#92
*(Uncanny #372)
"Peter, Kurt, Ororo, come here!"
Peter turned his head. "Katya!" he cried. He ran out of the room. When he go to the foyer, he saw Kurt and Ororo coming in and Kitty standing in front of the door. Peter stopped in his tracks as he saw who was at the door.
"Wolverine?! But I was just in your room talking to you!"
Ororo ran to the wall and flipped the comm switch. "X-Men, be alert. We have a crisis on our hands! You must keep Wolverine contained at all costs!"
Wolverine hobbled in. "Thanks, 'Ro," he said before collapsing into Kitty's arms.
Suddenly, the clothes of all the X-Men present shifted to become their uniforms.* Peter morphed into his metallic counterpart of Colossus.
*(thanks to the unstable molecules which make up the clothes)
"Kurt," Kitty said, "teleport Logan to a couch."
Nightcrawler ran over and grabbed Wolverine. In a flash of sulfur and brimstone, he disappeared. The remaining X-Men ran upstairs.
"Nice to see your white uniform, Storm*," Kitty commented.
*(Storm stopped wearing her white uniform c. Uncanny X-Men #325. Since then, she's been wearing a purple uniform.)
As the trio reached Wolverine's room, they saw Gambit, Rogue and Marrow coming from the other side in full battle gear. Just then "Wolverine" burst through the door. He put his arms out.
"Stop!" he shouted. "If you kill me, then your planet will be invaded!"
"Who said we were going to kill you?" Colossus asked.
The false Wolverine ran back through the room and jumped through the window.
"Gambit, Rogue, Marrow, and Colossus, follow him!" Storm commanded. She turned to Kitty. "Kitty, you and I will join Kurt in contacting the other X-Men."
"Do you really think it's that bad?"
"I don't know."
"Scott?" Jean asked.
"Yes, hon."
"How come every time we finally get settled down, we're called back to the X-Men?"
"It's called life."
Just then the plane rocked. Babies started crying and there were some shouts form the back of the plane.
The attendant's voice came over the radio. "Please stay calm. That was just some minor turbulence. All will be fine in a few-"
If she finished, nobody could hear her because the power had cut off. People were screamed. The plane was darkened. Then, it began to descend rapidly.
"Jean, your telekinesis," Scott whispered.
Then, a burst of harmless flame shot through the cabin.
"No!" Jean shouted.
"What is it?" Scott asked.
The answer came over the psychic rapport he shared with Jean. {The Phoenix!}
"That's impossible!"
Jean cried out.
"Jean!" Scott shouted. "Jean!"
No answer.
Meanwhile, the plane turned up a little bit. Scott recognized it as a telekinetic lift.
{Jean, are you doing that?} Scott asked over the psychic rapport.
No answer. The cabin was illuminated in a fiery glow and Scott felt the psychic rapport suddenly break off.
"No!" he yelled as the plane crashed into the ground. Fortunately, someone had provided a telekinetic cushion.
Scott lifted the ruby quartz visor that held back his eye beams and blasted out the window beside him. He crawled out and saw that the other passengers were climbing off safely.
He walked a few steps away, his shoes crunching in the snow. He heard a ringing. It was his cell phone.
"Scott Summers speaking."
"Scott, thank God I found you. Where are you?" Scott recognized the voice as Kitty Pryde's.
"Somewhere in Canada."
"How soon can you get here?"
"I don't know, the plane just crashed."
"Where's Jean?"
"I don't know. My psychic rapport with Jean was broken."
"How did anyone survive?"
"Telekinetic cushion."
"Jean?"
"No."
Suddenly, the phone cut out. Scott tried to resume the conversion, but was unsuccessful. Finally, he closed the phone and put it back in his coat pocket.
"Cyclops!" someone shouted.
Scott turned around. "Cable!" he said, acknowledging his son.
Cable ran up.
"What are you doing here?" Scott asked.
"The X-Men called me in. I was in the area."
"The X-Men called you?"
