A plane soared above the ocean, passing by a dock with a sailboat ready to take off.
"We better get going, Jean, if we want to reach the island by sundown." Scott said as he joined his new wife in the sailboat. The two kissed as they prepared to enjoy their honeymoon.
Nothing could ruin this.
Beast was still dodging the Danger Room's fire. "This is definitely not the workout I programmed." He jumped up to the ceiling, but even there he couldn't escape the turrets. "When the danger room is against you..." He got in front of the doors, and as one of the turrets fired, he jumped out of the way as the blast destroyed the doors. "Turn the danger room against itself."
A police car pulled up to the gates of the institute as a cop came out and turned into Morph. "Xavier's school." He looked at the place he once called home. "I belonged here once. I was an X-Man."
A pale man came out of the shadows. "I sense your determination fading, Morph."
"You!" Morph looked at the figure with fear. "What do you want from me?"
The man flashed his sharp fangs. "I'm here to make sure you are still committed to our purpose, to destroy the X-Men."
"Destroy the X-Men?" Morph gripped his head as the pain returned. "No! They're my friends." His form kept shifting between the various members of the X-Men.
The vampire-like being smirked. "Not anymore."
Morph got up and was now back in his evil form. "No. But two are missing! I sent them..." He had trouble remembering what he did to Scott and Jean. "I sent them..."
"Somewhere very romantic." His master stated. "But Cyclops and Jean Grey are mine for now."
The two newlyweds were enjoying the peace of sailing the beautiful ocean.
"We're finally alone, just the two of us, without another person for a hundred miles." Scott said in a suave voice.
"Oh, Scott." Jean grinned at him as they prepared to enjoy some intimacy.
"Ahoy!" A voice called out. "On the sailboat!"
A man with long pink hair and dressed in strange clothes leaped from boulder to boulder towards their boat.
"Who could that be?" Jean asked Scott. "I thought the island was uninhabited."
When the man got close enough, he shouted, "I have a message for you!"
Scott and Jean just shrugged at each other. "Go ahead!" Scott told him.
"With pleasure!" The man then unleashed a sonic scream, not as deadly as Danny's Ghostly Wail, but enough to tip their boat over.
On a nearby island, a buff man glared at the two stowaways. "Looks like you are all dry-docked, permanently!" He threw a punch at their boat, splitting it in half as Jean and Scott got out of his path.
"Nobody invited you on the honeymoon!" Scott was about to blast him when he was bit from behind by a yellow energy blast.
"Scott!" Jean cried for her husband. She was about to race to him when another mutant, a black man dressed in blue armor and had his entire body covered in hair, grabbed her.
"You ain't going nowhere, lady!" He said to the struggling Jean.
"Collar them." The Vampire man who recruited Morph ordered another mutant, one who had purple skin and red hair. "I don't want to hurt them, yet."
The purple fiend stretched his arms out as he slipped a power-dampening collar on Jean.
Jean managed to push off the man holding her when the collar was placed on her neck. "My powers!"
The stretchy man grinned at the powerless redhead. "These are out of fashion now on Genosha, but on you, it looks good!" He placed another one on Scott. The buff man then threw Scott at the leader's feet.
"It will be easier if you don't resist, and less dangerous." The leader advised the sunglass-wearing X-Man.
"Who are you?" Scott demanded. "What do you want with us?"
The leader introduced himself. "My name is Sinister, Mr. Sinister."
Danny carried the injured Storm into the infirmary and placed her on a bed.
Rogue, Beast, and Gambit followed as they worried for their friend.
"Storm!" Rogue looked at her unconscious comrade. "What have they done to you, gal?"
"She got shot by some of those jerks." Danny said. "She'll be alright; she's strong."
Rogue felt guilty for leaving them to deal with the mob alone. "I shouldn't have left you guys alone with that mob. I should have been there to help her!"
"It wasn't your fault." Beast tried to comfort her, but this only aggravated the southern gal.
"At least I tried to help!" Rogue defended herself. "I didn't say I'd be there and then never show my shaggy blue hide."
"But I was never told of your mission." Beast explained.
"Don't try to feed me that hog slop!" Rogue yelled at him. "I was with Danny when he called you."
Beast placed his hand on his chin in thought. "This is very odd, indeed."
