AN ABANDONED AUTO PLANT - once refitted to accommodate the construction of the Sentinels - now, a secret hideout of the X-Rebels, a group of mutants who stood against the propositions of the X-Men. They wanted to punish humans for threatening their mutant ancestors. Some of their reasons to hate humankind are yet to be revealed.
The remote part of the plant was redesigned into a more comfortable living place. The laboratories were formed into smaller rooms -- all done by Polaris' magnetic manipulations. Polaris now dabbling in fashion was eager to design the entire plant, making it look like a palace. She always resorted into changing the interior designs at least once a week. Thankfully, her teammates were more likely to be impressed about the changes rather than to complain against them.
The only thing her teammates were more concerned about, was the mysterious loss of her sanity. Nobody knows what the exact cause of Polaris' mental instability was. That is why Rogue kept her away from the Havok, because she knew that Polaris was still madly in love with him. If she would let her be reunited to Havok again, Polaris would leave the team and rejoin the Summers, which is against the X-Rebels' main mission -- to destroy the X-Men.
"Why did we run? That was my best chance!" asked Domino while holding her sprained elbow as she was guided by Meltdown.
"We have plenty of death. It was just a game, this time," said Rogue, smiling.
"Hey those bombs were not supposed to be used for any game," Meltdown proudly said. "Those can really blow up the whole scenario, mind you! Those bombs were extra-ordinary!"
"And useless!" said Rogue.
"That's why I hate that telepath. Damn! She redirected the bombs away from the target and she'll regret it, I swear!" said Meltdown.
"Excuse me, may I go to my room now, I think I need some rest?" Siryn saying this interrupted, the two women bluntly. She then went to her room.
There was a silence for a moment. Rogue felt some mood of disagreement with Siryn's actions yet she ignored it. She ignored it because she found that one of her team members was missing?
"Where's Polaris?" asked Rogue.
Nobody knew where Polaris was and Rogue began to worry. She rushed to the glass window and stared outside.
"Problem with her sanity again," she said. "She went out to hunt for her Alex. However, I will make sure she does not reach her quarry. We must find her as soon as possible before the X-Men find her."
PALLAS ATHENA, New York -- the former X-Mansion, was an institution that trained mutant youngsters, owned and administered by the Summers.
Standing by the window, Storm has started to open up with Jean about the confusion that has been blurring her thoughts as of late.
"I am trying to understand the situation, Jean," said Storm. "I know this is not my real world and I believe there's a reason for this. To me, it seems that I am in an alternate future now. We have different pasts and different propositions. Moreover, these differences can separate us one day. Yes, I may not have known the past whatsoever you have known about me, but I can still be who I am. If this world of yours does not believe in the dreams of Professor Charles Xavier, then, I will be the one to pursue those dreams... and I swear that, now, before you."
"Storm, Professor Charles Xavier, as what they call him, is but a legend - a story, a fiction that is being passed over from generation to generation," said Jean without any feeling of guilt.
"Professor Charles Xavier founded the X-Men and dedicated his whole life to build up everything in us," Storm interrupted. "...in order to defend humanity against a variety of threats, and against our kind who use their powers for criminal ends. He only dreamed for one thing - to achieve unity between humans and mutants, both enjoying the same rights. Above all, he extended this house to us. He gave us home when everything we owned, and every one we loved, had been taken away from us. Now, you are telling me that he is just a legend... and you wanted me to believe that?"
"Yes, because you are now in our world," Jean replied. "For thousands of years, our mutant ancestors suffered by the hands of cruel humans. Most of them were killed, burned alive in town centers, and the extinction of our kind was at hand...
"...until a time came when alien races, called the Membranes, invaded the earth and killed almost half of the human race. The world accused the mutants for being responsible of the aliens' invasion on earth. Nevertheless, one mutant stood out to save the world, sacrificed his own life by installing infectious bombs over his body and allowed the Membranes to swallow him up, and they all blew up with the mutant hero.
"From then on, mutants were acknowledged with higher regards. Humans started to worship our kinds as gods. It's all because of the mutant hero who sacrificed his own life for the world that once took his freedom - the world who killed his wife with burning coals - and that hero... was your father, Storm." There was a silence. Jean grasped Storm's hands tightly. "Humans killed your parents. They were killed by the world you swore to protect. Humanity only deserves what is due to them. So, while you're here in this universe, you must accept the fact that humans' act of worshiping mutants is, just, good for all of us." A long silence came this time. Storm covered her face with her hands, then cried.
"I did not mean for you to feel this way. I know it hurts so much but I have no choice but to tell you everything, you need to know," said Jean as she rubbed Storm's back to comfort her.
"Why can't I remember all these things, Jean?" said Storm, tearfully. "Why can I never forget about my parents? I feel like I am dead, I feel I am nobody, I don't know, and I don't understand."
"That's why I am here. I can help you. Just trust me, Storm," said Jean. "...just trust me."
Meanwhile in the dining area, where brothers Cyclops and Havok, and couple Captain Britain and Meggan get to discuss the possible deviation that they may encounter with Storm's personality and actions. They do understand the possibility that a new Storm has indeed lived in a different timeline of an alternate reality.
"Storm might have had a different life in her world from the life she had here, that we knew about," Cyclops explained. "While she's here we must do our part to help her fill-in the gaps of her past."
"Gee, I really thought she was delirious," said Meggan. "So how could we possibly tell her, I mean, explain to her all the things she had here, while she still insists she comes from a different time-line?"
"It's not that hard, yet it is not so simple," Cyclops replied. "While her past remains unknown to her we will fill it in with the past that she had here in our world and make her believe that what she thinks and insists are just part of an hallucination. We will make her believe that she is in some kind of suffering, either from shock, whatever, or from being emotionally depressed."
