In the back of the plane, the Brotherhood was starting to panic.
"What's goin' on?" Toad asked, frightened.
"The plane's gonna crash!" shouted Lance.
Toad did the one thing he could think of: he began screaming.
"AAAAAAHHHH!!! AAAAAAHHHH!!!"
Wanda smacked him. "Get ahold of yourself!" she shouted, and went to strap herself in.
"Wanda, wait!" Toad cried. "I don't wanna die without seein' your pretty face one last time!"
"Not now, Toad!" she yelled back.
"Man, I shoulda knew it was too good to be true!" he muttered and braced himself for the inevitable impact.
The plane was now falling through the sky at a dangerous angle. At this rate, they would suffer a nose-first impact and would all be killed. Back up front, Jean strained to slow the plane's descent with her telekinetic powers. At the last moment, she managed to force the plane's nose up just enough so that they could crash-land safely.
The plane hit the ground hard, belly first, and began to slide down the streets of the city. Despite being secured, the X-Men and the Brotherhood were still thrown around inside the plane.
The plane skidded and rotated around as it slid, slowly losing momentum. After what seemed like an eternity, it finally came to a stop. The mutants quickly unbuckled themselves and opened the hatch manually, and saw the carnage that waited for them outside.
The city looked like war zone. Windows were broken up and down the streets and several small fires were burning. Looking behind them, they saw a long trail of shredded asphalt and pavement from where the jet had skidded across the ground.
"What happened?" asked Scott.
"That was an electromagnetic pulse," said Xavier. "It's disrupted power throughout the city, with cataclysmic results," He had switched his wheelchair to manual control and pushed himself down the ramp of the jet.
The X-Men walked out into the demolished street and headed for the power plant, hoping to find some trace of Electra. The morning skies overhead were dark with smoke, appearing as a ghastly mix of orange, black, and gray.
X
Simons sat up slowly, rubbing his head. "What happened?" he asked. Then he saw the destruction around him. "My god!" he shouted.
Looking around, he saw Xavier and the X-Men approaching. "They must have done this somehow," he said to Jan. They got up and ran up to Xavier.
"What have your people done?" Simons shouted hysterically. "This city is in ruins thanks to you!"
"Agent Simons!" Xavier shouted back. "We are NOT responsible for what has happened here. We were trying to reach Electra before something like this happened to her,"
"Well you're obviously too late! And how do you account for reports of mutants assaulting the workers inside that power plant?"
"Agent Simons, all of my people are standing here before you right now. Magneto is responsible for all of this damage, not Electra,"
"Electra! So you admit you DO know about what's become of this girl!"
"We've discovered a few more things since you so cordially visited us back in Bayville, if that's what you mean," said Storm.
"I find it highly unusual that you and Magneto are both trying to find this girl. If you ask me, I'd say you were working together! Why are you so eager to find her, anyway?"
"Agent, there is no time to explain this to you right now. You must trust me when I say that my intentions for finding Electra and Magneto's are different. Now, please move aside so we can handle this situation,"
"I'm not letting you people go anywhere!" Simons shouted. "There's no telling how much more damage you could cause!"
"Agent Simons, I'm afraid I'm going to insist that we be allowed to deal with this situation. We are much more capable of handling this than you are," replied Xavier as he calmly raised his hands to his temples, preparing to reinforce his suggestion with some psychic energy.
Simons saw Xavier's hands moving and pulled out his gun. He flipped the safety off and aimed right at Xavier's chest. "Put your hands down, right now!" he screamed. "I've been reading up on your profile, Xavier, and I'm not going to let some goddamn mutant go messing with my mind!"
Scott saw Simons draw his weapon and instinctively reached up to trigger his advisor. Before he could take out the FBI agent, Jan had pulled out her gun and aimed it at Scott. "Stand down, kid," she said.
There was a tense silence as the standoff lasted for several seconds. Finally, Xavier turned to Scott.
"Cyclops, do as she says. That's an order," he said grimly.
Scott glanced at Xavier and then slowly lowered his hand back down to his side.
Xavier turned back to Simons and addressed him. "Agent, something has clearly happened that is disturbing your mind. You are not in your senses right now. I have known to you be a rational and trusting man. Please, do not abandon your reason to madness and go rushing into a situation that you are not prepared to deal with!"
"Don't you dare say I can't handle this!" Simons snarled.
"Agent Simons, what has happened to you?" asked Storm. "I thought we had proved to you that we are not a threat to society. Where has that trust gone? What has happened to turn you against us?"
"Listen, lady," said Jan. "Nothing 'happened' to him. He's finally realized the thing I and a lot of other people in the government have always suspected about you people,"
"That's right," said Simons. "I guess it took me longer to see the truth because I wanted to believe that you people were just like us, just like normal people. But now I see you for the threat you really are!" Now, I SUGGEST that you get back in your plane now and let the REAL authorities handle this situation!"