In an abandoned movie theater, the Friends of Humanity were gathered as they cheered on Creed, who stood on stage. Behind them was the symbol of their "noble crusade." An Eagle that sported the leaders F, O, and H.
"Leader! Leader! Leader! Leader! Leader! Leader!"
"What we have accomplished tonight is a warning to all mutants of what the future holds for them!" Creed announced. "Tomorrow belongs to humanity. A humanity cleansed of this foul mutant disease!" He bellowed. "Here's one of them!" He gestured to his left, where Jubilee stood offstage. "A mutant!"
Two guards escorted Jubilee onto the stage. Jubilee, who was handcuffed, only gave a blank look of pity towards the crowd. How could they be so hateful to someone they don't even know?
"What should we do with her?" Creed asked the crowd.
Members of the crowd gave their suggestions.
"Get rid of her!"
"It'll be one less mutant freak!"
"You've heard the verdict." Creed said to Jubilee. "The normal people have spoken."
"You call this bunch of sickos normal?" Jubilee was disgusted as she asked Creed the obvious question. "Why do you hate us? What did we ever do to you?"
"You were born." Creed said as if that explained everything. He ordered his guards to get rid of Jubilee. "Take her away!"
"You wouldn't be so brave if my hands weren't tied!" Jubilee egged him on, trying to get him to release her restraints.
As Jubilee was being dragged off stage, Wolverine burst through the skylight and dropped down. On his way down, he used his claws to tear up the flag. "End of the trail, dirtbags!"
Wolverine sliced the guards' guns and threw them at Creed, knocking them all off the stage.
"You sure pick weird places to hang out." Wolverine said to the young X-Woman.
"Danny sent me to one of their headquarters, and their goons grabbed me." Jubilee replied as she held her hands out for Wolverine to free her. "It's not my fault!"
Wolverine grumbled as he grabbed her. "If you knew how much bubblegum I had to sniff to find you..." He burst through the backdoor, and the two tripped into an alley. As the crowd started to chase after them.
"Let's get that guy!"
"He's in the alley!"
"After them. Get them!"
"Come on! This way!"
The two hightailed it out of there and back home.
In the War Room, Beast was still pleading his case to Rogue. "These constant recriminations are counterproductive."
"It don't matter how pretty you try to make it sound; you weren't there for Storm when she needed you!" Rogue was getting more exasperated with Beast's excuses.
"Stop it!" Danny shouted, fed up with the constant accusations from everyone. "Ok, it's obvious that some shape-shifter is fucking with us."
"But Mystique is locked up." Rogue said.
"Who's to say it's not a different shape-shifter?" Danny challenged. "I mean, it's possible for two mutants to have very similar or the exact same power. Look at the professor and Jean. So maybe we've got another shapeshifter that isn't Mystique. We already have Morph as proof, but I don't know why he would do all this shit, so maybe we've got a third one."
Danny pointed to Rogue. "I know you wouldn't cheat on me." He gestured to Beast. "And I know you wouldn't have left Storm behind. That leaves the only logical solution, which is that someone else is taking your forms."
"You make a very profound argument, Danny." Beast complimented him.
"I'm sorry I accused you, Beast." Rogue apologized to her friend.
Beast waved it off. "Water under the bridge."
Gambit also had remorse for accusing Rogue. "Remy also sorry that he say you were cheating, Rogue. He should know that Danny the only man for you."
Rogue placed her hand around Danny's shoulders. "You got that right."
"So how do we deal with the copycat?" Beast asked.
Before Danny could form a plan, the Professor came in.
"Professor!" They all cried.
Xavier raised an eyebrow at their excitement at his return. "Apparently, I've returned just in time. And the news I have is disturbing. I have just discovered that we may all be under attack by a most unusual weapon, a neural disruptor which alters brain waves, causing its target to behave in strange, even irrational ways."
As everyone was pondering what this knowledge could mean, Danny walked up to Xavier and held him in the air by his throat.
"Danny! What in tarnation do you think you're doing?" Rogue scolded.
"I think it's a little too coincidental that Xavier came up with an excuse right as I was spit-balling my shape-shifter theory." He gave Xavier a suspicious glance. "Who's to say that this isn't the real professor but an imposter disguised as him?"
"How are we going to know if it's really him?" Beast asked.
