you once and for all!”

“You wish, fatso!” replies Mayhem, the boy in the black bodysuit. “You should know by now that the X-Babies don’t go down that easily!”

NEXT ISSUE: X-Men: The Movie Part 3! The X-Men’s Mojoworld adventure ends as Psylocke, Longshot, Dazzler, and the X-Babies team up to battle Mojo and break the X-Men free! Will the mighty mutants live long enough to be rescued? And which of the X-Men won’t be going home? Plus: Phoenix receives a letter from an old friend!