"Yeah. They found an imposter. And something about Charles acting strangely."
"So how are we going to get to New York?"
Bishop climbed out. The first thing he saw was a sign reading:
WELCOME TO GENOSHA
ALL MUTANTS WELCOMED
BY SUPREME RULER
"Oh, man!"
To his dismay, he found that he had fallen asleep. The monster was chasing him again. Almost everything was like the first dream. He had mobility, but now, as the monster came closer, his face appeared. As Xavier saw the face he gasped.
"Wolverine!" he shouted.
Wolverine was now taller than Xavier, taller than any man. He reached up to his mask, as if to pull it off. But instead of just removing his mask, his entire face came off, leaving a blank face. The faceless Wolverine then bent down, as if to pick Xavier up.
Before Xavier could scream, the X-Men came and attacked the faceless monster. The real Wolverine came over and helped Xavier up.
"It's okay," Wolverine said. "We're here."
"Yes," Xavier whispered.
Meanwhile, the X-Men seemed to be winning against the imposter. However, just as they had begun to overcome him, a strange bird of fire flew around them.
"The Phoenix!" Xavier cried out.
The Phoenix entity flew around the X-Men a few times before finally attacking them. When she was done, all of the X-Men were lying on the ground, dead or dying.
The Phoenix then landed in front of Xavier and looked at Wolverine, who was standing behind Xavier. Suddenly, Wolverine's eyes grew wide out of fear, and he scampered away, like a scared puppy. Phoenix turned her attention back to Xavier.
"Charles Xavier," it said. "Your time is up!"
Then, in the midst of the fire entity, a body took form. It resembled Jean Grey-Summers', but the eyes were completely white, no pupils at all. She had an evil smile on her face. "Good-bye, teacher."
"Jean, NO!" Xavier shouted.
Jean-Phoenix raised her left hand, and a burst of energy came out, striking at Xavier.
Xavier shouted as he woke up. {Storm,} he thought, {come here, I need you!}
*(Uncanny X-Men #100-101, Classic X-Men #8)
The Phoenix had taken her. She didn't know why, but she intended to find out.
{Don't try to resist.} a voice told Jean. {I am in control.}
{Get out of my head!} Jean shouted. {Get out of my body! Return me to my husband!}
At that moment, she realized that her psychic rapport with Scott was gone. It was going to be a long adventure.
Forge was in the main room of the suite, tinkering with a small gadget when he heard the knock on the door. He looked up and put the gadget down on the coffee table. "I'll be right there!" he shouted.
Forge stood up and walked to the door. When he opened it, he was surprised to see Val and Lorna.
"Val! Lorna! Please come in. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" Forge exclaimed.
Val walked in and stated bluntly, "Government business."
"Oh, no. I don't want in."
"Forge, you don't even know what the business is," Lorna pleaded.
"Maybe we should go sit and make ourselves comfortable," Val said, walking into the room where Forge had been sitting minutes before. Forge and Lorna followed. Forge sat back down on the sofa in front of the gadget he was working on. Lorna sat on the other side, and Val sat in the chair that faced them both.
"So, what's this government business that needs me," Forge said.
"The President wants a new mutant strike force," Val explained. "Basically, he wants to reform X-Factor."
"Reform X-Factor?" Forge asked. "What does that have to do with me?"
"We thought that you could help us form a team," Lorna said. "Will you?"
Forge was silent for a moment, thinking. Finally he gave an answer. "Yes. I will help you."
"Great!" Lorna said.
"So who should we get on this team?" Val asked.
"Well, maybe we could call Maggott. He left the X-Men recently* . . . "
*(Uncanny #360)
"Professor," she asked, "is there something I can do for you?"
"Where's Scott and Jean?"
"They should be on a plane from Alaska. Kitty should know for sure."
{Kitty} Xavier thought. {Do you know where Scott and Jean are?}
{Oh, no! I forgot to tell someone!} Kitty thought back. {Their plane crashed, and Jean is missing. Scott's trying to find a way here. Before I could find anything else out, his phone went dead.}
Storm, who had heard all of this in her head as well said, "Oh, no. Not again. Why can't they find peace in this world?"
