In the next moment several things happened. From a large plume of smoke Nightcrawler, Armor, and Triage leapt into action behind Kitty and Scott. Mercury dropped from her hiding place in the ceiling and reared up as tall as she could make herself. By fate or by chance, Wolverine corkscrewed through a window in the front of the facility and rolled into formation beside Emma and Rachel. The creature loosed a terrible crimson blast of energy at the nine mutants, and Hisako surged forward. Her armor blazed to life around her, giving her the size and sturdiness to tank the hit form the monstrosity and shatter every window in the lobby.
Scott felt a large hand grab his. "You might need these," Kurt said as he placed something in Scott's hand. "I thought I'd bring them along just in case."
Smiling, he closed his eyes, removed the brace once again, and with a well-practiced motion opened the case and put on his trusty red glasses. He took a brief moment to be overwhelmed by the return of his sight; he looked at the chaos unfolding around him, then to a smiling Kurt, then to Emma, then to his daughter, who was shouting out to her friends. Her teammates. Then finally to the man who brought them all together.
"Welcome back, Mr. Summers," Nathan said, projecting over the din of the fight. "Or do you prefer 'Cyclops,' perhaps?"
Chris squinted as he scoped out Essex. "What's with Mr. Sinister over here?"
"Mister... Sinister..." Essex turned the words over in his mouth with a pleased grin. "I rather like that."
Cyclops turned to the boy. "He's the one behind all this, kid. Kidnapping, illegal experimentation, torture. He's the full package."
"If history need remember me for only the 'sinister' parts of my plan, so be it. The ends I work towards are worth more than one man's name."
"The ends you work towards will bring ruin to an entire group of people," Scott shouted as he fired a blast at the giant bearing down on Armor.
The creature was unphased, only glowing slightly brighter as it readied another beam attack. Wolverine gave up jabbing its legs with her claws and instead rushed Essex. The creature seemed to have enough intelligence to recognize who its master was however, and aimed right at the girl.
The ground suddenly went sideways underneath of Laura, at least until she realized it was her who had been suddenly shoved off course by Kitty colliding with her. She was about to voice her anger with the teacher for stopping her from getting Essex when the universe around her turned red. For a few incredible seconds they hung in the air as the beam passed through them. It wasn't hot. More like... tingly. Laura felt her back teeth go numb. Then the redness stopped, and they hit the ground with a thud.
"I know, I know. Healing factor," Kitty wheezed. But I don't have time for you to sleep it off right now."
"This is a mess, eh?" Wolverine peered up at the battlefield. They were laying in a deep gulch carved into the floor by Essex's monster. The man himself was nowhere to be found, likely making his escape.
"Would you think less of me if I said we should cut our losses and get out of here? We have Cyclops and Frost, that should be enough to get the FBI invested. Or, I don't know, Scotland Yard?"
"Scotland Yard isn't actually in Scotland."
"Look, I can't babysit everyone. Let's go. Rachel!"
Ms. Pryde?
Spread the word. We have what we came for. Let's go home.
Thunder crashed in the clouds as the X-Men ran from the facility, the creature stalking behind them. Kurt popped Emma back to the Blackbird, then Chris, then Mercury. The others did what they could to stop it.
"It's Shadowcat, right?" Scott's voice cut through the storm. Got another plan. This one's a bit more... stupid. But Kurt needs to get everyone out of here if it's gonna work."
"What's your play?"
"This thing absorbs my optic blasts. If it draws its energy from the same source I do, I can overload it. And hopefully not kill the person inside. Hopefully."
"Did you hear that, Nightcrawler?"
The fuzzy blue mutant was huffing as he ported back. "Jawohl. Let's do two at a time now. I'm running out of steam."
As he took Amor and Wolverine back to the jet, Cyclops removed his glasses and unloaded on the shambling glassy lump.
A security team escorted Essex to the roof where their helicopter, SX-2, was landed. "We have to get you out before the storm gets any worse, sir!"