"Bub, we ain't leavin' until we find the person we came here for!" said Logan.
"That's it!" shouted Simons. "I'm placing you all under arrest," His voice sounded nervous now, and his hands were starting to tremble a bit.
"On what charges?" asked Jean incredulously.
"Let's see, massive destruction of public property, harboring fugitives, illegal experimentation on humans, obstructing justice, and I'm sure I'll be able to come up with several more by the time we get back to the States. Now, back to your plane. Move it!"
Just then the doors of the power plant opened and Magneto and his mutants walked out. Simons turned to look at the other group of mutants that had just emerged from behind him.
Logan decided to take advantage of Simons' distraction and went for his gun. Before he could reach him, though, Jan turned and fired. Logan recoiled as the bullet struck him in the chest.
Simons turned at the sound and saw Logan just a few steps away from him. Instinctively, he fired. But Logan was falling to the ground, and the bullet flew over his shoulder.
Xavier grunted as he felt the bullet slam into his chest. He looked down to see his hands covered in crimson blood. He coughed and slumped forward in his wheelchair.
"Professor!" screamed Scott and Jean. They ran over to his side. "Get him back to the jet, now!" Scott shouted.
Jean grabbed Xavier, but Xavier showed no signs of life. "I'm not getting a pulse," she said, in shock. "He's dead!"
X
Magneto stood in the doorway of the power plant. He had not seen Simons shoot Xavier. He only recognized the crowd of the X-Men standing across the street.
"You're too late, Charles!" he shouted. "She's dead! She destroyed herself when she did all of this!"
Simons and Jan whipped around. "Freeze!" Simons shouted.
Magneto waved his hand casually and the FBI agents' weapons went flying out of their hands. "Ah yes, Agent Simons. A pleasure to finally meet your acquaintance," he said, floating over to the agents. "I wasn't aware the FBI had such wide jurisdiction," Then he saw the scene around Xavier.
Magneto glared as he looked at Xavier's body. He felt a brief pang of sorrow at seeing his old rival lying dead in the street. Despite his antagonistic feelings for Xavier, he would have preferred not to see him killed. He walked up to Simons. "If I weren't in such a hurry now I would make you suffer greatly for killing a mutant. Consider yourself lucky. This time," he said, and walked back to his sphere. He and his mutants climbed in, and the sphere slowly floated off.
X
"What's goin' on?" Toad asked, frightened.
"The plane's gonna crash!" shouted Lance.
Toad did the one thing he could think of: he began screaming.
"AAAAAAHHHH!!! AAAAAAHHHH!!!"
Wanda smacked him. "Get ahold of yourself!" she shouted, and went to strap herself in.
"Wanda, wait!" Toad cried. "I don't wanna die without seein' your pretty face one last time!"
"Not now, Toad!" she yelled back.
"Man, I shoulda knew it was too good to be true!" he muttered and braced himself for the inevitable impact.
The plane was now falling through the sky at a dangerous angle. At this rate, they would suffer a nose-first impact and would all be killed. Back up front, Jean strained to slow the plane's descent with her telekinetic powers. At the last moment, she managed to force the plane's nose up just enough so that they could crash-land safely.
The plane hit the ground hard, belly first, and began to slide down the streets of the city. Despite being secured, the X-Men and the Brotherhood were still thrown around inside the plane.
The plane skidded and rotated around as it slid, slowly losing momentum. After what seemed like an eternity, it finally came to a stop. The mutants quickly unbuckled themselves and opened the hatch manually, and saw the carnage that waited for them outside.
The city looked like war zone. Windows were broken up and down the streets and several small fires were burning. Looking behind them, they saw a long trail of shredded asphalt and pavement from where the jet had skidded across the ground.
"What happened?" asked Scott.
"That was an electromagnetic pulse," said Xavier. "It's disrupted power throughout the city, with cataclysmic results," He had switched his wheelchair to manual control and pushed himself down the ramp of the jet.
The X-Men walked out into the demolished street and headed for the power plant, hoping to find some trace of Electra. The morning skies overhead were dark with smoke, appearing as a ghastly mix of orange, black, and gray.
X
Simons sat up slowly, rubbing his head. "What happened?" he asked. Then he saw the destruction around him. "My god!" he shouted.
Looking around, he saw Xavier and the X-Men approaching. "They must have done this somehow," he said to Jan. They got up and ran up to Xavier.
"What have your people done?" Simons shouted hysterically. "This city is in ruins thanks to you!"
"Agent Simons!" Xavier shouted back. "We are NOT responsible for what has happened here. We were trying to reach Electra before something like this happened to her,"
"Well you're obviously too late! And how do you account for reports of mutants assaulting the workers inside that power plant?"