Xavier broke contact with Shadowcat. He was silent for a minute. "The reason I called you up here," he said, "was because I had a dream - more like a nightmare - where Jean became the Phoenix again."
"No!" Storm gasped.
"We must find her! And Scott as well!"
"Cable, can you send a telepathic call to the X-Men?" Scott asked.
"I don't think my powers can reach that far," Cable replied. "But I'll try."
"Dis is a los' cause, anyway," Gambit said. "Let's go back in."
"I have to agree with you, Gambit," Colossus replied, heading toward the mansion.
When they got back in, Colossus walked to the War Room, where Shadowcat was calling the other X-Men.
"Peter!" Kitty exclaimed. "Did ya get him?"
Colossus reverted back to his human self and shook his head. "Nyet," he answered. "So, we came back in."
They heard a beeping noise come from the console in front of Kitty.
"What is that, Katya?" Peter asked.
"That's the alarm to tell us where the imposter . . . is . . . " She slowed down and stopped speaking. When she realized where he was, her eyes grew wide.
*(Wolverine wore a blue and black variant of his uniform while trapped in the past during Wolverine #141-143)
He looked in the closet and found his uniform made of unstable molecules. He put it on and instantly the uniform changed into civilian clothes. Logan was now wearing jeans and a simple black shirt. As he closed the closet door, he saw the imposter standing behind it, now in Wolverine's yellow and blue uniform.
"The legendary Wolverine," the imposter said. "It's been fun to play ya."
"What d' ya want with me?" Logan asked.
"I was you. I fooled the X-Men for two weeks while you were trapped in the past.*"
*(X-Men #90, Wolverine #141-143)
"But why did ya become me?"
"Very simple, 'bub.' Someone needed to infiltrate your team, so we could conquer your stupid planet easily!"
"But why th' X-Men?" Logan asked. "Why not th' Avengers or th' Fantastic Four?"
"Because," the imposter said, coming closer. "You were the ones that destroyed our homeworld.*" With that, his facial features changed to become that of a Skrull's.
*(a twisted account of X-Men #90)
"Yer wrong, bub," Logan said, popping his claws out. "We tried to save yer miserable world. It was Galactus who destroyed it!"
"Liar!" the Skrull shouted, as he popped out his own set of claws and lunged at Wolverine.
Both fell to the floor, with the Skrull on top, trying to slash Logan's face. But Logan turned to the side, causing the Skrull to get knocked off balance and fall on the floor. Logan moved over to where the window was before the imposter broke it earlier in the day and shifted the molecules of his uniform to make his blue stealth uniform. The Skrull stood up. He saw Wolverine and began to charge at him. Wolverine had been anticipating this move all along, and moved to the side as the Skrull leapt at him. However, he didn't move far enough, so the Skrull was able to maneuver himself to take Wolverine out with him.
As they fell through the window, Colossus (who had reverted back to his metal form) and Gambit ran into the room. They looked out the hole and saw the two Wolverines fighting.
"Which one d'we take out?" Gambit asked.
Colossus looked down and pointed. "See the one that looks like a Skrull?"
Gambit nodded.
"I would guess that he is the one we should take out."
"Good observation."
Meanwhile, down on the ground, Wolverine had the imposter pinned down. He was on top, with his claws holding the Skrull's arms down.
"Oooh! Good move!" the Skrull said with a smile. "Just keep me here!"
"Why?" Wolverine shouted.
"Because, I can manipulate the different types of energy in the ground. Hold me down much longer, we'll go boom!"
Just then, Wolverine heard a familiar noise. He looked up and saw Gambit charging one of his trading cards up. Gambit's arm was coming back.
"Cajun! NO!" Wolverine shouted as Gambit threw the card.
The card full of kinetic energy landed on the ground beside the Skrull, right on the pinnacle of the energy.
BOOM!