As they ascended, Nathan held for them to pause over the scene. A stream of concussive force poured from Scott Summers's eyes into his creation, charging it with ever more light. The two young women behind him disappeared as the blue demon grabbed them, and his two Cyclopes were all alone.
The demonic creature appeared once more, obviously pleading his comrade to return to wherever the intruders came from. But suddenly a pinpoint of white light appeared on the creation's back. Then another. Then with a sound like splitting rock a fissure of energy ripped from the center. It cleaved the tail off of the helicopter and sent it careening downward. The impact also jostled Nathan from the vehicle, launching him through the air to a very hard landing. The last thing he remembered seeing was the glow of thrusters from a vanishing plane...
Some time later, the mutants were recuperating back at the Xavier Mansion.
Scott was in the library when Kurt walked in, a glass of water in each hand.
"Agent Blaire got her warrant approved. Essex has a small island in the Mediterranean. It will take time to muster international law enforcement though, so we'll be leading the charge. Just like old times, eh Scott?"
"Not exactly, Elf. Look where we are. Kitty Pryde, all grown up and leading the X-Men. My kid, training her psychic powers. Xavier..."
"Have you been down to see the stone?"
"Not yet. Not ready."
"That's fair. You and Miss Frost have been through a lot."
Scott turned his head with the barest of motions. "It's not what you think, Kurt."
"I don't pretend to think anything."
"I was so... broken, after I lost Jean. It was nice to forget for a little while. But I lost sight of the things that mattered. I wanted to go back to take care of Rachel, my last gift from the woman I loved. And then we were taken by Essex."
"Tell me, do you love Emma Frost?"
"I... I do."
"Then that's all that matters. Rachel is hurt right now, and that's going to be your responsibility to fix. But all she really wants is her family back. She spent the first two months here looking for remnants of her mother. When she's ready, you'll see."
Emma emerged from the bathroom. It had taken some doing but Kitty was able to find something in the woman's size. Fortunately, the Professor held onto the belongings Storm left behind.
"It's hard to wrap my head around," Kitty said staring at her.
"Seeing me here, in the mansion," Emma filled in the blanks.
"No, seeing you fully dressed. I figured you ran around in that corset 24/7."
Emma frowned. "You really do think the worst of me."
"What else am I supposed to think of you?" Kitty said with a bit of anger. "For most of my teenage years you were my definition of evil, and you haven't moved far down the list since then. You blew up my house, and you put people - fellow mutants! - in cages."
The White Queen looked down. "Yes... yes I did. I did a number of terrible things for the Hellfire Club, and I did them of my own volition. And I left the Club of my own volition as well."
"What changed?" Kitty was now at least genuinely curious.
Emma laughed coldly. "In the right mood I would say that I did, but the truth isn't so noble. I was a valuable asset to the Inner Circle, but I was still a mutant. One day it grew apparent that I was little more than a swinging lamp in their interrogation room. Just another tool. So... I left. My power had grown since that battle with Jean that day you helped the X-Men escape. I covered my tracks with some mental cues and walked out the door, my old colleagues none the wiser."
"And then you met Scott."
"He was in London," she smiled softly. "Pouring over documents related to the Convergence of Worlds. Things were... tense between us at first. But once he realized I really wasn't part of Hellfire anymore, he let me join him. A psychic could be valuable in finding another psychic."
Kitty was silent for a moment. "But you never did find her."
"I have no idea what became of Jean Grey," she shook her head sadly. "I fear she's no longer with us."
"And then what happened?"
"After that... we were two people, alone in the world with naught but each other. It was around that point that my secondary mutation developed. I've... evolved, Miss Pryde," she said as she turned her hand to diamond. "Inside as well as out, I'd like to think. I love him. Do you understand?"
Kitty stood up. "Understand is one thing. If Scott helped you turn your life around, that's wonderful. But that doesn't give you a free pass. I don't see how I could ever trust you. Not that that's even the point. Mine isn't the trust you need to win."
Emma sighed. "Rachel."
