The X-men are faced with the challenging task every day of saving a world that hates and fears them. Unfortunately, aside from Magneto and his Brotherhood, there are others out there who believe mutants should be superior to humans.

The Morlocks are a group of mutant refuges who live underground, and believe that mutants need to be separate from those who live on the surface world. One of their former members includes Warren Worthington III, who had lived with them after his parents had thrown him out of his home.

For Warren though, he was quick to realize that the Morlocks' ideals didn't match up to his when they'd made plans to attack Worthington Manor. After realizing their intentions, Warren left. Now, seven years later, the Morlocks had kidnapped Warren as a misguided attempt at having their revenge. Among these mutants includes Ororo Munroe's younger cousin, Evan "Spyke" Daniels.

When the X-men go down to the sewers to save their friend, they are faced with an ultimate battle against the Morlocks. Unfortunately, this leads to Morlocks member, the Beautiful Dreamer, manipulating the mind of Jean Grey and making her remember the most traumatic memories she'd ever faced in her life. Fortunately, Ororo Munroe proved to successfully battle Morlocks leader, Callisto, in a duel, forcing a peace treaty between the Morlocks and the X-men.

Now, the X-men focus on recovering whichever way they can. However, the most concerning is the mental state of Jean, who is still traumatized upon being forced to relive her most painful memories.

Issue 30: Make Me Feel Better

X-Corporation Tower – Convalescence Room

To say that the night for Warren Worthington III had grown tumultuous was quite the understatement. Never did he ever think that he'd be kidnapped by former friends, kicked around, beaten and spat on in a sewer of all places.

Laying there in a hospital bed in the convalescence room after being examined by Hank and Cecilia, Warren was lucky to only have a few deep cuts and scratches that needed stitches, and four cracked ribs as well as two bruised ones. He knew that the Morlocks fought dirty. That was a given. He'd been witnessed to their extremist behavior back when he was sixteen. He couldn't believe that he thought he could reason with them, especially Berserker and Scaleface and Caliban. Though to be fair, reason was never their strongest suit; moreover, he learned on the plane ride home that Spyke was Ororo's cousin. He never thought in a million years that that would be the case.

Warren was on pain meds, not deep enough to make him sleep, but enough to numb the pain that he was in. Looking over at the clock, he saw that it was eleven-thirty at night, close to midnight. He knew he should probably sleep, but he couldn't bring himself to despite how tired his mind was. He'd wanted to pass out the whole time the Morlocks had stood there torturing him just for their own sick fun. However, to hear that Ororo had dueled Callisto and had won was quite the surprise. On a good day, nobody in their right mind would challenge Callisto like that. The fact that Storm did, and she won too, that was a surprise.

'Damn Storm . . . the fact that you can earn Callisto's respect like that, and you've barely been part of the X-men for two weeks . . . I commend you,' he thought, taking a deep breath, but he regretted it, as it caused his ribs to sting slightly. 'I just cannot believe with Callisto . . . that at age sixteen, I'd trusted her the way that I did at first . . .'

Closing his eyes, Warren decided now would be the time that he made the attempt to rest his exhausted body and mind. He knew that he'd be out of the Danger Room for a while at least until his ribs healed, and that Logan wasn't going to be very happy about it. That was especially since he was tough on all of them.

However, as he closed his eyes, he couldn't help but worry about and think about Jean, who had gotten hit hard by memories of her past thanks to Sonya forcing her to remember. Sonya must have done it unexpectedly, because according to Scott, Jean had gone pale and into a cold sweat and was crying. Obviously, she'd had a panic attack, which concerned Warren because he knew what an emotional person Jean was especially when it came to her past with her parents and siblings. Warren viewed Jean as his little sister, and hated the idea of anything or anyone hurting her.

"Jean," he said out loud, sighing heavily. "God . . . what she had to go through tonight. I wouldn't wish that upon anyone."

Jean's Room

For the past couple of hours, Jean was just sitting up on her bed, changed into her comfortable sleeping clothes but finding that she was hardly able to sleep. She'd tossed and turned around in her bed for about twenty minutes or so when she'd first lied down, trying to relax. But, her encounter with the Beautiful Dreamer down in the sewers had shaken her so badly she couldn't bring herself to.

'Why did this have to happen? Why me?' she thought as she tightened her arms around knees.