"Agent Simons, all of my people are standing here before you right now. Magneto is responsible for all of this damage, not Electra,"
"Electra! So you admit you DO know about what's become of this girl!"
"We've discovered a few more things since you so cordially visited us back in Bayville, if that's what you mean," said Storm.
"I find it highly unusual that you and Magneto are both trying to find this girl. If you ask me, I'd say you were working together! Why are you so eager to find her, anyway?"
"Agent, there is no time to explain this to you right now. You must trust me when I say that my intentions for finding Electra and Magneto's are different. Now, please move aside so we can handle this situation,"
"I'm not letting you people go anywhere!" Simons shouted. "There's no telling how much more damage you could cause!"
"Agent Simons, I'm afraid I'm going to insist that we be allowed to deal with this situation. We are much more capable of handling this than you are," replied Xavier as he calmly raised his hands to his temples, preparing to reinforce his suggestion with some psychic energy.
Simons saw Xavier's hands moving and pulled out his gun. He flipped the safety off and aimed right at Xavier's chest. "Put your hands down, right now!" he screamed. "I've been reading up on your profile, Xavier, and I'm not going to let some goddamn mutant go messing with my mind!"
Scott saw Simons draw his weapon and instinctively reached up to trigger his advisor. Before he could take out the FBI agent, Jan had pulled out her gun and aimed it at Scott. "Stand down, kid," she said.
There was a tense silence as the standoff lasted for several seconds. Finally, Xavier turned to Scott.
"Cyclops, do as she says. That's an order," he said grimly.
Scott glanced at Xavier and then slowly lowered his hand back down to his side.
Xavier turned back to Simons and addressed him. "Agent, something has clearly happened that is disturbing your mind. You are not in your senses right now. I have known to you be a rational and trusting man. Please, do not abandon your reason to madness and go rushing into a situation that you are not prepared to deal with!"
"Don't you dare say I can't handle this!" Simons snarled.
"Agent Simons, what has happened to you?" asked Storm. "I thought we had proved to you that we are not a threat to society. Where has that trust gone? What has happened to turn you against us?"
"Listen, lady," said Jan. "Nothing 'happened' to him. He's finally realized the thing I and a lot of other people in the government have always suspected about you people,"
"That's right," said Simons. "I guess it took me longer to see the truth because I wanted to believe that you people were just like us, just like normal people. But now I see you for the threat you really are!" Now, I SUGGEST that you get back in your plane now and let the REAL authorities handle this situation!"
"Bub, we ain't leavin' until we find the person we came here for!" said Logan.
"That's it!" shouted Simons. "I'm placing you all under arrest," His voice sounded nervous now, and his hands were starting to tremble a bit.
"On what charges?" asked Jean incredulously.
"Let's see, massive destruction of public property, harboring fugitives, illegal experimentation on humans, obstructing justice, and I'm sure I'll be able to come up with several more by the time we get back to the States. Now, back to your plane. Move it!"
Just then the doors of the power plant opened and Magneto and his mutants walked out. Simons turned to look at the other group of mutants that had just emerged from behind him.
Logan decided to take advantage of Simons' distraction and went for his gun. Before he could reach him, though, Jan turned and fired. Logan recoiled as the bullet struck him in the chest.
Simons turned at the sound and saw Logan just a few steps away from him. Instinctively, he fired. But Logan was falling to the ground, and the bullet flew over his shoulder.
Xavier grunted as he felt the bullet slam into his chest. He looked down to see his hands covered in crimson blood. He coughed and slumped forward in his wheelchair.
"Professor!" screamed Scott and Jean. They ran over to his side. "Get him back to the jet, now!" Scott shouted.
Jean grabbed Xavier, but Xavier showed no signs of life. "I'm not getting a pulse," she said, in shock. "He's dead!"
X
Magneto stood in the doorway of the power plant. He had not seen Simons shoot Xavier. He only recognized the crowd of the X-Men standing across the street.
"You're too late, Charles!" he shouted. "She's dead! She destroyed herself when she did all of this!"
Simons and Jan whipped around. "Freeze!" Simons shouted.
Magneto waved his hand casually and the FBI agents' weapons went flying out of their hands. "Ah yes, Agent Simons. A pleasure to finally meet your acquaintance," he said, floating over to the agents. "I wasn't aware the FBI had such wide jurisdiction," Then he saw the scene around Xavier.
Magneto glared as he looked at Xavier's body. He felt a brief pang of sorrow at seeing his old rival lying dead in the street. Despite his antagonistic feelings for Xavier, he would have preferred not to see him killed. He walked up to Simons. "If I weren't in such a hurry now I would make you suffer greatly for killing a mutant. Consider yourself lucky. This time," he said, and walked back to his sphere. He and his mutants climbed in, and the sphere slowly floated off.
X