Nathan felt as though he was totally weightless. Mute to the world around him, he watched with amusement as doctors and aides fluttered around his stretcher in a panic. He extended an arm to get someone's attention.
"Mr. Essex!" A female scientist saw him and cried out. She sounded like she was speaking through a glass jar. "Paramedics are inbound to get you to the hospital. Try not to move."
"There is no need, doctor," Nathan spoke lucidly. "My day to die is not today. Essex Corporation holds mankind's keys to the future. It's time I walked through that door. Put me in the suit."
"The BiOS suit is untested. It will kill you."
"Not if we use the cocktail I've been working on. Is it risky? Yes. But our humanity cannot be ascended without... risk."
Emma and Scott took their drinks to the living room, where the students were gathered waiting for Kitty. An icy stare from Rachel told Scott he should perhaps pick a different couch.
The others had heard bits and pieces of what was going on with the girl, but the situation was still rather awkward.
"You're just in time," muttered Rachel. She didn't look at either of the adults. "We were just talking about how you need to do your orientations."
Scott tilted his head. "Orientation?"
"New Student Orientation," Laura said. "We're gonna make it a thing."
"We go around in a circle and say our names and powers," Cecily explained. "For example, my name is Cecily, and my body is made of liquid metal. My codename is Mercury."
"I'm Hisako, I make energy armor, which is why I'm called... Armor. It's impermeable to most things, but not to Adamantium."
"I'm Laura, and I'm how Hisako found out her armor wasn't impermeable to Adamantium. Call me Wolverine."
"There's more of them," Emma whispered.
"Was that you volunteering to go next?" Laura asked.
"Oh, ah, yes. My name is Emma Frost, and I'm a telepath. I can also turn my body to diamond."
And you used to be a supervillain named the White Queen, Rachel's voice rang in her mind.
"Name's Chris," the boy continued. "I can heal with my hands, and I call myself Triage."
"And I'm Rachel Grey. The Phoenix."
Scott grimaced and buried his head in his hands.
"Oh wait, we almost left out Mr. Summers," Chris exclaimed.
"Hm? Oh. Hello everyone. I'm Scott. I used to lead the X-Men as Cyclops. My eyes are portals to a dimension of pure energy, which is projected outward when I open them."
Everyone was silent for a moment.
"Okay, but really," Chris said at length.
Lab techs and physicians alike were sweating bullets as Essex's heart rate surged inside the BiOS Chamber. It wasn't because no one really thought the prothesis meant to divide the burden of the gene transplant would work. It wasn't because they had never attempted the procedure on a subject with several broken bones and ruptured blood vessels. It was because Essex refused anaesthetic prior to the test, and had not stopped talking since he entered the chamber. His voice roared ever louder as current coursed through the apparatus, a mad sermon about symbiosis and shedding the 'chains of DNA,' until at last the fuses blew and the room fell into a blue haze. Through the smoke of the opening chamber came the voice of their benefactor.
"I emerge, my friends. Rejoice, for I have ascended! No longer human. No longer shackled to that base plane of existing. No longer Nathan Essex."
He emerged from the smoke. Everyone gasped. Some screamed. None could form any words.
"Speechless," Sinister grinned. "As I said, Doctor, today is not my day to die. Now ready something that can still fly. I have prepare for my guests."
Kitty entered carrying a stack of clothes, Lockheed on her shoulder. The dragon would be accompanying the team for the final assault.
"Good," Laura stood when she saw the teacher. "Was getting antsy waiting. Let's go get him."
Emma raised an eyebrow. "You're going back out there?"
"We're the X-Men," Hisako said. "We have to save the world."
"Even if we don't really know how yet," Chris finished.
"Then we're coming with you," Emma looked at Scott, who nodded. He had asuvh a reason as she did to want a piece of Essex.
"Well you can't stay here, that's for sure." She deposited some of the clothes in Scott's lap, then Emma's. "But you'll need these first."
Emma unfolded the garment. "Are these?"
"Team uniforms. Welcome to the X-Men, Ms. Frost. Hope you survive the experience."