"We'll wait for Wolverine to come back." Danny answered. "With his sense of smell, he'll root out who the pretender is."
On cue, Wolverine and Jubilee walked into the War Room.
"Hey Wolverine, can you do me a favor and use your sense of smell to see if this is the real professor?" Danny asked casually, like it was a normal request.
Wolverine sniffed the professor. "Looks like Morph came back."
"Restrain him!" Xavier pleaded with his students to stop Danny. "He's being affected by the neural disruptor! He's out of control! Destroy him!"
"Morph, what are you doing?" Wolverine asked his friend.
Gambit was disturbed by what Xavier said. "Gambit never hear the professor say that before."
Xavier pulled out an ecto-gun and shot Danny. Now freed, he made his way to the door, only to stop when he saw everyone was staring at him. Xavier was walking on his two legs.
"I'm cured!" Xavier joked as he turned into Morph, knowing the jig was up. "Well, one good turn deserves another!" He threw a grenade at his former friends and fled the room.
"Plasma grenade!" Wolverine cried as everyone ducked for cover.
Everyone managed to survive the explosion as Wolverine processed Morph's betrayal. "He's back."
"And in a lousy mood." Rogue said.
"I can't believe it." Beast said.
"Beast, seal off the school's defensive perimeter." Danny ordered. "We don't want him leaving the grounds."
"On it." Beast went over to the computers and made sure Morph couldn't leave.
"Why would Morph want to hurt us?" Jubilee asked.
"I don't know." Beast answered.
Morph reached the hanger and made his way to the Blackbird. As he opened the hatch, he found that Wolverine and Jubilee had beat him there.
"You wouldn't leave without saying goodbye." Wolverine quipped.
Morph pulled out a gun from his jacket. "Goodbye."
Wolverine pushed Jubilee out of the line of fire and tried to tackle Morph, only to be shot.
Wolverine met Morph's enraged red eyes. "Morph, whatever's going on with you, we can help. We're your friends." He ripped the gun out of his hand and pushed him to the ground.
"I don't need your help." Morph spat as he turned into Wolverine.
As the two Wolverines faced off, Jubilee got up and saw them circling around each other. "Uh-oh! Who do I shoot? I got to stop one of them, but which one?"
"You gotta blast us both!" One of them said. "It's the only way to get Morph!"
She instead blasted the Wolverine that didn't say anything, making him scream in pain.
The Wolverine that was still standing praised Jubilee, revealing his voice to be Morph. "Nice shot."
Jubilee fired after him as he fled the room. She then went to the real Wolverine. "Sorry!" She apologized. "I was sure only the real you would tell me to blast both Wolverines."
Wolverine wasn't mad. "Live and learn."
They then heard the engines of the Blackbird as it prepared to leave the hanger.
Wolverine tried to chase after it, but it was too fast.
The others finally joined them as they watched the Blackbird ascend to the skies.
"Morph?" Beast asked Wolverine.
"Yeah." Wolverine muttered. "He got away."
Jubilee was worried about what was happening with Morph. "Where will he go now?"
"Beats me." Danny said. "Although, something tells me he's going after the two X-Men that he didn't get to mess around with." The white-haired hero chuckled. "Good thing we can track the Blackbird's location."
Sinister addressed the two captive lovers who lay restrained on examination tables. "Your whole lives, I've watched you, tracked you, studied you. All of it was a waste, as I thought you would lead to the ultimate creation. I was wrong; there's someone else that I desire. And with him and the other one, I will control the future of all human creatures on Earth!"
Scott tried to get Sinister to leave Jean alone. "Whatever you want, Sinister, but leave Jean out of this!"
"No, Scott." Jean wasn't going to let Scott go through this alone. "Whatever happens, we're together."
Sinister chuckled at their display of selfless love. "You two will be used as bait as I lure in one of my targets. Through him, I shall give birth to the future!"
"I can't believe it!" Storm reacted to the dreadful news from her bed in the infirmary. "Morph against us! Such unexpected news!"
"He's not like the Morph you used to know." Jubilee said. "He hates the X-Men. Sometimes I think everybody hates us."
Storm tried to make Jubilee see that it wasn't all entirely hopeless. "For every human who gives in to hate and fear, there are hundreds who are willing to see the truth."