The tears threatened to creep down from her eyes again as she thought back to what the Beautiful Dreamer had made her see: being taken back to the time where she'd lost her family when she was six. She remembered back when she'd first awoke from her coma. At first, she'd been catatonic; the doctors had thought her to be autistic especially after she'd destroyed the hospital with telekinesis. She'd heard everything at once. It had terrified her deeply. She'd remained catatonic for about a day but, then she had started to speak.

However, the doctors at the hospital she was in had decided to send her to Mangold where she was briefly reunited with her identical twin sister, Madelyne. They both barely lasted two weeks in there before she was transferred to Morrison Mental Institution. Needing to hear the crazed thoughts of so many people had caused her powers to get so screwed up. She knew that if the professor hadn't placed mental blocks on her telepathy and telekinesis, there was no possibility she'd be able to control it. She would have gone insane.

Jean's tears finally spilled over as she got up to just stand outside on the balcony. She shook her head to try and clear it.

'I can't believe how out of control I was back there,' she thought as tears poured down from her eyes. 'I-I have to be in control. After so many years of not having any, now is my opportunity to be in control of my powers. I-I can't believe that I was so weak back there.'

She soon enough felt Scott's presence behind her.

"You okay?" he asked her.

She shook her head. "No," she said to him. "It's just . . . I couldn't believe that I was so out of control from my body like that earlier. I-I need to get it back."

"You've got it back," Scott assured her, going over to Jean to rub her shoulders comfortingly.

"Now . . . but when I was down there in the sewer, I-I'd felt so out of it . . . I just . . . I just thought after I was out of the mental hospital that that wouldn't happen again. If the professor hadn't blocked my powers, I would've lost my sanity, no doubt," Jean explained, the tears rolling down her face. She turned her head into Scott's chest. She felt him slowly rocking her to appease her.

"Hey, easy . . . we all slip up and make mistakes. That's why we're here. We're here to learn to get in control and make sure that that doesn't happen," Scott assured her.

"Yeah, but this wasn't me. It-It was somebody else who got into my head," Jean said, sniffling. "I-I don't like that feeling . . . it makes me feel as though I cannot trust anybody . . ."

"Then trust me," Scott told her, stroking her hair.

Jean just nodded her head. "You know . . . before I'd got admitted into a mental hospital, when I first woke from my coma, the doctors at first misdiagnosed me as autistic. I wasn't speaking at all that first day when I awoke. I wasn't responding to anything at all. When I'd finally spoken, it was twenty-four hours later, but part of the reason why I first didn't speak was because my powers had flared so badly. I'd demolished my hospital room into nothing but oblivion.

"After I'd started talking asking where my brothers and sisters were, the hospital had already decided to place me in Mangold. And then I saw my identical twin there . . . I'd honestly felt so relieved that I wasn't alone. But then we got separated and I was sent to Morrison . . . hearing everything in there, it scared the shit out of me; I had never felt so alone, because at least in Mangold I had had my sister at my side," she sobbed as Scott squeezed his arms around her a little bit tighter.

"Shhhh . . . it's gonna be okay. Jean, I know it's hard," Scott whispered. He continued to just stand there, holding her tightly against him as he rocked her gently, stroking her hair to comfort her. He knew how Jean felt.

He'd been separated from his own brother too. The last that he had heard from his little brother, Alex's foster parents were getting harassed by neighbors for having a mutant for a son. The whole situation for Alex was horrible; meanwhile, Scott was living in X-Corporation Tower which was owned by Tony Stark. But that didn't mean Scott had a silver spoon in his mouth by any means. He had to work for everything and he had to earn everything, including his future job position.

"Do you want me to stay with you until you fall asleep?" he offered Jean.

Jean nodded into his chest. She felt Scott kissing the top of her head as he guided her back over to bed. He laid her on top of the sheets and climbed into the bed beside her, his arms encircled around her in a comforting embrace, stroking her long, red hair.

"It's going to be okay," he repeated her to her gently as Jean's breathing slowed. Jean curled her head further into Scott's chest, truly believing his words as he caressed her hair.

X-Corporation Tower – Kitchen

'Wow . . . mutants in the sewers. Now I've seen it all,' thought Bobby Drake as he sat up at the kitchen table in X-Corporation. Having found it hard to sleep after witnessing everything that had happened down in the Morlock tunnels, he'd thought that maybe a midnight snack of milk and cookies could help.