"It sounds like we are betraying her? Filling in the gaps would still be a lie." said Captain Britain.
"I am hoping it will not resort into us lying to her," Cyclops replied. "Basically, Storm woke up in our world which is unknown to her and we will be doing our best to give her everything she will need to know. After all, it will still be her choice whether to accept the world of our own or to move out to seek her past - to seek for her life."
"What if she chooses to move out... and face the danger outside?" asks Havok.
"I'm still confident to say that she will not. I may not tell you why and what I really mean, and though lately she seems to be acting differently, I still believe in her convictions and instinct. She's still the Storm whom I used to know - a true X-Man at heart," says Cyclops.
ISLAND OF BRETON, North Atlantic Ocean
On the western coast of the island, three mystic fairies of average height and blond-haired were dancing and laughing around Polaris as they enticed her to follow them to the place where she could find her long lost lover, Alex Summers. Having an unstable mind, Polaris unknowingly is deceived by them and willing walks into a trap.
"Welcome... to paradise!" says one fairy.
"So, is this it? And where's my honey?" asks Polaris.
"He will arrive after a moment," the other fairy replies. "He has waited for this day and the two of you will finally have your moment together!"
"We will be meeting here at this beautiful shore? Oh, that's so sweet!" says Polaris.
The third fairy smiles as she sees their Princess, attended with three guards behind her, coming down the shore. "Attention, ladies! Here comes her honey!"
Polaris is startled when she sees a woman who resembles one of the fallen members of the X-Men. She is the Princess of the island.
"I... I know you!" said Polaris.
"Who are you?" asks the Princess.
"I am Polaris, I am a witch!" When Polaris started to lose her sanity; she thought that she was a witch and never considered herself a mutant.
The Princess named Manora.
"What is that witch doing here?" she asks.
"Our dear Princess," the first fairy addresses her. "...we were taking a trip from one of our territories on the main land, on the other side of the sea just like we always do. When she saw us, she recognized us for being fairies. As we teleported from there, she grabbed one of us, and now here she is. Now she is accusing us for kidnapping her loved one!"
"That is not true!" Polaris exclaimed. "You brought me here because you told me that Alex was here, and he wanted to meet me here at the shore, you stupid liars!"
The fairies were laughing. "This witch is obviously crazy and insane, our dear Princess."
"Take her!" ordered Manora and the three guards, bearing metal lances, responded.
As they approached, Polaris managed to magnetically snatch the lances up to the air, and rotate them back with the spears pointing to the guards' foreheads. Manora tries to control the lances telekinetically, if only she could redirect them away to free her guards, but she fails. That moment she realizes that her mental power is not enough to overcome the projection of the magnetic fields exerted by Polaris.
By chance, Manora, summoned her favored weapons - the three silver daggers - and directed them toward Polaris in a full force projection, but still, Polaris managed to control them magnetically with her other hand and redirect them to the three fairies. Fortunately, the three fairies teleported and appeared beside Manora. The daggers hit the ground. Feeling nervous, the fairies confessed to Manora, saying:
"W-we apologize, our dear Princess... it was, indeed, our fault... W-we were the ones who brought her here... and..."
"Enough! Cowardness and foolishness are both intolerable in my land. Anyone who possesses these frailties is banished... so be gone!" said Manora, as she compassed her hand in a circular motion and waved it towards the fairies. The bodies of the fairies exploded into pieces of rose petals, scattered to the ground, the wind blowing them away. Polaris was amazed at what she witnessed. "My name is Manora, the Princess of the Island of Breton, the land of the Leaf Fairies. I have shown you my fair judgment. Now, if you can, free my guards."
Polaris withdrew the lances and tossed them higher to the air. As the lances were about to hit the ground, Polaris magnetically redirected them towards the sea.
"I can hardly believe that you can project such amusing powers," Manora remarked. "I was impressed."
"Thank you. However, I will be glad if you will let me go," said Polaris.
"Not so fast. I want you to taste some tea in my palace," said Manora.
"Wait, your highness," one guard called out. "How can that be? She is a witch and a complete stranger. We do not welcome any witch in our land. That is the rule!"
"Then I will change the rule!" Manora said.
"But you're not the Leaf Empress. I doubt if she would let you do that," said the guard.
"What matters now is that I am the Princess... you are just a guard. Moreover, your laziness might drive me to break you into pieces like what happened to the fairies," warned Manora as she left with Polaris and the other two guards.
One guard left alone. In addition, as he followed them with his sight, he smiled and said to himself, "You surely do not know what you are talking about... as well as what you are doing. You are defending the territories of these fairies against your own kind. Someday you will know and realize that what you fight for is in vain. I know the day will come, when even the Princess of this island will worship... the Goddess!"
The guard shifted back into her original form - revealing the blue-skinned woman - Mystique!
PALLAS ATHENA, New York
Evening came.
At the quiet room of the couple Brian and Meggan: he, lies on the bed, while she, lays her head over her husband's chest.
"I am starting to lose hope, Brian," says Meggan. "I do not know if we still have a chance in finding our daughter?"
"Do not lose hope, Meggan, I believe there will be a reckoning for this. There will be a time when our long lost daughter will be reunited with us. We will wait for that precious day, my beloved wife... we will wait together," says Brian.
"But I am getting tired, Brian. I cannot stay any longer here... being away from home. I cannot use my powers here. I am so useless. I am also getting tired of facing the danger over my defenseless nature."
"I respect everything you feel," says Brian. "What shall we do then?"
"Brian," Meggan carefully looks into her husband's eyes. "I want to go back home."
Brian does not answer back. He gingerly returns a hug to Meggan, his wife. After a short silence, he lifts his head to say, "No matter what, Meggan, I will always be here... No matter what happens."