Jubilee wasn't fully convinced. "Morph believed that, too, once. Now all he wants is to destroy us."
Morph landed the Blackbird on the island where Jean and Scott were captured. "Yoo-hoo! Lovebirds?" He chuckled at his joke as he approached the ruined sailboat. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!" He examined the damage. "Looks like old Cyke needs some sailing lessons."
He then made his way to Sinister's lab, where he found Jean and Scott struggling to escape their bonds.
Scott heard footsteps and saw who they belonged to. "Morph! You're back!" He was elated to see his teammate back.
"And you're married, or are you?" He turned into the form of the Reverend. "I now pronounce you man and wife."
Scott was confused and angry with Morph's lack of help. "Is this some kind of sick joke?"
"Morph, what's going on?" Jean showed concern for her friend. "What happened to you? You were our friend, Morph?"
"Yeah." Morph muttered. "I was." He admitted as he just remembered that tidbit of information. Just as suddenly as he went back to being timid, he quickly became wrathful. "But not anymore! I will destroy you all!"
Sinister's shadow loomed over Morph. "Shoot him, and I destroy you! We need the bait to be alive if we hope to lure him here."
"You again!" Morph addressed Sinister along with his minions. "Who are you?"
"You know who I am, Morph." Sinister stated. "Think. Remember."
"I can't!" He cried as Sinister's eyes glowed yellow. "I can't!"
Morph saw himself on vacation when he was attacked by Sentinels. He managed to barely escape them with his life intact. Or so he thought, as he fell to the ground injured.
"I found you lying lifeless." Sinister reminded him. "I healed your broken body. I gave you new life and a new mind."
"You're the voice inside my head." Morph realized. "I remember."
Before Morph could say anything else, the wall to Sinister's lab was blown up, revealing the X-Men.
"Destroy them!" Sinister ordered his minions. "Tear them apart!"
The four baddies stepped forward.
"I wouldn't bet on it!" Wolverine said as everyone got into a fighting stance.
The pink-haired mutant let out his sonic scream, pushing them all back.
Wolverine had a killer headache from that. "I never thought a super-sense of hearing could be so painful. Although, it's got nothing on yours, Casper."
"That's because you never heard Ruckus raise a ruckus before." Ruckus boasted.
Danny got up. "Let me show you how the professionals do it." He let out his Ghostly Wail, pushing Ruckus back.
"Huh." Danny said. "Looks like that training on how to control its intensity has finally paid off."
Wolverine was then kicked by the hairy man. "Didn't anybody ever tell you? You don't kick a man when he's down, hairbag!" Wolverine replied sarcastically.
"Hey! Who told you my name?" Hairbag asked idiotically. "You making fun of me? Nobody makes fun of Hairbag!" He tackled Wolverine as they wrestled on the sand.
Beast avoided an attempt by the buff man, who was called Slab, to grab him.
"I'll just have to swat you like a blue-tail fly!" Slab pulled a tree from the ground and swung it at Beast, who ducked out of the way. "You'll just be a greasy blue spot on the sand!" The tree was snatched from above. "Huh?"
Rogue looked down at Slab. "Y'all don't mind if I play through?" She swung it at Slab, sending him into Hairbag.
"Two of you!" Wolverine said. "The odds are getting better and better!"
Hairbag let out a belch, bombarding Wolverine with purple gas that was coming from his mouth.
Wolverine coughed. "I'm choking! My eyes! I can't see!"
Slab approached him. "Then you won't know what hit you!" He was about to hit him, when he felt one of Gambit's cards hit his arm.
Gambit threw another card at Slab. "Gambit say, you play fair or you don't play at all." He was then grabbed by the purple mutant's stretchy arms.
"Come to Gorgeous, pretty boy!" Gorgeous teased.
"Gambit likes to play hard to get!" Gambit threw a card at Gorgeous's stomach, making him explode into goo, but it just reformed.
"You've got to play harder than that!" Gorgeous taunted.
Rogue then saw Gambit in trouble. "Gambit!" She whacked Gorgeous with the tree, allowing Gambit to get out of his grip. "Keep your stick fingers to yourself, you walking tar pit!"
Gorgeous then wrapped his gel-like body around Rogue. "Oh! You wouldn't say that if you knew me better!" Rogue then spun around, causing bits and pieces of him to scatter all over. "Whoa!"