As he sat there, nibbling at an Oreo, his thoughts drifted to the conversation they had had with Storm's cousin, Spyke. The idea that Ororo's cousin had run away from home because of his mutation made Bobby's chest ache. After his own parents had found out about is mutation, he'd considered running away. It had been the most humiliating experience of his life when his parents had learned of his mutation. However, he knew he'd have to confront his parents and face them eventually. That didn't mean he was looking forward to the idea of having that conversation with his family.

As far as Bobby knew, his family was slowly beginning to sever communications with him. He couldn't remember the last time they had spoken on the phone and actually had a deep conversation. Now, the only communication that he was having with his parents was through text messages. It only added to the feelings of loneliness that settled there.

Yes, he knew that he had friends who could act as family. But the idea of his blood-related family disowning him hurt. He wasn't sure if he was even close to being disowned. His parents were being so ambiguous that it was leaving him in a state of confusion.

As Bobby sat there, he could feel the presence of Storm near him. Even though Storm had only been part of the X-men for a short while, as far as Bobby and Jean and Scott were concerned, she was part of the family.

"Couldn't sleep?" she asked him softly as she pulled up a chair.

"Yeah," Bobby whispered. "I just – I was thinking about Spyke, your cousin."

"Quite ironic we were thinking the same thing," Ororo said sadly. "I never knew that he was a mutant. Ever. I did however know my aunt and uncle were hard on him growing up."

"Can't be any harder than my parents," Bobby whispered bitterly, as though the words were poison on his tongue. "I'm convinced my parents hate me."

"I'm sure that they don't," Ororo said quietly.

"No, you don't know my family, Storm," Bobby said quietly as his eyes misted over with unshed tears. "So, just do me a favor . . . be there for Spyke, because whether he wants to admit it or not, he needs you."

"Was already planning on that, Bobby," Ororo said quietly, reaching over to squeeze his hand in her own as they sat there in solemn silence together.

The Brotherhood House – Anna-Marie's Room

Over the course of the past four months or so, ever since the X-men have exposed themselves to the world, life for Anna-Marie D'Ancanto seemingly felt lonelier as time went on. Sitting up in her bedroom in the Brotherhood House, alone with just Mystique acting as her surrogate, adoptive mother, she suddenly missed the house being full. Mystique's girlfriend/partner, Destiny, spent many nights there frequently.

According to Mystique, Magneto who had founded the Brotherhood was one step closer to conquering the island of Genosha, which he was going to make into a safe haven of sorts. While Anna-Marie was more than happy to have the thought of having a safe place to live, she was also still hesitant about what it was that she was doing. According to Mystique, her 'most important mission of her life' was coming right around the corner, sooner than she could ever imagine. She understood that the Brotherhood's prison transfer was right around the corner. If Mystique meant that, then that meant Raven was putting a lot of faith in her.

Anna-Marie laid there on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Suddenly, she heard the front door open. That meant Mystique was back.

"Mamma?" Rogue asked quietly.

"I'm home, Anna-Marie," Raven said, coming up the stairs to sit with her adoptive 'daughter.' "Hello, dear," she said. "How're you doing?"

"Ah'm doing okay," Anna-Marie said.

"Well, Rogue, as you know, the Brotherhood is about to get transferred to Rikers. It'll be happening sooner than we all think, and by that, I mean exactly a week from now," Raven told her surrogate daughter. "When the time comes, you will know, because that's the time that I am going to need you the most, Anna-Marie."

"Of course, Mama," the meek teenager said. She was about to turn seventeen in about a month from now, and she knew that if Mystique wanted her for something, then it must've been something important.

Raven didn't tell her a lot, but she kept telling Anna-Marie she'd know when the time came. What that meant exactly, the teen wasn't quite sure.

But she did know she wanted nothing more than please Raven, because she felt she owed Mystique something in return for taking her in. Nevertheless, that did not mean that the naïve teenager didn't have her hesitations about everything that she did. However, she was slowly but surely starting to throw her hesitation out the window as she slowly grew more confident. She was becoming a lot less meek and becoming more herself again: sassy, confident and flirtatious, because Raven had been helping her boost her self-esteem again.

"Now, I want to continue with your training tomorrow, because soon enough, the day will come, and the world will know of the Brotherhood's rogue recruit," Mystique said with a confident smile on her face. She felt nothing but pride in her 'daughter,' because she watched over the course of five months as Rogue grew stronger and tougher. "But, so far, I'm proud of what you'd managed to accomplish, Rogue."

"Thank you," Anna-Marie replied around a smile.

Up next: The Unstoppable Juggernaut