"Nice work." Danny praised his girlfriend.
"Thanks for the compliment, sugar." Rogue flirted.
Slab was walking around looking for Gorgeous. "Hey, Gorgeous! Where are the..." Gorgeous landed on top of Slab as he struggled with the goo that was on him.
Ruckus was about to unleash his scream attack at Rogue when Danny sent a bit of ectoplasm at his mouth, gagging him.
"The noblest answer unto such is kindly silence when they brawl." Beast quoted. "Alfred Lord Tennyson." Beast picked him up and threw him at Hairbag.
"Man, those were some nasty boys right there." Danny remarked..
Wolverine regrouped with the others. "We practiced with the B-team. Now it's time for the big game." Wolverine was blasted by Sinister, who decided to join the battle.
"I think you get your wish, mon ami." Gambit said.
Sinister looked at Danny with a look of excitement on his hideous face. "Finally, I have you now. All I need is the other." He kept throwing more energy attacks at the X-Men.
Inside the lab, Scott was attempting to get Morph to see some sense. "Morph! You got to help us! Whatever happened to you, you're still part of the team! You're still one of the X-Men!"
"One of the X-Men?" Morph asked innocently. It then clicked for Morph as to what he had to do. He picked up his gun and went off to confront Sinister.
"The future belongs to the superior beings, the ones I shall create!" Sinister gloated. "None of you are necessary!" He pointed at Danny. "I only desire you!"
"Me?" Danny asked, flabbergasted. "What do you want with me?"
"You kept me alive!" Morph raged at Sinister. "And the evil that's in me! But the worst of us still has some good!" Morph aimed his gun at Sinister and fired. It left a hole in Sinister's body, but it quickly regenerated.
"I should have let you die!" Sinister said coldly.
Morph backed up in fear as Scott managed to break one of his restraints. With his free hand, he tore off his collar and used his optic blast to free himself and Jean.
Sinister shot Morph to the ground and was about to finish him off when Scott got in his way.
"Leave him alone, Sinister!" Cyclops cried. "Your fight is with me!"
He blasted Sinister out of his lab.
"My body!" Sinister saw as his entire body was melting from being hit by Scott's optic blast. "This is impossible!"
"So you like playing God with mutants' lives?" Cyclops asked rhetorically. "Well, just keep away from my friends!"
He fired again, sending Sinister into a tree.
"Ruckus!" He called out for his henchman. "The plane!"
Using all his strength, he got up and proceeded to run away, with Scott throwing in a couple more hits.
Still, Sinister reached his minions and was carried off to their jet, which flew away.
Scott glared at the retreating aircraft. "Yeah, go ahead, run. I'll be watching for you."
Jean came to Scott's side. "Cyclops, are you alright?"
Scott frowned. "No, and I won't be until that scum pays for what he's done!"
"Forget it, Scott!" Jean said, trying to get him to see the bright side. "We're all okay. We're going home."
"Unmarried." Scott murmured in sadness.
Jean wasn't deterred. "Still married in our hearts. And to be married again, one day." She gave her favorite X-Man a kiss.
"Where's Morph?" Wolverine brought up.
They heard the Blackbird take off in the distance as it left the island.
"Morph, no!" Wolverine begged. "Come back!"
"Let him go, Wolverine." Beast advised him. "Morph may be afraid of what he would do if he stays with us. He must learn to deal with what he has become."
"He's my friend." Wolverine argued. "He's the only one who could ever make me laugh. I'm not going to desert him!"
"I didn't think he even knew how to laugh." Danny whispered to Rogue.
"Well, anything's possible, sugar." Rogue whispered back. "Also, what did Sinister want with you?"
Danny could only shrug at the question. "The hell if I know."
In Antarctica, Xavier watched as Magneto flew down to greet him. "You seem well for a dying man, Magneto. I'm disappointed. You've never resorted to lies with me before."
Magneto was baffled. "What do you mean? It was you who had the last words to share with me!"
Xavier reached out with his mind. "I sense the lingering presence of something sinister."
An explosion went off on top of the mountain.
"Avalanche!" Magneto yelled.
"We've walked into a trap!" Xavier realized.
The two mutants got out of the path of the avalanche as they wondered who brought them here.